Seniors grapple with isolation during pandemic

Friday, Jul. 17, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — While there has been much debate during the past four months about who is most venerable to COVID-19, all sides agree that the elderly – particularly those who have underlying health issues – are most at risk. For senior citizens, spring has passed into summer as they mostly stay home and limit their interaction with the outside world. They have had to find new ways to connect and to serve, something that is important to many of them.

St. Ambrose parishioners Dick Hall, 70, and his wife Jane, 69, are in good health, but their age puts them in the high-risk category, so they’ve scaled back some of the activities that have given their life meaning. They have always been very involved in the community, such as delivering Meals on Wheels for years. Despite the pandemic, they continued to do so up until Dick’s recent knee surgery, but with extra precautions – they wore gloves and masks, used hand sanitizer, and implemented no-touch delivery with the people they served. 

After the March earthquake in the Salt Lake Valley, Dick helped feed 44 families in need by setting up collections, filling his truck with goods and then delivering the food. He was careful to limit his exposure, he said.

Until recently, Dick also served as Grand Knight of his Knights of Columbus council. During the pandemic, he has led their meetings using videoconferencing tools. Having worked in technology for many years, he was comfortable with the transition, but several fellow Knights were not.

“The hardest part of that is people that you’re using it with expect you to be the expert and to tell them what button to push, and that doesn’t always work so well,” he said. 

After the social distancing restrictions were eased, Dick was able to attend Mass for only a short time before he had to isolate so that he could have knee surgery. Since being released from the hospital in the middle of June, he has been recovering at home. Although isolating at home can be challenging, Dick said every senior can reach out by phone to make sure their fellow parishioners, neighbors and family are doing OK. 

The contact helps both sides, he said.

“We have a ‘No Brother Left Behind’ policy with the Knights where we make phone calls, check up on people we know that are sick, check up on individuals to see how they’re doing,” he said.

He and his wife miss going to Mass weekly, but they still attend Holy Hour regularly while being careful to keep their distance from other participants. 

Jane Hall has found some contentment and peace working in her yard.

“Our yard has never looked so good,” she said with a laugh. “Just keeping a routine and trying to be creative making meals out of what we have” instead of frequent trips to the grocery store has helped them.  

Keeping in contact has also been important to Jerilynn (Jeri) Foss and her husband Larry, who are self-described “homebodies,” so the coronavirus hasn’t had much impact on their social life. However, it has hampered her efforts to find out what is causing ongoing nagging pain in her leg, she said. She has had visits with two different doctors, which have brought little relief, so she is planning to make another appointment. Although she wears a mask and practices social distancing, she worries about the risk each time but sees no other choice, she said.

The Fosses normally attend St. Andrew Catholic Church, which has not yet returned to celebrating in-person Masses, so they listen to Relevant Radio. Jeri Foss has always loved to write letters to family and friends, so she stays in touch that way and by phone. Besides doctor appointments, the only time she leaves home is to get groceries occasionally. While her daughter and granddaughter do much of the Foss’ shopping, Jeri admits she occasionally “sneaks out to the grocery store, because a woman has to get some things herself,” she said. “It helps me to go out and do that.”

While her own situation might not be perfect, Jeri said she worries about other seniors who live alone, who don’t have friends and have no one to care for them through this crisis.

Like the other couples, Christ the King parishioners Mary Austin, 70, and her husband Howard, 89, have stayed close to home since COVID-19 hit. Mary is in good health and works part-time, but Howard has multiple health challenges. Mary calls her husband a “walking miracle” after a 26-day stay in the hospital four years ago when he contracted sepsis during a minor surgery. Howard had a long recovery; he has now regained most of his health, but the couple knows how quickly that can change.

Besides going to work and the grocery store, Mary doesn’t venture out of the house, and Howard simply stays put. He has two dogs that keep him company; he also enjoys reading. Neither Mary nor Howard has been to Mass since mid-March; the occasional meal at a restaurant or a movie has also become a thing of the past. The two also have learned how to use Zoom so they could participate in Howard’s Knights of Columbus council’s virtual meetings. They keep in touch with family by phone and in Mary’s case, by email. 

Recently, the couple made one important exception to their self-imposed isolation. When their Knights council began a fundraiser to help the Navajo Nation, they decided to get involved. Over the course of four days they placed donation collection cans at 40 local businesses. Mary, masked and gloved, visited the businesses, while Howard stayed in the car. They plan to return and check on the cans every two weeks during the fundraising drive, which lasts until the end of August. Despite the pandemic, they have decided to risk exposing themselves to COVID-19 to be of service to others.