Woke up this morning obviously concerned about coping and alternative methods, anticipating either a "lockdown" or a "shelter in place" order from the governor, then decided I needed instead to focus on how to deal with being confined. I read a few articles online and thought I'd share them, and ask others what you have read online (or elsewhere, such as in magazines), and/or what your own coping methods are.
1. Communicating with family or friends in facilities that are locked down.
Window visits: this family created signs, called their grandfather and suggested he look out the window. I'm guessing this "made his day", to see his family outside, reaching out to him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/weddings/despite-coronavirus-pandemic-hartland-family-finds-a-way-to-surprise-grandpa-at-retirement-home/ar-BB11vdRa?ocid=msedgdhp
I'm thinking folks here could perhaps make arrangements by phone with staff to let residents/patients know that there will be some outdoor visitors, and to look out the window at a certain time.
I wouldn't come en masse as the cited family did though, and if more than one member could visit, they could stagger visits between morning and afternoon, giving the elder a twice a day "pick-me-up".
As to memory care, I'm not sure if this could work; I've never been in a MC hall and don't know if all the residents have windows.
And if there are Good Samaritans who want to visit, they too could get on the visitor's lists for specific times.
Perhaps the facility could set aside a few parking places for "special visitors."
2. For Catholics: An innovative priest is providing "drive-by" confessions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-churches-closing-us-priest-offers-drive-thru-confessions/ar-BB11uuK9?ocid=msedgdhp
For this priest, and parishioners, I just hope he has some good weather going forward and that there are no blizzards to interrupt this practice.
Anyone else read about unique coping methods? Please share!
We went on lockdown/shelter in place or sort of a combination of that as of first thing today; I'm still getting used to that concept. One thing I would have done to stock up on is get some yeast to make bread and rolls.
And the mail this morning brought a water bill with a notation that the action level for lead has been exceeded in my city. I need to do some research and find out how to address this.
Thanks again, and back later to respond to your suggestions.
There is a local farm that is doing meal delivery once a week. Last week I had a great coconut curry with brown rice. Today they are delivering an African meal. At $13 each and enough for two people, I get two good meals from each order.
Otherwise I am working on my course material, limiting my news consumption one broadcast per day and trying to avoid any news from the US. Unfortunately, the comments from the fellow in Texas made it onto Canadian news last night. I was horrified to hear what he was suggesting and will do my best to avoid hearing such ugliness again.
If if I could be a little off subject: we went this morning to Walmart’s new shopping hours for seniors at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays. It was hilarious! It was a zoo, a peaceful and orderly zoo! I’ve never seen so many old people (me, my husband, and my sister included!!) in my life, which is probably an exaggeration. There was gridlock in certain areas where we came to a halt for a while. This is a new procedure, so Walmart wasn’t prepared for us, with a lot of shelves not stocked yet. I really feel for grocery store employees. They have extra work because of this virus. Then we drove to Kroger, and I saw the same people there as I saw at Walmart! The seniors were waiting for the doors to open at 7 a.m., a big crowd of them including me.
the funny thing is that last night I told my husband and sister that I wanted to go by myself early in the morning just to get in and out faster, but my sister said, “I want to go, too!”, and told me she would put on her roller skates to go faster, and my husband said, “You mean you don’t want me to drive you there?” I paused and thought, and then figured out everyone was telling me they needed to get out of the house! 😊 i had lots of help self-checking out at Walmart because of them!
I felt embarrassed shopping for big quantities, but our daughter had her seventh child last week and needed groceries. I explained this to the clerk looking over my items to see if I had exceeded the limits, and she lit up with a big smile and said, “Oh, they will have plenty of fruit!”
All in all, a bright spot in our day, plus I got to bring the groceries over and see the grandchildren and the new grand baby again.
Prayers for all who are suffering because of sickness, financial stresses, job problems, or other problems. My heart goes out to you. May God answer your deepest needs and help you. Last week I had caregiver burnout and depression, and God delivered me from it. Love and hugs to all of you!
