One of the hardest-hit populations from the new coronavirus are the elderly and in some cases, they face the biggest risks in long term care facilities.
At Pemberly Place in Lincoln, the virus also takes its toll emotionally and mentally.
“It’s tough. You can just tell they miss seeing people’s faces,” Kelly Mans, marketing and sales director tells KLIN News. “One you can see it in their faces, seeing the staff members and other members smiles. We all run around with masks on now.”
Mans says they’ve put in place precautions to protect their residents. They’re asked to stay in their rooms and meals are brought to them. She says if they head out, they keep social distancing and wear a mask.
In order to protect residents, the staff limits visitations inside the facility.
Pemberly Place’s goal is still to find innovative ways to connect residents when they’re not in person.
“That human touch – someone coming up to you and telling you ‘good morning.’ It’s not that we don’t try and interact with them, but it’s hard when you can’t give them that smile and some reassurance.”
Residents connect over Zoom or Skype. In some cases, they’ll wheel a resident to a window or door so they can see their loved one.
It also is forcing employees to adapt to new roles.
“We are each one of these family member’s loved ones right now. People will bring groceries or packages so we are doing sanitizing and running things up to their rooms. We make sure everybody knows that if they need to talk or make sure they want to get ahold of their families, we’re here.”