Coronavirus kindness: Kids inspire nursing home residents
It’s been a little more than a month since the Lehigh Valley reopened from its coronavirus shutdown, and most of us have settled into our “new normal.” Thousands of people statewide haven’t been afforded that opportunity yet, though. Most nursing homes still are closed to visitors. Residents still have to make do with video chats, phone calls and window visits.
They need something, anything, to lift their spirits. Residents of a few local homes got a surprise pick-me-up from children at
KidsPeace.
Those children, who face challenges of their own, sent 80 handmade cards to Cedarbrook and Country Meadows nursing homes, encouraging residents to stay strong and entertaining them with jokes.
The kids are separated from their families, too, living at the KidsPeace residential care facility in North Whitehall Township for various reasons. Some have intellectual disabilities. Some have mental health and behavioral health needs. Many have experienced trauma.
Many struggle to make connections with other people. Writing the cards helped them learn how to do that, even from afar.
“To come out of themselves, to try to connect with a total stranger in the midst of a pandemic while they’re dealing with their own struggles and anxieties and whatnot around all of that, I think was what was truly remarkable,” said Stephanie Kerns, KidsPeace director of recreational therapies and enrichment services.
The kids, ages 7 to 17, were excited about the project, but some were unsure at first what messages to write. Some decided to be inspirational, encouraging residents to “Stay Positive,” “Keep Your Head Up Stay Strong” and “Smile.” Others chose humor.
“What kind of cheese isn’t yours? Nacho cheese.”
“Why wouldn’t the poppy seed leave the casino? He was on a roll.”
The underlying theme of all the cards, Kerns said: You’re not in this alone.
“They talked a lot about that in the cards, about how they experienced the feeling of loneliness at times and that they missed their families and friends. And that they know what it’s like to be scared but they were encouraging the other residents not to be scared and to know that they’re not alone and to know that our kids here are here for them and they’re all in this together,” she said.
The cards accomplished their mission.
“Our folks loved them. They read them out loud to each other,” said Wendy Balik, director of dynamic living at Country Meadows in Upper Macungie Township. “They were really touched by the messages, especially coming from children and they did recognize they share with the KidsPeace kids the experience of being away from family.”
“Our residents love intergenerational programs, so they were ecstatic to receive the inspirational cards from the kids at KidsPeace,” said Alice Christman, life enrichment director at Cedarbrook Senior Care & Rehabilitation in South Whitehall Township.
She told me residents are displaying the cards in their rooms, and often mention them to home staff who visit with them.
The children were anxious to know how their cards were received.
“They wanted to know when they got sent, they wanted to know if there was any feedback about the cards, they wanted to hear that they made somebody else smile,” Kerns said.
In addition to teaching them to express themselves to others, the cards taught the kids a lesson in altruism and community spirit.
“They got to experience the feelgood emotions of knowing that they made somebody else smile, expecting nothing else in return,” Kerns said.
She told me KidsPeace hopes to get the children involved in other community outreach projects as well, possibly including making more cards and making some personal visits after the coronavirus clears.
Christman told me that Cedarbrook’s volunteer coordinator, Kerry Magliane, had requested greeting cards for residents when visits were restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic. Other homes surely would welcome them, too.
Making cards would be a good project for any children, either with their families or through organizations such as the Cub Scouts that are looking for community service projects. A list of nursing homes in each county can be found on the state Department of Health’s website, https:// www.health.pa.gov/.