Last night, we pulled out old home movies and pics and watched them on the TV. The boys were interested for about an hour and we had some good laughs together. Helped us appreciate the life we have.
Thanks for this question. It's given me some ideas of how to get through this.
Thank you for posting this. As usual, GA, another great post. 👍🏻
These situations always bring out the best and worst in people. God knows this is bringing back the painful memories of Hurricane Katrina for us living here in New Orleans. Just seeing the national guard active in our city brings it all back in our minds, the devastation but also the love in our community that was shared.
We received enormous help from volunteering college students (some who chose to make New Orleans their permanent home due to getting to know our unique city, even in an unusual way) and churches of all faiths and denominations that fed us after we were allowed to enter the city and salvage what little we could, for many it meant nothing.
As I entered my childhood home with my nephew I was flooded with emotions. There was only one thing left hanging on the wall, my graduation photo. My godson quietly said to me, “You survived.” All of my mother’s photos were lying on the floor and scattered every which way, unrecognizable people in the photos, destroyed by 9 ft of water, ugly mold on everything.
Oh, my photo was just as ugly, covered in ugly mold but there was something interesting that my nephew (godson) felt as we stared at my photo that was still hanging on the wall. It was crooked. It was water damaged but I had hung on for dear life and made it!
It was a surreal experience that I shared with the grown man that I had held in my arms when I was only 16 as the priest baptized him as a tiny infant. I was so proud to be his godmother.
There was a woman with a crew driving down the street with sandwiches. No businesses were open. She was visiting the most devastated neighborhoods to feed us. I had no appetite. My friend, Mark across the street had no appetite but this church lady looked at me and said, “Honey, you are so thin you may blow away if you don’t eat!” My friend across the street laughed and said that I had always been a string bean! We took one of her sandwiches to make her happy. I couldn’t eat it though. I gave it away to another neighbor. This woman asked if I would take her phone number. I did. Many months later I felt a desire to call her. She was a remarkable woman. She was a woman who acted out her faith. She didn’t just talk. She walked the walk. She respected me and I certainly respected her. She never once tried to convert anyone or put down their faith.
You know, Katrina seems like a million years ago (2005) but during these times it feels like yesterday for many of us here.
We are a strong city. Many supported us. Thank you all. We had people in all 50 states helping us during and after our evacuation. I was in Texas with my friends that lovingly asked us to stay with them. Our animals that became lost from owners were adopted by people all over the country.
Humanity came together. I thank you for that. We made it. We survived. We rebuilt our city and our lives.
We will survive this too. We are strong. Show love to each other. Equally as important, let go of toxic relationships and cling onto those that truly matter.
Honor your feelings and don’t allow anyone to rob your joy. I don’t believe in grudges. I don’t believe in bitterness. I believe in survival. I believe in peace. I believe in helping those who want help, step away from those who don’t.
I believe in the power of forgiveness but I do not believe in allowing ourselves to be a doormat. I believe in balance and harmony. I believe love heals for those who invite healing in their hearts.
Thanks GA for sharing about the beautiful parts of my faith. Catholicism has many beautiful beliefs. Of course, we have flaws. All churches do because there are no perfect people. Anyway, please keep our archbishop here in New Orleans, (Gregory Aymond) in your thoughts and prayers. I saw on television today that he has tested positive for the virus. He is a lovely person and I am sad to hear this. He speaks from his heart. His homilies always inspire me.
My FIL is near us in a memory care facility. It is a one story "cottage" style so there are windows but he is so confused about all of this and really does not understand so having us wave from outside the window would cause more problems. There have been lots of interesting ways that people can cope posted. I am thankful for the caregivers who are caring for my family members so I can have a peaceful lockdown at this time. I am aware that many people are not so fortunate.
