In North Carolina, a senior care facility has put out a call for people in their community–and around the world–to write letters to the residents of the home. Originally, the organizers behind this effort thought that it might be a short term thing for the residents that suddenly were not allowed to have visitors. Instead, it has turned into a longer term initiative designed to help improve mental health.
Victorian Senior Care put out the call toward the beginning of the pandemic when they recognized that this was going to be a longer ordeal than what was originally suspected. Although it’s been only a short while since that original call went out, there has been a great response already. The Cary, NC, facility put something out on Facebook asking for people to help out. In the first week, there were over 300,000 post shares. They knew right away that they had something big on their plates. Not only were people in their care homes hurting, there were a lot of people out there that wanted to help, but didn’t know how. This gave them a way to do so.
This service is not the only one that has been thinking creatively to help address the needs of seniors within the community. Hundreds of services and homes around the world have also been stepping up to help the people that they serve. Whether it’s a Facebook or Instagram post, handwritten letters, or even people coming to the lawns of care facilities to sing or perform in a socially distant manner, many are homes are doing all that they can to help the elderly that they work with be a little bit happier during this time.
We all need to find joy where we can get it. As quarantine and social distancing restrictions continues to go on and on, we are getting tired. It’s mentally exhausting to live life this way. If it’s hard for us, it’s certainly hard for our elderly loved ones. We all need to do what we can to help make their lives a little bit better.
For some, this could be a great way to help seniors feel more connected to the world around them. During this time of quarantine, most nursing homes and assisted living facilities have put restrictions on visitors for the safety of the residents. Although this has helped to limit seniors’ exposure to COVID-19, it has certainly taken a toll on the mental health of the elderly at the same time. Helping to improve communication with the world around us, either through letters as in the above mentioned pen pal program or some other way, can help seniors feel less isolated and help lessen or prevent some of the mental health issues that we are seeing emerge amongst seniors.
Experts within these settings agree that this type of engagement can help seniors see a bump in mental health. This is good, especially during this tough time. If you have an older loved one, this, or something similar may be exactly what you’re looking for to help them be happier.
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