While families remain on the outside, away from their loved ones who live in long-term care, the residents inside sit and wait, cut off from the world and with their routines drastically altered due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Now that it’s actually sunny out, you want to go outside, and that’s a hard one for me to handle,” explained Melanie Gaunt, a resident at Ivany Place, Northwood Continuing Care’s Bedford, N.S., campus.
“I’d like to see my friends, too, obviously; I’d like to be able to give people a hug,” she said. “That’s probably right now the hardest thing for me.”
Gaunt lives with multiple sclerosis and has called Ivany her home for about a decade.
But even though that’s where she lays her head, it’s far from the only place you’ll find her, as she often uses the Access-a-Bus service to attend events in Halifax, socialize with friends and speak as a disability and housing advocate.
When the decision was made to close long-term care homes to visitors, it also meant closing the door on her leaving the property or even taking full advantage of the large-scale facility.
Staff transitioned her section into a treatment area for potential positive cases, and she was moved to a different wing of the facility.
“It’s what, three or four weeks now?” she said. “So we’re all getting kind of tired and we’re anticipating a lot.
“We’ve watched everyone else get really sick,” she said of the global pandemic. “We don’t know what to anticipate, and that’s the scary part.”
That anticipation of the unknown has perhaps increased recently, as the organization that runs Ivany Place announced two home care workers and one staff member at its Halifax location have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
“It’s nerve-racking. I won’t deny that,” she said.
But still, Gaunt’s spirits remain high despite everything that’s come her way.
Gaunt says that’s a matter of taking things one day at a time, and she admits being isolated in a second-floor wing that just happens to have a cat helps as well.
“I think she was actually smiling yesterday when she came in, so that’s nice,” Gaunt said of her feline friend, Sage, who took some time to adjust to having to share her space.
Gaunt says that through it all, she’s constantly amazed by the staff members who make it easy to keep a positive attitude, calling their dedication to the residents “touching.”
She also knows exactly what she plans to do when the restrictions are lifted.
“I really want a haircut and I want some good coffee,” she said. “I’m going to give a very nice tip to my hairdresser when this is all said and done.”
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