Mother’s Day requires some extra love and very careful planning this year. Across the U.S., visits with mothers who are in nursing homes will hold even more meaning as restrictions on visitation between families have been in place for weeks.
The Jewish Association on Aging is happy to make possible Mother’s Day In-Person Visits on Saturday, May 9, 2020 and Sunday, May 10, 2020.
In-Person visits will take place at Charles Morris Nursing & Rehab Center and Weinberg Village on the campus of JAA and at Weinberg Terrace in downtown Squirrel Hill.
We recognize it has been a long time since our families last visited with their moms, grandmothers, step mothers, aunts, etc. Due to the vulnerability of our nursing home residents, the opportunity to visit in person is a carefully structured event to assure the safety for our residents, our staff, and visiting families.
“Window visits” (with a visitor on one side of the plate of plexiglass, Mom on the other) will be available with Mothers and visitors able to physically see and speak through the barrier but there will be no physical contact possible. Mothers will remain inside the building and visitors will be located outside, separated by the plexiglass barrier. Opportunities to visit are now extremely limited JAA will do its very best to accommodate everyone’s needs.
Visits will be by appointment only, both Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM-Noon for morning visits, and 2-4 PM for afternoon visits. Each visit is scheduled on the hour and half hour and the length of each visit will be no longer than 20 minutes to accommodate the number of total visits arranged for each day.
Visitors to Charles Morris must contact Sharyn Rubin either by email srubin@jaapgh.org or by phone at 412-521-1171 (weekdays until 3:30 PM—deadline is 3 PM on Friday).
Visitors to Weinberg Village must coordinate with Pearl Averbach at paverback@jaapgh.org
Visitors to Weinberg Terrce must coordinate with Rena Becker at rbecker@jaapgh.org.
Sharyn, Pearl and Rena have been in contact with most of their families to schedule a visit. If a family has not scheduled a visit yet, they should reach out asap.
Safety precautions and guidelines for your visit will be STRICTLY enforced:
- One visit ONLY per resident
- ONE visit this weekend only per family is available
- A limit of two family members per resident visit
- Social distancing maintained at all times
- No physical contact (hugging, etc)
- No packages can be exchanged on this visit; flowers or candy deliveries can be mailed as usual
- Facial covering (mask, scarf, bandana, etc) MUST be worn by both visitors and residents
- No Children under the age of 10 are permitted
Staff members will direct visitors to the parking area and then to their designated meeting location.
Visits will be supervised by a JAA staff person to assure these guidelines are maintained at all times.
JAA staff will clean visiting area in between family visits.
Anyone arriving late will be limited to the time their visit is scheduled, no exceptions.
Last minute changes will affect not only mother and family schedules but also others who are planning visits as well.
Visitors should arrive no earlier than 10 minutes before they need to be at their designated meeting location that Sharyn will confirm in advance.
Everyone at JAA wants a first visit after all these weeks to be incredibly special and uplifting for mothers and families. While rules and stipulations may seem strict, they are in place to keep everyone safe. No matter the circumstance, health and safety remain JAA’s number one priority.
May this Mother’s Day be a joyous occasion for families to see each other after having been apart for such a long time.