Most of in the valley are participating in social distancing, which is critical to flattening the curve of contagion so that our health-care system can keep up. Yet the social isolation that millions of people are facing is a serious Covid-19 side effect that we need to be aware of and combat as much as possible.
Many residents of Pine Valley are older and it seems isolation can be particularly hard on this population, leading to health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, a weakened immune system, depression, cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.
Warding off such conditions requires people to socialize as much as possible. But that’s exactly what public-health measures are advising against. Instead, social centers that we are used to frequenting are closed and community events have been suspended. Timothy Legg, a licensed psychologist and geriatric nurse practitioner in Binghamton, N.Y. said, “we can tolerate anything for a short amount of time but social isolation can lead to major problems.”
Technology can help. People can use computers to find groups of people with like-minded interests. Online games can connect people to others. And social media can help us connect with others. The suggestion has been given that, at least for this time, grandparents need to behave more like their grandchildren.
One of our Pine Valley residents recently shared an example of how technology could help. He and his wife used the Zoom program, which is a web-based video conferencing platform, to create a “meeting” with their grandchildren. They used a built-in white board to play a lively gave of Pictionary, lifting their own spirits as well as their grandchildren’s. Doing something like that isn’t as hard as you think, but if we still feel that’s beyond our technological skills, we can at least go to our email and peck out some messages to family and friend. And even when you’re not doing the writing, it’s a good idea to check email daily to see if messages are coming from others.
If we’ve resisted becoming part of the current technology world, this is the time to do it. Try to reach out digitally to friends, relatives and neighbors. For those of us who aren’t digital natives, it may take us a while to figure it out and we may make mistakes, but we won’t break the computer. If you need help, call a friend or a neighbor, or better yet a call a grandchild!
Parts of this article is taken directly from one written by Mr. Kopp, CEO of Healthline Media.
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