peter
“I am a religious sister. I work in the parish visiting the elderly in their homes, nursing homes and in hospitals. In 4 years, I will be 60 years with the sisters, but I can tell you that it’s never been so difficult. I am fully vaccinated now, but it still takes up to a week to get an appointment for someone in the hospital. Before the elderly got vaccinated, we weren’t able to visit at all. In many ways, I have adapted. I used to phone everyone whenever I could, but that’s obviously not the same. We also have a brand new parish centre which would have been a very active place, but we can’t use it. All the active groups, the retired, the AA, the Vincent de Paul, the art classes, they all had to stop. Personally, I can cope better because I have a great skill in adapting to new situations, but most of these groups have really suffered. They don’t have the opportunity to move online and schedule a zoom meeting… most of these people don’t even have a smartphone and these groups were the only social activity in their lives. Social interactions kept them healthy and excited about the future. Depression, loneliness and a lack of social interaction may put a stamp on their mental health and on my work for years to come.”