New Westminster resident Karen Smith whisked her 76-year-old mother from her Burnaby care home despite COVID-19 restrictions and took her into downtown Vancouver to see the sites.
Not to worry, no seniors were harmed during the making of this trip – it was all done virtually.
Smith and her sister haven’t been able to visit their mother, Joy Makepeace-Smith, at St. Michael’s Centre since the pandemic began.
And, because Smith is working from home, their scheduled Facetime visits have been kind of blah.
“Normally, we would just kind of sit and stare at each other on Facetime as I would desperately try to come up with things to talk to her about because, with COVID, I work from home all day and I can’t go out, so I really don’t have anything to update her on.”
Recently, though, Smith had an errand to run in downtown Vancouver during their scheduled Facetime, so she decided to take her mom along.
“I just used my phone as a hotspot and I set up my iPad in the window of my car, connected to her on Facetime that way and then just let her look at the view as I drove downtown,” Smith said. “I thought, well, if she can see and she can hear me, then I can talk to her while I’m driving, just like she’s in the passenger seat.”
Her mom, who hasn’t been downtown since a stroke three years ago, loved it, Smith said.
“She said it was just like being there,” Smith said. “The right side of her brain is dead from the stroke, but her memory and intelligence is still intact, so she remembered when I pointed things out. When I said, ‘Do you remember that Dairy Queen we used to go to when we were little?’ she said, ‘Oh yeah, your favourite was always blah blah blah.’”
Smith hasn’t had a chance to take her mom anywhere else since, but she said she’d like to take the iPad to a park or some other lively place next time.
“Just so it’s something different for her to look at,” Smith said.
Before the pandemic, Smith and her sister had arranged through Home Instead Senior Care for companions to visit their mother on the days that they can’t be there.
In a conversation with owner of the company recently, Smith talked about the virtual trip she had taken with her mother into Vancouver.
The owner, Harpreet Singh, was so impressed with the idea he said he’d be passing it on to other clients.
As B.C. reopens, the company says seniors’ ongoing isolation because of COVID-19 can amplify feelings of loneliness, especially with holidays like Father’s Day coming up.
“In a time when being in the same room may not always be possible, staying engaged and connected in other ways is more important than ever,” stated a company press release. “Exploring creative approaches to keep in touch with our aging loved ones can make a big difference in their day-to-day lives.”
