A Morgantown nursing facility, where a number of residents and staff have contracted COVID-19, began allowing limited, in-person, outdoor visits Thursday.
The sessions at Sundale Rehabilitation and Long Term Care will run through Monday, said Dr. Carl Shrader, the facility’s medical director. Visits, the director said, will be on the grounds and not inside the facility and are limited to five people or less, per Monongalia County Health Department’s mandate. Without exception, masks will be worn and social distancing will be maintained.
“There’s absolutely no way we could it otherwise,” Shrader said.
That’s so residents can at least have some time with their loved ones for Mother’s Day this weekend, he said.
Interaction, though, will be very much limited, said Shrader, who is also a WVU physician.
Residents and families will be allowed one hour, he said.
Visits will be staggered, he said, for ease, logistics and safety.
After all, the physician said, bottlenecks aren’t good for people in a pandemic.
“And staggering the visits means everybody has time to get the residents ready to go.”
Sundale, for now, appears ready to finally turn the COVID-19 curve, he said.
Five residents have died of complications from the novel coronavirus.
A 100-year-old who had been under hospice care was this week’s most recent victim.
Thirty-three people, however — residents and staffers — have recovered.
He expects the same for 12 more, he said.
With no solid prospect of a vaccine, the physician said he’ll continue to prescribe hand washing and social distancing.
And something else: Wearing a mask, without fail, in public.
“I don’t know why we aren’t doing that anyway.”
Sundale, he said, is doing all of those measures, without fail.
“We’re at one of our best moments since COVID-19 entered our building,” he said.
In the meantime, Mother’s Day will at least enter the neighborhood of the Village at Heritage Point.
Where there’s a wheel, there’s a Wi-Fi
It takes a Village, said Wilma Sternthal, the director of The Village at Heritage Point.
Once organizers got the idea in gear, the enthusiasm morphed it into the makings of “a real parade,” she said.
The Honk, Yell and Wave Mother’s Day and Spring Car Parade will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday in front of the facility.
Family and friends are encouraged to decorate and hang signs on their cars and participate in the parade. Strict social distancing of at least six feet will be enforced for the residents as they watch from their balconies, patios and sidewalks. Parade participants must stay in their cars at all times. This event is not open to the public, but will be shown on Facebook Live on The Village at Heritage Point Facebook page.
Nothing cures stir-crazy like a steering wheel, Sternthal said, even if the vehicle to which it’s attached can only be experienced vicariously.
“Our residents have spent the past several weeks in their apartments,” she said.
“We wanted to do something safe and special for them.”
COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the traditional Mother’s Day service in neighboring Taylor County, where it all began.
That doesn’t mean, that one can’t use Wi-Fi in the middle of a pandemic.
A virtual service will be at 2 p.m. that day from the Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton.
The service is an annual look at the life and times of Anna Jarvis, who founded the day in honor of her mother.
To dial in, visit www.internationalmothersdayshrine.org.
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