Reuters, Barcelona :
From behind the large windows of Barcelona’s Centre Parc nursing home, elderly residents blow kisses, give virtual hugs and speak to loved ones on the other side of the glass using mobile phones.
Restrictions on visits are still in place across Spain as it reels from a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, but for visitors, the regular interaction beats the experience of only seeing residents on a computer screen.
“They no longer see a screen, a small square. They really see how their family member is doing,” said the nursing home’s director, Eduardo Badia.
In-person visits are permitted, but only occasionally and they are carried out in the residence’s garden to help visitors respect social distancing rules.
An 89-year-old woman smiles as she pretends to play with a dog her neighbors have brought for her to see through the ground floor window of the home’s communal room.
“It’s contradictory; happy on the one hand and frustrating on the other hand,” said Cristina, 68, after seeing her 94-year-old mother, who survived the coronavirus.
