In Sunday’s paper Daily World Publisher Mike Hrycko invited readers to share stories with us about how the coronavirus has affected their lives. What are your stories? We’d like to print as many as we have room for. Send them to mhrycko@thedailyworld.com.

By Maryann Welch

North River

Louis Messmer is my dad. He is 99 and will reach 100 in June. Pacific Care has been his home for a year now as he deals with the effects of a broken femur, which demands the use of a wheelchair. As of March 13, nursing homes have been directed not to allow visitors. Prior to the “no visitors” rule, I had visited Pacific Care a couple of times a week. Having five siblings, we all try to keep up frequent visits. So, how to connect with him now? His hearing is not good enough to carry on a phone conversation. Email works to some extent, but there’s nothing like face to face.

Saturday, I called Pacific Care to let them know I would be coming to visit my dad through the window screen. I asked that a staff person bundle my dad up in a coat with a blanket over his lap and open the window. By the time I walked around the building an aide was busy assisting with his coat, etc. Lucky for me there is a sidewalk right outside of the window. I came prepared with a camp chair and a large umbrella, which I needed! We each scooted our chairs up to the window screen for a conversation with “social distance.” While there I called my sister in Olympia. It happened that she was in the process of initiating a ZOOM call with my brother and sister-in-law living in Wrangell, Alaska. We decided that I should join that call and then found that holding my phone screen up to the window screen facing my dad allowed him to be “face to face” with the Wrangell family. The window visit turned out to be a 6-person family catch-up.

The conversation lasted as long as I could hold the phone up and I finally ended it when I couldn’t bear the cold hands. We are fortunate to face this current crisis with technological systems and devices to keep us connected.