HIGHLAND TOGETHER AT LAST

Nursing home resident, 83, able to see wife, son despite pandemic

John Joseph McAuley saw his 83-year-old father for the first time in quite a while on Wednesday.

“A guy that I idolized and who has been a strength for me is obviously on his way out,” the 28-year-old said after visiting his dad, John James McAuley, at the Wingate at Ulster nursing home, where the older man has lived since 2018.

The elder McAuley contracted COVID-19 in March and survived, but he came down with pneumonia a short time later, his son said. After surviving pneumonia, he had two strokes that left him unable to hear. John James’ wife, Donna, a nurse, speculated the strokes might have been caused by COVID-19.

John Joseph, now a Chicago resident, drove to Highland to be with his mother when she visited his father.

The McAuleys were pleased the Wingate administration bent the rules on Wednesday to allow a socially distanced outdoor visit in the midst of the coronavirus pan

demic and at a time when nursing homes across the country are closed to visitors to prevent the spread of virus.

John Joseph and Donna stayed 6 feet away from the elder McAuley, and both wore masks, with the exception of one brief moment when John Joseph said “we both pulled our masks off so he could see our face.”

Still, John Joseph said, “some of our worst fears came true.” He said his father was “not with it” and has lost weight. He probably also doesn’t understand the nature of the virus or the reasons for the facility’s strict visitation policies, the son said.

“He obviously doesn’t understand what’s going on,” John Joseph said. “Could you even imagine?

It’s almost like you open your eyes and you’re on a different planet, in a different place.”

Donna, who is in her 60s, hadn’t seen her husband since the Wingate was closed to visitors in early March, she said. Until then, the full-time nurse said she had visited her husband every day for one or two hours.

Since his stroke, John James has begun hospice care and Donna has been considering whether to bring him home. Donna said she works from home full time and will need assistance with his care.

“It was a little rough today,” she said after the visit, but added that she will continue working with Hospice on a plan to bring her husband home to Esopus.

“Hospice has been great. He’s going to need really full-time care,” she said.

Donna and John Joseph said they were appreciative of the Wingate’s flexibility and compassion as they arranged Wednesday’s visit.

Donna said she hopes her family’s story will prompt others with loved ones in area nursing homes to try and arrange socially distanced outdoor visits so that they can safely “see their family members face to face.”

“A guy that I idolized and who has been a strength for me is obviously on his way out.” — John Joseph McAuley after visiting his 83-year-old father on Wednesday

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TANIA BARRICKLO — DAILY FREEMAN John James McAuley is shown outside the Wingate at Ulster nursing home in Highland, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, en route to visiting with his wife, Donna, and son, John Joseph, for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak began. Pushing the wheelchair is Wingate Activities Coordinator Jessica Argento.

TANIA BARRICKLO — DAILY FREEMAN John James McAuley, in wheelchair, visits with his wife, Donna, and son, John Joseph, outside the Wingate at Ulster nursing home in Highland, N.Y., on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Standing is Wingate Activities Director Laura Megna.