The coronavirus has wrecked many of our daily routines. And for people who live in nursing homes in Alaska, which have yet to reopen to the public, the feeling can be even more heightened. To deal with the changes, nursing home staff in Juneau are trying to create a sense of normalcy for the residents.
When Melissa Elmore styles hair at Wildflower Court, the tunes are always playing.
“You’re hair sure curls really nicely,” Elmore tells a resident in her 80s as she curls the woman’s blonde bob.
At times, they both sway to the song, Come and Get Your Love by Redbone. They talk about family and dancing.
Elmore is wearing a blue face mask. But besides that, you wouldn’t know that a global pandemic is going on, or that the nursing home has been closed to the public for more than three months.
Elmore says creating this calm environment for the residents is intentional.
“The one I just got done with, she always claps her hands and smiles real big and kicks her feet because she’s so happy,” Elmore said.
Styling hair isn’t Elmore’s normal job at Wildflower Court, where she’s worked for more than 10 years. She’s an assistant social worker. She handles things like resident admissions and Medicaid renewal. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, outside visitors — like beauticians — can’t come inside the building. So, Elmore temporarily adopted the role.
She says, for residents, it’s about more than getting a refreshed hairdo to look good.
“Even before this hit, it was something that was like a routine that happened every single week,” Elmore said. “I didn’t want them to have to miss that.”
Nursing home residents are missing a lot right now. They’re having to rely on video chats or window visits to stay in touch with their families. But activities that typically occupy the rest of the day have been affected as well.
Melissa’s spouse, Kirk Elmore, works at Wildflower Court, too. He organized actives around the time COVID-19 struck.
“It’s really important to have that thing that you can look forward to,” he said.
He says the pair have taken added precautions to prevent contracting the virus and bringing it into the nursing home. Kirk Elmore hasn’t been inside a grocery since the nursing home closed its doors in March.
And like Melissa Elmore, he’s trying to help residents fill their time with things they normally like to do.
“We’re not doing something big and with a lot of people,” Kirk Elmore said. “But those interactions that we have, those real meaningful moments, are really nice.”
That can look like staff bringing a cup of coffee to a resident’s room and chatting for a bit, rather than a group meet-up. Singalongs have been replaced by watching Youtube videos, and religious leaders aren’t coming in to lead services: those are streamed live.
Then, there are changes to another sacred activity.
“Bingo is one of those things you don’t mess with because it’s typically so important to our residents,” Kirk Elmore said.
So instead of one big game, there are now two bingo games each day, which allows for smaller groups.
Recently, dozens of people tested positive for COVID-19 at a nursing home in Anchorage. That hasn’t happened in Juneau, but Kirk Elmore said this can be a stressful time for nursing home staff, too. To cope with that added stress, Wildflower Court created a calming space for staff with essential oils and relaxing lighting. He says its a good place to pray or meditate on why the job is important.
Melissa Elmore summed it up best:
“Not that we didn’t do it before, but we may be doing more of it,” she said. “Just to make sure that our residents are happy and safe and know that they’re loved and being taken care of.”
