Staying in touch with loved ones in residential aged care... a few ideas
There's been a lot of coverage in the media about aged care residential facilities and other similar organisations, such as hospices, going into lockdown in response to the risks to residents from COVID-19, and the inevitable anxiety that creates amongst residents, staff and families.
Of course there are some wonderful stories of how many of our aged care facilities are doing their upmost to ensure social connections are maintained such as Clarence Estate's partnership with local primary schools through which children sent residents beautiful paintings and messages. What a delight that would have been for all involved!
In response to a Facebook group member's call out for ideas of how she could stay connected with her elderly father who was in lockdown a really useful list of creative ideas were gathered into a handy resource which can be found on the Compassionate Communities Toolkit.
Which of these could you do today?
- Write a letter
- Keep in touch through technology such as Skype, WhatsApp, Facetime etc
- Keep in touch by voice eg phone calls, voice recordings
- Keep in touch with special photos eg create an album of family photos
- Send in a little care pack of special things
- Make a scrapbook or memory box
- Make a playlist of favourite songs
- Play an on-line game together
These are just a few of the ideas from the handy "Caring During Lockdown" resource which can be found in the "COVID-19 and Compassionate Communities" section of the toolkit.
These are just a few of the many (often simple) ways that we can show compassion for those in our communities who are ageing and facing end of life.
