Older adults in nursing homes cope with COVID
Courtesy Emily Mahoney
Courtesy Emily Mahoney
Gaby Dinman, left, has celebrated Hanukkah with her daughter, Emily Mahoney, for several years, but this year, COVID-19 has upended their annual celebration.
Courtesy Janice Garber
Ruth Garber, right, a resident of Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s Woodside Place, celebrated her birthday with a window visit from her family. Here, a Woodside Place health-care worker helps Garber open a gift.
Courtesy Janice Garber
Ruth Garber of Woodside Place in Washington enjoys a window visit with relatives. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many seniors who are at high risk to contract the virus cannot visit in-person with their family and friends.
Courtesy Janice Garber
Ruth Garber enjoys art projects and other activities at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s Woodside Place.
Courtesy Janice Garber
Ruth Garber of Woodside Place in Washington enjoys a window visit with relatives.
Courtesy Janice Garber
Ruth Garber takes advantage of a window visit with family at Woodside Place in Washington.
Courtesy Harry Funk
Elizabeth Funk has missed her weekly dinners with her grandson and visits with family members amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
For years, 91-year-old Gaby Dinman has celebrated the first night of Hanukkah at the North Strabane Township home of her daughter, Emily Mahoney.
Dinman, 91, whose family fled Germany in the 1930s as Adolf Hitler rose to power, delights in lighting the menorah, and recounting the story of the origin of Hanukkah.
The COVID-19 pandemic, though, ended that two-decade-long tradition.
“She loves coming to the house. She loves coming for the food, she likes lighting the candles, she likes telling the story every year. And this year, she can’t do that,” said Mahoney. “She lives for this. It’s terrible.”
Instead, Mahoney dropped off a Hanukkah care package, including jelly donuts and other favorite treats, for her mother, a resident of Providence Point in Scott Township.
Dinman is among the hundreds of thousands of elderly who are at higher risk for severe illness from the novel coronavirus.
The efforts to prevent COVID-19 transmission among older adults, however, might be having unintended consequences on their mental and physical health – especially those living in nursing homes.
Studies have linked loneliness to anxiety and depression, as well as other health conditions, including high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease.
Dr. Morgan Mihok, a geriatrician at Allegheny Health Network, said the pandemic is impacting areas that help older adults live well and longer, including diet, exercise, and socialization.
“We’re seeing impacts on all of those things. For residents whose families came in to facilities all the time to visit, or who had good social circles in the places they live, they are experiencing depression. We’re seeing increases in cognitive and functional decline,” said Mihok.
Because nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are locking down – in some cases limiting residents to their rooms as the homes battle COVID outbreaks – the elderly aren’t moving about as they used to.
Mihok said the reduced mobility can lead to increased fall risk. She also has seen weight loss and increased frailty.
That’s the case with Dinman, said Mahoney.
Her mother, who has spinal stenosis and other health issues, hasn’t been eating or walking well, and her hair has begun to fall out.
Because of a recent COVID outbreak, Dinman has been dining in her room.
“My mom’s really a people person. She loves seeing people,” said Mahoney. “They call her ‘the hummingbird of Providence Point. She flitted from table to table during meals. Now she says, ‘I want to die, I have nothing to live for.’ I’m trying to perk her up; I tell her she has my daughter’s wedding to look forward to, and a vaccine is coming. But she feels like a prisoner.”
Gaye Massey, 84, who lives in the Canon Apartments in Canonsburg, said COVID-19 restrictions – including the closing of the community room – have impacted the residents.
“It’s been really difficult, and it’s gotten more difficult since the weather changed,” said Massey. “We were sitting outside, six feet apart, when the weather was warmer, but that’s no longer going to be. Last year, we’d watch the Steelers games in the community room and people would bring snacks, but that’s ended. And for people who have children, their kids aren’t coming around, and people can’t go out and visit their kids.”
