Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By CHARITY SMITH
Wakefield — Activities are continuing as scheduled for residents at Gogebic Medical Care Facility, they even enjoyed a visit and photo op with the Easter Bunny last week, in spite of the looming threat of COVID-19.
Photos with the bunny were mailed to the loved ones of residents with the caption, “Somebunny loves and misses you. I’m doing ok.”
“It’s the same course of activities, we are just a little bit more precautious, following social distancing guidelines, and frequent hand washing,” said Heidi Brown, activities director at GMCF.
Nursing homes in the area and across the country have had to reformat their visitation methods and activities, such as bingo, in order to help prevent COVID-19.
Residents at GMCF are now playing “hallway bingo,” instead of their usual weekly bingo game. Bingo Participants are spaced six feet apart in the hallway and numbers are called out over the intercom. When a bingo is called out, activities staff check the numbers, while music is played for residents to “groove to,” according to Brown. This new way allows for them to practice proper social distancing, while still enjoying their game.
Sky View Nursing Center in Hurle has a different technique for enjoying Bingo during the quarantine. Residents are kept in their rooms and given a menu with daily bingo numbers for them to play, and they notify staff if they have a bingo.
Residents at GMCF are also participating in the #worldofhearts movement, by having residents cut up paper hearts and/or paint hearts to in their windows to spread love, not germs. The movement, originated in Prince George, British Columbia and is spreading wildly across the world. People are taking pictures of hearts and posting them on social media with the hash-tags #worldofhearts and #spreadlovenotgerms.
“We are doing many wonderful things with/for them. We are continuing activities with them, just making sure to keep them six foot apart,” Brown said.
Since both Michigan and Wisconsin have implemented “Stay at Home, Stay Safe” mandates, in person visitation with nursing home patients is no longer possible. However, GMCF and Sky View are now utilizing Zoom, Facetime and Skype to allow residents to have some sort of visual contact with their loved ones.
“The most important thing is just keeping them in contact with their families,” said Alaina Swartz, activities director at Sky View Nursing Center, of ways to keep up residents spirits during this time.
