Postcards bring world to long-term care
‘We’ll never get there,’ so Bowmanville seniors travel globe vicariously Resident Kay Smaells pinpoints Pompeii on a map of the world.
Residents of Glen Hill Strathaven are travelling the world without ever leaving their Bowmanville long-term care home.
A new Postcard Pals program is bringing in postcards and letters from around the world. In February, the Facebook page Postcard Pals in Long Term Care put out a call requesting postcards for the local longterm-care home. Since then hundreds of postcards have arrived at Glen Hill Strathaven.
“There’s a lot of fascinating ones. It depends on where you want to go — hot or cold. I like hot,” said Kay Samells, a resident of Glen Hill Strathaven. “I’m not a traveller. My husband did all the travelling. I stayed home and kept the home fires burning.”
The postcards have arrived from all over: Niagara Falls, Ottawa, Florida, the United King- dom, Alaska, Rome, Arizona, Quebec, Cyprus, Pompeii and more.
“This guy wrote it from the perspective of the Witch King of Angmar (from the Lord of the Rings books). He’s actually from Milwaukee. This person put so much effort into it. That’s the most creative one by far,” said Christina McConachie, program manager for Glen Hill Strathaven.
Twice a month, residents gather in a common room to vicariously visit some of the postcard locations. The resident reading the postcards, the writers often fill the back with facts on the postcard location. Using Google Earth, the residents are able to take a virtual tour of the locations.
“The tropical places have been absolutely fantastic,” said resident David Samells (Kay’s son).
“Because we’ll never get there,” added Kay.
When the Postcard Pals program runs, the common room is usually full of residents. Even some of the residents’ family members have started to make a habit of coming for lunch that day and staying for the postcard virtual tours.
“I think it’s great because it’s a lot of educational things that you don’t even know” said David.
There’s a world map on the wall of the common room with several push-pins marking the locations that have already been toured. Framing the wall around the map are the postcards that have inspired the virtual visits.
Strathaven has many postcard locations still to tour and they are hoping to receive even more mail for the Postcard Pals program — whether they are mailed from across the ocean or across the street.
“We have not got any from Bowmanville,” said McConachie. “They do have them at the museum.”
To send a postcard, mail to: Postcard Pals C/O Strathaven 264 King St. E. Bowmanville, Ont., L1C 1P9. Follow the Postcard Pals in Long Term Care Facebook page for more information on the program.