A Journey of Legend
Loving is Caring
The Last Call for Love in 2020
2020 is drawing to a close, but the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the US shows no sign of stopping. In nursing homes and other long-term care facilities – the places hit hardest by COVID deaths – the virus keeps breaking out in clusters. In November, a nursing home in Chesterfield, Virginia reported 16 COVID deaths, and a Kansas nursing home reported that all 62 of its residents had been infected.
According to The New York Times, at least 787,000 residents and staff of US nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have been infected with the coronavirus so far, and 106,000 of them have died – 38% of all COVID deaths in the United States.
But besides the coronavirus, another “virus” is spreading among tens of thousands of seniors: loneliness, despair and depression.
In Kirkland, Washington, after months of isolation in a nursing home, Charlie no longer recognized his wife of nearly 50 years. Ida lost 37 pounds, and then she stopped talking. Minnie often cried alone, asking God to take her.
Under the strict lockdowns imposed after the outbreak, loneliness and depression have become a “slow killer” pervading nursing homes. Esther Sarachene watched her 82-year-old mother, Ida Pasik, slowly wither and fall silent over several months in a Maryland nursing home. “She can no longer recognize who I am,” she said.
Seniors like these are not rare; every nursing home has sad stories like this. Everyone longs to wake up from this nightmare, but nobody knows when that moment will come. What frightens people most is that loneliness may strike them down before the virus does.
At this point, the nonprofit UAC Heroes and many kind-hearted people stepped in. Hand-drawn love cards, carrying the children’s innocent and beautiful wishes, were delivered into the seniors’ hands.
There were also small crafts and games to help the seniors pass the time.
And little snacks to bring a bit of happiness.
But could these snacks be a choking hazard for the seniors? The volunteers urgently sought advice from all sides and finally decided to take all the snacks back out of the sealed bags.
Finally the bags were delivered to the nursing home’s door. Since they couldn’t go inside, the young volunteers just took photos with the staff at the entrance.
Earlier, the volunteers had already delivered carefully prepared protection kits to the caregivers at this nursing home. Just then a caregiver getting off shift took the very last bag, and the volunteers were overjoyed.
Since the pandemic hit the US, UAC Heroes has moved from donating personal protective equipment (PPE) to focusing on how nursing homes are coping and on emotional care for their residents: a “Loving Is Caring” family summer photo contest, a campaign encouraging everyone to wear masks, hand-drawn love cards from children to seniors, protection kits for nursing home caregivers, crafts and toys to keep seniors company, practical daily necessities, and online concerts held especially for the seniors.
From Cabrini to Sprain Brook Manor and now Cliffside, UAC volunteers are working hard to carry this love to the residents and caregivers of more nursing homes.
But UAC is still a young grassroots nonprofit. With a limited budget, our volunteers stretch every dollar and invite businesses to donate supplies – for example, Heartland Foods donated high-quality snacks, and Scouts in Westchester donated chocolates.
So UAC Heroes needs more kind-hearted people to join us in bringing love to more seniors. Especially as the holidays approach, a little love from each of us may mean the world to a lonely senior.
We hope to deliver 500 holiday love bags (contents shown below) to 500 seniors before New Year’s Day. Just $5 puts a love bag into a senior’s hands and might light up their smile. To take part, please visit uac-heroes.org/a/get-involved.
We also welcome new members to the UAC volunteer team. Right now we need volunteers to handwrite Christmas cards, young volunteers to perform online (singing, dancing, playing an instrument and more), and volunteers to help liaise with nursing homes and edit videos. Visit the link above to join us.
We look forward to walking this road together with you.
Before the most important holiday of this extraordinary year of 2020,
will you join us in brightening the holidays for our seniors?
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