Inspired by Family and Valentine’s Days, local residents are being encouraged to ‘show the love.’
Created by North Simcoe Muskoka Specialized Geriatric Services, the 'Show the Love' campaign aims to lift the spirits of those living and working in long-term care and retirement homes.
Program director Sandra Easson-Bruno said older adults in care homes have become socially isolated from family and friends as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
“For many, activities in their homes have been reduced or stopped to minimize the risk and spread of the virus, creating loneliness and isolation for many,” Easson-Bruno said. “Staff in these homes are working tirelessly to support the needs of the residents, with many often working long hours.”
And while COVID-19 has impacted everyone, Easson-Bruno said it has had a profound effect on older adults in long-term care homes and retirement homes.
As well, she noted recent outbreaks at area residences have highlighted the need to ensure both the physical and mental well-being of residents.
“There’s been a lot in the media lately about the need to change things like long-term care policy, which is all really, really important,” she said. “But it's going to take a little bit of time for some of that stuff to happen, particularly the policy change.
“And in the meantime, every day, we have the residents and their families and the staff who are just putting one foot in front of another, and continuing to move forward through this pandemic.”
According to statistics provided by the organization, 60,318 older adults (aged 60 and over) were identified last month as COVID-positive, representing 21.4% of all COVID-19 cases reported in the province, while also accounting for 95.7% of all COVID-related deaths.
In the month of January 2021, Simcoe Muskoka seniors aged 80 years of age and older had the highest rate of infection, with over 90% of these cases associated with an institutional outbreak.
The organization hopes participants will take to social media and post a video message, photo, letter or piece of art, using hashtags #ShowtheLove and #NSMSGS. The messages will be sent to care homes and shared on various social media channels in a compilation video.
As well, area residents can also write letters, draw pictures and/or make small signs of support and encouragement for residents and staff and deliver them to a care home in their community. Mark them as #ShowTheLove and remember to mask and physically distance when you drop them off.
“The pandemic itself has impacted everybody,” Easson-Bruno said, noting the ongoing restrictions have also greatly affected seniors still living in their homes.
“But in particular, for those living in the long-term care homes and retirement homes, it's not just the virus, it's the restrictions as well. Many of those homes were shut down for quite a while. There's always been issues with isolation and older adults, but it's just become magnified or amplified, really, as a result of the COVID restrictions.”
She said the campaign offers a great opportunity to show those living and working in the homes that others are thinking of them.
“We thought this would be a great opportunity with it being the week of Valentine's Day and Family Day, to just get a bit of a social media campaign to heighten awareness and really show some support and encouragement for the residents in the homes, the family members, who are trying so hard, as well as the staff. The staff are really working very hard to almost be that social support system for those older adults that are in the homes.”
Established in 2015 and based out of Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, the agency’s program involves a team of health care providers dedicated to optimizing the health and well being of frail seniors and their caregivers in the region.
