The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

As the pandemic continues to change our day to day lives, the Big Sandy Medical Center has been hit extra hard by the quarantine. Because the residents are so vulnerable to the virus, the home has taken extraordinary steps to ensure their safety. This has resulted in an extended time of isolation from the community, family, friends, and visitors. This has made Entertainment Director Lisa Sipler's job especially important.

Entertainment in nursing facilities is extra important right now because it is easy for clients to get down or feel alone without contact from their families or people outside the home. Entertainment is a quality of life issue for the clients, who live at the home and have no option to get out or go visiting. The impact of the total quarantining of the facility resulted in months of little to no contact with the outside. As time went on, the staff has had to adapt and overcome. The recent resumption of visits from the outside has also improved the mood in the home.

Lisa explained that though the Medical Center has always put a lot of effort into the entertainment of their residents, they have had to make some changes during the pandemic. For starters, anyone who follows the Big Sandy Medical Center Facebook page will have seen far more posts about the entertainment activities in the last few months. She explained that this had little to do with changes to the volume or type of entertainment provided, but rather has to do with the families and friends of the residents. "I'm trying to document it more and put more pictures out there for family and friends to see. It's getting it out there so these people can see their people," Lisa explained. Before the pandemic, visitors were an important part of the lives of the clients. The lockdown of the facility has created a need for connecting in different ways.

The lockdown has pushed Lisa to try new activities to help create engagement between the community and their residents. Lisa pointed out that "There's been a few new things we've done. Like we've never done window painting before. And we've never done the parade before. That's all been because of Covid." The window painting started as an invitation to the community to come and paint residents' windows. Big Sandy responded in a big way, decorating windows in stain glass designs, painting pictures, or just doodling on windows to brighten the clients' days. "We had some family members come. We had some high school kids come. We had some little kids come. It worked out really well." The parade took place in May, during Nursing Home Week. "I tried to get it out there for family and friends to do a little drive-by in front of the nursing home so they could see their people. It was huge. It was bigger than any parade I've ever seen here. Lots of cars and people walking. It was awesome," Lisa explained excitedly.

Lisa also describes not being able to have church on Sundays as a major loss to the clients. Weekly services have been done via YouTube videos from churches in the community. In addition to weekly church services, the loss of regular visits from musicians who would play for the clients has been a loss. Before lockdown, it was common for musicians to come from around the area to play for the residents. Some of this gap has been filled by streaming YouTube videos of Lawrence Welk, Big Polka Joe, Carol Burnett, and other classic favorites. In addition, the fifth-grade class' annual visits to the clients have been canceled for this year. Each of these outside connections is important for the clientele. Lisa describes the loss of these things as awful and explained their new efforts to find solutions to provide more entertainment from outside, while still maintaining Covid safeguards. Recently, Rev. Rich Jesperson has begun holding on site worship outside on the porch. Social distancing is maintained and masks are worn by everyone attending. It's an important first step toward reconnecting clients with the outside world.

Some of the isolation has been alleviated through window visits. This is a visit that takes place at a client's window. Anyone can come to a window and visit any time their friend or family member is in their room. Masks are not required because the window is between you and the resident. This has allowed for people to come visit more and has alleviated some of the loneliness brought on by quarantine isolation.

Face to face visits have recently resumed as well. These visits are not limited to family. Friends are encouraged to visit the residents. These visits require a face mask, social distancing, and going through the screening process in advance. You must call ahead to schedule them, and they must be pre-approved. Visitors must be over 18 and only two visitors are allowed at a time. If you're interested in visiting a friend or family member, scheduled visits are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11 and 4. To set up a visit, call The Medical Center at 406-378-2188.

Lisa encourages friends and family to visit as much as possible. In addition, she explains that reaching out with cards and letters is a big deal. "We're still here. They're missing their friends. They're missing their family members. They need that. Even if it's a window visit. Even if it's a letter or a card. We need to not stop doing those things. Everybody hit it hard in the beginning. We got lots of cards and things. Now there's nothing." Big Sandy has a long history of love and support for the Medical Center. It's more important now than ever to keep it up in a big way.