Massey typically travels to Michigan at Thanksgiving and Easter to visit with her three children, who live in the Midwest and West, but this year she canceled those visits.
“I’m doing fine. I’ve always been able to entertain myself. I’m very active, and I do jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles, but there are people who don’t have any outside interests,” said Massey, who is active in organizations in the Canonsburg community, including the Canonsburg Senior Center.
Kristen Dunham, director of Albert Gallatin Human Services Agency in Fayette County, said the pandemic has taken a toll on seniors.
“The isolation has been hard. People don’t realize how hard it is, not seeing a face, not having that connection,” said Dunham, whose organization delivers meals and offers grab-and-go meals. “They’re already in a difficult situation as home-bound senior citizens, and to have the isolation imposed on them compounds it. But, they’re tough and they will get through it.”
Mihok agreed that seniors are resilient.
“They have done so much and lived through so many hard things in their lifetimes,” sad Mihok. “They have so much strength. It is an incredibly tough time, for sure, but don’t underestimate their strength.”
There are ways to help seniors battle loneliness and social isolation, Mihok said.
She encourages residents at senior facilities to take advantage of in-person visits – even if those visits are through dividers – when possible.
“Some facilities are allowing brief visits through plexiglass, and I’ve seen some creative options that facilities have come up with to allow face-to-face visits,” she said.
Additionally, Mihok touted the importance of technology to stay connected.
Elizabeth Funk, 82, of The Grand Residence at Upper St. Clair, holds Zoom gatherings and talks on the phone regularly with family members spread across the country, including Florida and Denver.
“I do have a computer, which not everybody does, so using something like that to communicate with my family is an advantage,” said Funk.
A retired librarian, Funk is an avid reader. She is considering using audiobooks because she has been experiencing eye tiredness.
Still, Funk – whose husband died in January, two months before lockdowns were implemented – misses visits from her grandson, who dined with her weekly, and spending time with her son, Harry.
“It is hard just knowing that (the pandemic) is going on, and even if you wanted to, you couldn’t go out,” she said. “You want to stay safe. This is not fun for anybody.”
Mihok also stressed the importance of families providing their loved ones with food, objects, photos, and other items that are comforting and familiar.
Finally, Mihok encouraged families to lean into health-care staff at facilities who have close connections with their loved ones.
“Any of us who work in long-term care do it because that facility becomes like a second home and the staff pours their hearts into caring for the residents of the facility,” said Mihok. “Everybody’s trying to get through this as best we can. It helps for the staff to know they’re having a positive impact on patients’ lives during this time, too.”
Janice Garber, whose mother, Ruth Garber, is a resident at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s Woodside Place in Washington, said the staff “has been really great.”
“My mom is happy. Every time we see her, in a picture, or on Zoom, she’s smiling,” said Janice Garber, whose mother has Alzheimer’s disease. “The staff has been wonderful over these past months. It makes a difference.”
While the months-long pandemic continues, and cases in the United States and the region soar, time matters, said Massey of Canonsburg Apartments.
“Actually, you never know how long you have, and even the small stuff I took for granted, like going to church on Sunday and singing, is gone. You can’t do it anymore,” she said. “And I don’t know that this will end anytime soon.”
Elmer McCall of The Grand Residence at Upper St. Clair will celebrate his 98th birthday in January.
McCall’s daughter-in-law, Laura McCall, of North Strabane Township, said the outgoing, amiable retired businessman is a family man who attended every family event that he could until COVID.
“This past year has really taken its toll on him emotionally,” said Laura McCall. “He never wants to miss anything when it comes to his family. Every day and every month that goes by with Elmer having to isolate from his family takes something very special away from him.”
Elmer McCall recently was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection, but is recuperating. He never complains, his daughter-in-law said.
She remains optimistic about the COVID-19 vaccines awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
Said Laura McCall, “This has been a lost year for Elmer, but hopefully the vaccine will get here in time for him to enjoy his remaining years with his family.”