I recently told my daughter that I am often alone but never lonely because I interact with so many people throughout the day. Now, I am isolated from all the people I normally see, including my grandchildren! I miss faces! I have begun to Facetime people instead of calling and it is such a comfort!
I want to keep as normal a schedule as possible, so I have my prayer and Bible reading time every morning, clean and organize my house, prepare good meals, work in my garden, and have committed to do one spring-cleaning project daily. Who knows? Maybe I’ll pick up my dusty pain brushes!
No yoga classes for me now, but I can do yoga in my own home, and I walk or ride my bike in the neighborhood. Today, I got up like I usually do on Sunday and participated in Sunday school on Zoom, a group video conference app, then our church live-streamed the pastor and a few people singing and playing music. He suggested we do the things we usually do during a service, so there I was alone in the living room singing away and praising God! That too was comforting. It was a good sermon. I also have been reading and participating more on this forum. We are so blessed to have this!
I’ve started reaching out to people I know are alone - people I keep up with on FB, but don’t usually talk to. If I am lonely, they must be too! In a little while I will go to talk to my mother through the window at her nursing home.
I am practicing a lot of self-care right now—making sure that every day I take time to myself to take care of myself. I have been running on my treadmill daily. Sometimes two times a day-1 sprint session and 1 uphill walk at 15% incline. Challenging myself and coming up with new things to try has always been a great motivation to get my bum on the treadmill, so for the last week I have been running sprints for 20 minutes a day but switching it up—I do different variations, one day I ran 30 seconds as fast as I could and walked for 2 minutes and repeated for 20 minutes. Another day I sprinted for 1 minute and then walked for 1 minute. Tomorrow I am challenging myself to run 1 mile every 2 hours, at least 3 times throughout the day. Ideally I would like to get in (5) 1 mile runs but don’t know if time will allow it. Still have to take care of the family :)
At night after the kids go to bed, I workout with dumbbells and resistance bands. And then take a bath. I use bubbles and bath salts/bombs & read a good book. I tend to go overboard when bath & bodyworks has their after Christmas sale so I’ve got a nice assortment of body washes & scrubs and have been enjoying using a different one every day. It’s little things like that help lift my spirits!
For the kids, all last week we set aside reading time and for the youngest, he also spent time on school activities-his teacher posted a video of herself reading a story each day and on Friday she posted a video of P.E exercises for the kids to do. He can access some of the apps they use on their chromebooks at school so he used those to do math and reading activities.
every day we’ve gone outside and thrown the football, played catch with a softball and my DD has practiced hitting with the hitting machine. Hubby bought an agility ladder last year, for our son to use to improve his agility during the off season (football). He set that up on Friday and has challenged our son to do 3 of the exercises 10 times each, every day for a week. I am going to do it with him and we start tomorrow.
Tomorrow both kids start remote learning through their schools so that will give them plenty to do during the day. Late afternoon, we will continue to go outside with the football and softball. I ordered a speed rope from amazon and it should be here by Saturday so the kids will be jump roping for PE (amongst other things).
since hubby still has to go to work, it really doesn’t feel any different than summer vacation but that all changes tomorrow when remote school starts.
At Christmas I recieved a gift card to one of our local craft stores, and used it to buy a flat light box, a "diamonette" organizer box, and a table mount magnifyer also. I have yet to try them out, but I'm getting closer to starting one of these kits here soon. Thankfully we have both a covered patio and uncovered patio, so I hope to set up both indoor and outdoor, to be able to enjoy the nice weather, when it comes, it's actually been pretty nice weather here lately!
Hubby has a good amount of gardening projects lined up, plus he is our designated shopper/errand runner, so he is staying pretty busy keeping our household running during our self isolation routine. Like others, I'm a Homebody so this hasn't had a huge impact on me yet.
Another thing that we as a family already had in place is our Facebook Messenger profile which encompasses our British family as well, and there are about 50 of us hooked up and keeping in touch daily. It is interesting that our UK counterparts are basically on the exact same timeline as we are in the daily safety measures that have been put in place, ie: business, school, and restaurant closures, so I guess we really are all in this together!
