SHERIDAN — While Governor Bullock has eased up some restrictions on nursing homes and assisted living facilities, places the Tobacco Root Mountains Care Center in Sheridan, continue to remain extremely vigilant.
But they’ve come up with a creative idea to make sure residents can still see family and friends, face-to-face.
“We have had to really think outside the box to come up with ways to keep the family,” said Gail Nelson who works at the nursing home.
Well, it’s more like thinking inside the box. The visitation box, that is.
Like so many nursing homes across the country, the Tobacco Root Mountains Care Center had to re-envision ways to make sure residents could still see their loved ones, as cases of COVID-19 continue to appear across the state.
“We know it’s a very difficult time for family members, not being able to touch and hug their loved ones,” said Nelson.
“We completely understand that so we are doing everything within our power to accommodate what we can.”
That means Facetime sessions, family parades around the facility and visits through the newly constructed visitation booth.
And because there’s no way of transmission, residents and visitors can take their masks off… catch up, and share a smile.
“They sit closer than they normally would be able to. They can see each other, they can hear each other better, and I think that they get that sense of closeness that they’ve been longing for.”