[Friday Story] 'Corona Bulhyoja' Tearful Reunion Through a Partition

Non-face-to-face visit reservations at care centers on a first-come, first-served basis
Mother's Day bookings fully booked, some take leave to visit

Two days before Parents' Day, on the 6th, grandmother Park Young-sun is having a visit with her son's family in the non-face-to-face visiting room 'Family Living Room' set up at the Seoul Seongdong-gu Municipal Eastern Senior Care Center.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] "My mother might recognize me, but I just want to see her face."

On the afternoon of the 6th, Jo Injeong (62), whom we met at the Seoul Seongdong-gu Municipal Eastern Senior Care Center, said this to the reporter. Jo’s mother had been suffering from dementia for a long time and was admitted to this facility last March. Although it has been less than two months, being separated from his mother, whom he had cared for over several years, made him feel “even more longing and guilt” as a child. Before the visit, Jo’s voice trembled with a mix of excitement and tears. He said, "Because she has had dementia for a long time, she hardly recognizes her children’s faces, so even video calls were difficult. Today, I came to the center with the hope that I could at least hold my mother’s hand and see her face."

During the visit held in the ‘Family Living Room,’ a non-contact visitation space, Jo was able to hold his mother’s hand. This space, developed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is a movable wooden house of about 15㎡ (4.5 pyeong). The space is separated by glass windows to block infection routes such as droplets, but ‘protective gloves’ used for sample collection at screening clinics are installed, allowing visitors to hold hands and talk. An audio system that clearly transmits even small voices is installed so that family members’ voices can be heard well through the glass. Jo said, "Currently, visits are limited to one per family, but I hope that as COVID-19 subsides, we can visit more often."

Ahead of Parents’ Day on the 8th, family reunions are continuing with front doors and windows between them. Since the spread of COVID-19, nursing hospitals have been classified as high-risk facilities vulnerable to infection, and nursing facilities and hospitals that had completely banned visits have partially allowed them. Measures have been taken to allow visits through front doors or windows. On this day, Kim (58), who visited a nursing hospital in Mapo-gu, was also able to see his mother through the front door. Kim said, "I feel sorry for not being able to take care of her directly and having to leave her in the hospital, and I haven’t seen her face for nearly a year. On Parents’ Day, the visitation reservations were fully booked, so I took a day off and came to the hospital."

Because even non-contact visits operate on a first-come, first-served reservation system, most people cannot see their parents’ faces. Song (32), who admitted his father to a nursing hospital in Seo-gu, Incheon, three months ago, also applied for a visit on Parents’ Day but found that reservations had been fully booked since last month, making it impossible. Song said, "I want to have a meal together on Parents’ Day and show him some nice places, but I’m upset that I can’t even see his face, let alone have a meal, and I resent the COVID-19 situation."

It is also not easy for residents of nursing facilities to go outside. Once they go out for a visit, they must undergo a COVID-19 test and be readmitted. Since this requires considerable time and money, many patients endure unless they are seriously ill, according to officials.

In this challenging reality, nursing facilities and hospitals are not hesitating to play the role of ‘children.’ Each facility holds various events to comfort the loneliness of admitted seniors and helps connect them with their families through video calls. Labor Director Donghun of Uijeongbu Carnation Nursing Home said, "Even without COVID-19, there are mothers and fathers who are neglected or isolated. We will make sure to give carnations on Parents’ Day and create a family-like atmosphere so that their hearts do not feel emptier." Meanwhile, the government plans to allow contact visits at nursing facilities and hospitals as early as July, as the vaccination rate among residents and workers has exceeded 75%.