Touching moment
MUM, 99, AND DAUGHTER FINALLY ABLE TO HOLD HANDS AGAIN
IT was the moment that mother and daughter had waited so long for – just to be able to hold hands again.
Joy Chamberlain, 61, was visiting 99-year-old Beryl Garrard at Silverwood Care Home in Beeston, on the day lockdown restrictions were further eased across the country.
In the latest Government guidance, holding hands is now allowed, but not hugging, and up to five named people – up to two at a time – can visit loved ones in care homes.
“It’s lovely to be able to hold hands,” said Mrs Chamberlain, a retired teacher, of Ruddington. “It’s a step in the right direction. It’s quite hard having to keep saying ‘you can’t do this because of the rules.’”
Mrs Chamberlain had been one of two nominated visitors allowed to see her mum, along with sister Patty Pirie, 68, who lives in Newark. But the change means their other sister, Penny Street, 72, from Rugby, will be able to visit, as well as Mrs Chamberlain’s husband Barry, 61.
“Because we are a tactile family we have missed that sort of physical contact; it’s the fact it seems to have gone on for so long,” Mrs Chamberlain added.
Mrs Garrard, who turns 100 in August, said she was looking forward to the day she can finally hug her family.
She added: “It will be nice. We have always been a cuddly family.”
Mrs Garrard said: “People die, unfortunately. When it’s a large family it’s felt very much more important to hug those you have got in case you lose somebody else before the next meeting.”
The family previously relied on Whatsapp calls and “window visits” to keep in contact with Mrs Chamberlain, who has been a resident at Silverwood since November 2018.
Home administrator Louise Redgate said: “Our biggest changes are you can have five nominated visitors.
“Grandchildren and all generations can come back in. To have some kind of physical contact with somebody you care for and love is a big thing.”
On when she thinks hugging might be permitted, she said: “It really is all up to Mr Johnson. I do not know if it will be on June 21 it would be nice to think it would be.”
Home manager Debra Meynell spoke of the importance of the latest rule changes, saying “there’s a hope at the end of the tunnel”.
“To see Beryl’s face light up today means a lot. You can see the emotion and the way that people feel - they just desperately need it.”