Wilma Loitz of Winona, Minn., cried the first time she saw her 96-year-old mother on video chat. It had been months since she’d last been able to visit her mom at her nursing home.
“When we video chat we throw hugs and kisses and just say how much we love and miss each other. And she’ll say ‘How long is this going to last?’ ” Loitz said.
Loitz and her mother have video chatted almost every day since Lake Winona Manor — the facility where her mother lives — received donated tablets.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Loitz visited in person every other day. But since March, many hospitals and nursing centers have restricted nearly all visitors to stop the spread of the virus. That means hospital patients and care center residents are unable to have family and friends stop by.
“As time went on, it just kept getting harder,” Loitz said.
The Olivia and Howard Geller Foundation for Patient Safety has given WiFi-enabled tablets such as iPads to more than 30 hospitals statewide so patients and residents can stay in touch with loved ones. The tablets also provide patients with access to the internet, news and games.
The foundation has purchased 250 tablets so far and has been handing them out the past several weeks, said Linda Geller Axelrod, the foundation’s executive director.
Loitz said the tablets have been especially helpful because her mother has difficulty hearing, meaning they couldn’t talk just over the phone.
“I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s been wonderful because now we have the contact and we can see each other,” she said.
Geller Axelrod said she was saddened by news stories about family members who could not see each other even if they were dying.
“We were trying to find a way to make things easier for patients,” she said.
The initiative started in late April, and the foundation has raised nearly $11,000 from local donors. Many of the tablets are the Amazon Fire HD 8 model, which cost about $90 each. Samsung tablets and iPads are also used.
“People have been really, really generous. I think it’s probably because everybody has had an experience before where someone in their family has been in the hospital, and they know how important it is to stay in contact with that person,” Geller Axelrod said.
The foundation reached out to the Minnesota Hospital Association, which contacted hospital members across the state to see if there was a need for the tablets.
“We saw that our members were interested in pursuing this opportunity and making sure that their patients had another way to connect with their loved ones,” said Emily Lowther, communications director for the Minnesota Hospital Association.
The tablets are not just for those hospitalized with COVID-19 but for any patient under the no-visitor restrictions if staff feel they could benefit. That is the same for Lake Winona Manor.
Jan Brosnahan, CFO and treasurer of Winona Health Services, said in addition to visitors being forbidden, group activities and gatherings have also been canceled. However, she said the tablets give patients a connection to the world and provide them with entertainment to pass the time.
“It’s really, really been a godsend for patients and residents. Not only in our facilities, but also numerous other hospitals and nursing homes across Minnesota have been beneficiaries of their generosity,” Brosnahan said.Geller Axelrod said isolation is one of the biggest challenges during the pandemic, both for the healthy and those in hospitals, and she’s glad she can help in whatever way she can.
“Even though we can’t help them with their medical care, we can maybe help provide some emotional relief to them,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll have an impact in that way, allowing people to stay in contact with each other until all of this is over.”
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June 22, 2020 at 10:44AM
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Donated tablets help hospital patients connect with loved ones remotely - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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