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Every day, Suzanne Von Bargen stopped by her mother’s assisted-living facility in Wall and took a long walk with her outside.
“On March 8, 2020, that stopped cold,” Von Bargen said.
Her mother, Joan Clark, went into lockdown like everyone else in nursing homes throughout New Jersey as the pandemic exploded. And like many with dementia, Clark’s condition deteriorated in isolation.
“She was getting more and more agitated,” Von Bargen said. “She knew she was trapped. We had a visitation (for the first time) in October, and I saw a woman I did not know.”
Although she praised the staff’s level of care, Von Bargen viewed the isolation as untenable for her mom. Last month, she decided to pull the 90-year-old out and take her into her own home in Point Pleasant. The difference so far “has been amazing,” Von Bargen said. And the timing could not be better.