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‘Parade’ gives families chance to see isolated loved ones

By Dave Taylor

Tammy Brown and her college-aged daughters soaked up the warm sun in their SUV Friday afternoon, third in a long line of cars waiting for the start of a parade. But unlike the float-filled parades most envision, this parade was at a nursing home, where patients long isolated in their rooms over coronavirus fears would be wheeled out to the sidewalk where their families could drive past and see them face-to-face again.

Brown and her daughters Taylor and Hadley were there to see Buster, Tammy’s husband and the girls’ father, who’d suffered a massive stroke and was left unable to communicate or move.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, nursing homes like Heartland Villa in Lewisport, where Buster stays, were required to keep residents inside their rooms for their own protection, no longer allowing outside visitors of any kind.

Some residents had to rely on calls and some could video chat, but the Brown family wasn’t able to do those because of his condition.

“He’s unable to communicate at all with us. He lost everything,” Tammy said.

“We’ve had window visits, a few window visits,” said Taylor.

A window visit is just what it sounds like, where families stand outside the resident’s window and either call or talk through the glass. 

“It was his birthday so they did open the window for us and let us put signs up and balloons outside of his window,” Tammy said. “And then Easter, we did a window visit.”

Families for all residents had to settle for window visits or calls, or if they weren’t able to do either of those, they had to just wait for virus restrictions to be lifted.

On Friday Heartland Villa held the parade to give the residents a chance to get outside once again and to give families a way to see their loved ones in person again, albeit while maintaining the recommended six-foot distance.

Cars lined up in the front parking lot of the home and the line stretched out onto Highway 60 while staff wheeled out resident after resident, situating them along the sidewalk, away from each other but facing the road, where people in waiting cars held signs and passing vehicles honked and waved.

Buster Brown was wheeled out and waited with the others, most who held their own signs with personal messages for their families and for the public.

The parade began and cars filed past, stopping in front of their family members and others they knew, before making a loop back onto the highway and back into the parking lot, where they were allowed to park and get out to see the residents from the other side of a six-foot gap.

“It’s nice that they actually get to have a little bit of interaction and see family faces,” Tammy said. 

“It’s nice that they get to come outside, especially on a day like this,” said Taylor.

They took a minute to think about the last time he’d been outside.

“We took him outside whenever spring started to hit…” said Taylor.

“It’s actually been February since he’s been outside,” Tammy said.

The rules for the day meant no hugging and no close contact, but the family could still see him and although Buster couldn’t talk to them, he could still get the full experience of getting a visit.

“I guess as long as he can actually hear their voice, because he can’t communicate at all, but he can hear their voice,” she said. 

“He has movement in his right hand so he can like wave or thumbs up or something like that, and then he can still see,” said Taylor.

As the three rolled past Buster they paused to wave and yell out to him. His ability to smile might have been taken by the stroke, but if not it had been taken by the mask all residents were required to wear, but the way he kept his eyes closed after they rolled past spoke volumes.

Other families got out to greet their loved ones, some bringing their dogs, others bringing their children, reminding some of the older residents of their names. One family sang “You Are My Sunshine” together under the hot sun.

 It was all done from six feet away, but for many it was the closest they’d been to family in months. 

“For some people they’re used to seeing their family members every single day,” Tammy said, “and when they’ve gone months I can’t imagine how some of them probably feel.”

“They care a lot about their residents here, for sure,” she said. “It’s like a family, and they know how important it is for the other family members to get to come and see them.”

dave.hancockclarion@gmail.com

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