The kids lighting up the lockdown
Small children boost elderly aged care residents during the lockdown & win $5000 ASB award.
When Rebecca Murton and husband Callum had two of their three babies hospitalised early in their lives, they were “blown away” by the kindness they were shown. So they determined to pay it back – which is why Rebecca and her three kids Cassie (8), Lorelei (5) and Adam (3), set out on a 1.5km walk every Thursday during the lockdown, a journey which takes them to the Bupa Aged Care Home in Whitby, Wellington. Because of the lockdown and the extreme sensitivity of elderly residents in aged care homes to the Covid-19 virus, they can only stand outside right now – but that is enough to light up the day for those indoors. Children and the elderly go together like spaghetti and meatballs – and the Murton family’s interaction with the Bupa Aged Care residents has sparked not only a blossoming relationship between the very young and very old, it has also resulted in an ASB Good As Gold Isolation Edition award, recognising the Murtons’ community spirit with $5000. “Perhaps one of the hardest parts of this lockdown for many people has been the feeling of isolation and a lack of normalcy,” says ASB midlands regional manager Chelsea O’Riley. “The Murton family’s visits have provided that sense of normalcy and support for a group of Kiwis whose families and friends aren’t able to visit – something which is hugely valuable in the current situation,” says O’Riley. Rebecca says it all started when Lorelei and Adam were hospitalised heartbreakingly early in their lives – Lorelei because she was born with Down Syndrome and Adam because he had a hole in the heart which required surgery in his first two weeks of life. “We were on the receiving end of some truly lovely help from some truly lovely people who did some truly lovely things for us,” she says. “So we wanted to pay it back. We’d done a lot of research about how kids and elderly people go together so well, with benefits on both sides, and my in-laws in Gisborne often play music at a local rest home.” Enter Helen Butcher, the woman who effectively put the Murton family and the residents together. Her 69-year-old husband Peter had moved into the Bupa home after 11 years of her acting as his carer following a brain injury. She admired what the home’s activities officer was doing but felt more help was needed. “So I placed an ad on Facebook asking for anyone with talent who wanted to entertain a local rest home and I was inundated with replies. We had musicians, opera singers, you name it – and some of them have been along too. “But right down the bottom of the responses, I saw this woman who was saying: ‘I don’t really have any talents – but I’ve got kids’,” says Helen. “I thought to myself: ‘That’s perfect’.” So it’s proved. Before the lockdown, Rebecca and Adam (and all her kids during the school holidays and other breaks) would turn up on Thursday and basically play with the residents. To hear Rebecca tell it, they “don’t do much. We don’t do anything fancy. Sometimes we take games and we do arts and crafts and take toys and books. Peter used to be in education so he often sets Cassie some tasks, like word play – he often writes out on a sheet of paper what she has to do to complete the task. “I mean, it’s lovely to be given this money but my husband put it best – we are being paid to enrich our children’s lives. That’s what has happened. The children love it; they call them “our old people” and it’s a real joy to watch them together. ”I don’t see the residents any time other than when we are there so I am not certain what they’re like at other times – but they are certainly bright and interactive when the kids are there.” Helen says it goes a lot further than that. The lockdown curtailed face-to-face activities but the Murtons still turned up: “I got a call from Peter, who was highly excited, telling me Rebecca and the children were outside, holding placards with messages on them and calling out that they love them. “You can imagine what that does for those inside, they are overjoyed - especially as rest homes are locked down very tight at the moment because of the virus. People there can’t see their families, some don’t have family in this country at all. “I saw it for myself when Peter and his friend Godfrey were talking after one visit. They were so animated and engaged, they didn’t stop talking about them. Peter used to be the head of engineering at a polytech so he’s a well-educated man – he loves working on things like poetry with Cassie and when she sees him she runs up to him and sits in his lap. “Adam, Peter and Godfrey make things together – it’s such a good thing for them and they all enjoy it hugely.” Decades of research has shown that older people enjoy better health, wellbeing and cognitive functions when they are mentoring younger people – while the benefits for the children (measured by studies in progress for decades) are shown to be a more stable and fruitful life when exposed to such mentoring. Rebecca is a trained, part-time nurse, at Wellington Hospital and on the front line against the coronavirus when she works on Fridays, so knows the importance of “contact” at a time of non-contact. “But we are completely blown away by this award – it’s great and hopefully we will give some of it to the rest home.”