So far, our 4 kids/spouses are all still working, mostly remotely, except for my SIL, who is a Chef in one our downtown Seattle hotels, he was just laid off last Friday, and for the foreseeable future and will hopefully have a job to go back to once things return to normal. We will get through this as a family, but it sure puts things into perspective that life as we know it is fragile and we must stick together! So far, I don't know of anyone who has contracted the Virus or has had to be quarantined because of it, knock on wood!
Thinking of you all, and praying that you and your loved ones stay healthy and as we all adhere to these common sense guidelines, we can stamp out or at least control this beast that is causing so much havoc to us all. Keep washing those hands now and don't hoard Toilet paper!
That's the good news; the bad news is that our 2 best restaurants in this small town burned down a month or so ago and now if I DO want to go somewhere, there's not much choice.... I always said if the Chinese restaurant went out of business I'd move away - that was one of the two. Used to have church on Sunday, but not now, and visiting my mom and my friend in AL, but not now. Used to walk a lot, but am heavy now and it's all up and down hill here (puff, puff), and no longer ride horse - who's 25 now, about as old as I am. Guess write another book, and try AGAIN to learn Spanish.... it's either that or housework (yucch).
I can fill my time by shaking the family tree on Ancestry.com. And washing the curtains in my house which haven't seen the inside of a washing machine in many years :P
I had an aunt who was a bonafide paranoid recluse - so occasionally I wonder about my mental health. Lol!
More, I think - it was a 20+ years career in retail management that pushed me beyond my limit for dealing with The General Public.
11 years ago we bought my dream house. A just the right size two bedroom sitting on a small bluff overlooking a lake, with a huge state park on the other side of the lake. The house was a bit of a “fixer-upper” and my parents dual health crash occurred prior to much of the fixing and as a result - I’ve become comfortable in its lack of fancy perfection.
Personally, I can sit for hours just looking out the window or sitting on the deck and watching nature and it’s wildlife. Except for the time I saw a Bald Eagle pluck a duck off the water, carry it to shore - and killed it it a fury of feathers... but I digress.
Ive been binge watching TV and movie franchises when I’m not elbow deep in Spring Cleaning.
If anyone has HBO - I highly recommend the series The Leftovers. It showed for three seasons so it’s not a huge commitment. It is hands down the best thing on film that I’ve ever seen.
At this time though, asking staff to set up Skpe visits is taking them away from doing their jobs. Like said, facilities maybe understaffed. And then there is taking precautions more than usual. Everything needs a continuous wipe down.
Sending photos of families is a GREAT idea. Now this is very practical and helpful suggestion of using tech devices for seniors. I think you may have a perfect solution for the isolation that occurs when family and seniors can't interact personally.
I wonder if suggestions like this could be made to activities staff of other facilities? I'm sure the families would appreciate it, and it is a way to communicate during the shutdowns.
GingerMay, I've always thought, and there is evidence to believe, that nature has soothing properties, and being outdoors is a good way to counteract stress, which I understand from a few new reports is increasing throughout the nation (and probably the world.)
Have you ever read articles on "Forest Bathing?"
I noticed yesterday that a lot more people were out walking or riding bikes, more than I've ever seen on a particular route that I take periodically. And they were SMILING! (Yes, I'm shouting - it was so heartwarming to see how happy these people seemed to be.)
I also heard a new bird call this morning. It's exciting, something to look forward to every morning. And, of course....it's the beginning of gardening season! Yesterday I saw what I think is a blended squirrel - it had almost black fur but also more of the reddish fur.
Black squirrels seem to have taken over, but it's only this year that I've noticed what I think is crossbreeding...black fur with red tails! Whatever they are, they've been busy rearranging the lawn and the garden.
Thanks to you both for sharing your thoughts and experiences.