By Chris Jones\/Active Senior’s Digest<\/p>\n
With the COVID-19 pandemic now almost 10 months in, many are turning to technology to stay connected and reaching out to family for help while self-isolating.<\/p>\n
One Durham senior, Ingrid Thompson, says she and her husband have managed to social distance with the help of their family, as their son-in-law does their grocery shopping. She adds their pharmacy delivers any medicine they might need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give the car a run every so often\u2026 ’cause if you don\u2019t drive your car, your battery dies,\u201d she laughs, adding she has been to the pharmacy herself four times since March.<\/p>\n
She says they\u2019ve been keeping busy by attending activities held by OSCC 55+ on Zoom. She notes while it was originally free to attend these programs, some of them now come at a cost.
\n\u201cBut it\u2019s the same price as if we were going to the senior\u2019s centre,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Thompson says she enjoys the fact she\u2019s able to do the activities from the comfort of her own home, and they are going \u201cfantastically well.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also notes a few of the instructors at OSCC 55+ have been hosting outdoor exercise sessions in the parking lots of their various locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was good. It keeps you active and out of trouble,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n
She also points out there are a number of seniors on her street, and they all keep in touch to make sure they are still doing well.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou give somebody a phone call every so often, and say, \u2018Hi, how are you doing?\u2019\u201d she explains. \u201cBut everybody knows they can count on each other, so that\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also points out the younger people on her street find ways to look out for the older residents.<\/p>\n
Thompson also points out she gets her favourite newspaper delivered every day, and she reads it front to back, while her husband does the puzzles.<\/p>\n
She also says she is online with her iPad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of Facebook posts recently because of Remembrance Day, so I\u2019ve been looking at that,\u201d she says. \u201cI just discovered that a gentleman that we knew \u2013 he passed away a number of years ago \u2013 he\u2019s memorialized on the veteran\u2019s building in Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n
She notes there is a mural on the building, and her friend\u2019s portrait is included, which she would not have found out about without being online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI follow a bunch of different news outlets online and have a hoot looking at people\u2019s Twitter feeds, but there\u2019s a lot of stuff online,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
She also says they have their favourite television programs, and they make sure to read as well.<\/p>\n
But there is one thing Thompson says she misses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do miss going out,\u201d she says. \u201cBut, health and safety is paramount, so that\u2019s the main concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
As COVID-19 numbers rise, Thompson expects Durham to follow Toronto\u2019s lead and go into more of a \u201clockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
She jokes she doesn\u2019t necessarily know what the current definition of fun is, but they have been keeping busy, and have been making sure to keep in touch with their kids and grandkids through FaceTime. They even hosted a family event online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a Zoom birthday party,\u201d she says. \u201cBy the time we finished there were about 50 or 60 people that were on in the call from a whole bunch of different cities and three different continents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party itself was a surprise, she says, as it was arranged by her kids, who took into consideration all of the different time zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fun,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of technology, it\u2019s easy to keep in touch with people,\u201d says Thompson.
\nShe notes there\u2019s a lot of stuff to keep seniors active, but points out she is lucky to be in her situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s lots of stuff to do, and if you want to stay in bed, you can do that too,\u201d she jokes.
\nAnother Durham senior, Bill Hraynyk says he has been finding ways to stay occupied at home, and has also found ways to get out of the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we kind of settled in, it\u2019s depended on what they were saying we were allowed to do,\u201d he says, noting he\u2019s been going out to get the essentials, and his wife has also left the house despite some initial trepidation.<\/p>\n
Entertainment-wise, Hraynyk says they\u2019ve been going out for some drives whenever they feel the need to leave the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first we didn\u2019t get out of the car, but there\u2019s a lot of nice drives at different parts of the year,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere\u2019s nice, beautiful places to go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later they started to leave the car while social distancing and wearing masks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were up to some places in town, just down around the lake and everything,\u201d he says, adding they\u2019ve been to Campbellford\u2019s Ferris Provincial Park as well.<\/p>\n
He says they parked as close as they could, and used the trails to walk to a suspension bridge where they did some photography.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve also been up towards Lakefield and Bancroft, and Purple Woods in Oshawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like walking the trails and taking pictures,\u201d he says, adding they\u2019ve been to Scugog Island as well.<\/p>\n
As far as leaving the house goes, Hraynyk says they still don\u2019t like the idea of going inside businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to support them, and we usually do, but I still don\u2019t like the idea of restaurants \u2013 even the patios and stuff like that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
While he misses a lot of the \u201cusual stuff,\u201d Hraynyk notes they have been getting out for more walks lately.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally in the summer, this year especially, I was going to try and get out golfing earlier on,\u201d he says. \u201cBut, I never got around to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He notes his brother has been playing a lot of golf, and has even been playing into November.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, he says they\u2019ve been \u201cplaying it pretty cautious,\u201d but are doing fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s going stir crazy or anything,\u201d he says. \u201cYeah, it would be nice to get out more, but the thing is, hopefully if they get a handle on this, we\u2019ll be able to do so again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"