Earlier this month, Doug Aldrich turned 101-years-old. And he got to have a party with family and friends — something that wasn’t a guarantee during the pandemic.
His room in Southminster, an assisted living facility in south Charlotte, still has balloons celebrating the milestone. His two kids, Judy Planer and Joe Aldrich, are visiting as they do weekly. Everyone is full of smiles. They're discussing plans for the holidays and looking at pictures of grandkids through a digital frame that is updated regularly with new photos.
But there was less laughter and people in the room during the height of the pandemic when facilities were locked down. Instead, tablets and cellphones were lifelines to stay connected with loved ones.
"One of the things that I worried the most about was that he may pass away by himself," Planer said. "And that, I think, was one of the things that really was heavy on my heart."
The siblings had other worries: Would their father's memory and cognitive abilities start to slip without weekly in-person visits and group activities? Would he become depressed?
Doug Aldrich is a retired minister and has always been active in every community he’s lived in, including at Southminster.
Innovative solutions like walls of plexiglass that allowed for more in-person communication helped combat the loneliness for the entire family.
"And you could come in one way and the resident would come in the other way and you could talk to him through that," Joe Aldrich recalled. "So that was one creative way because it was hard not to be able to see him and he not be able to see us."
Back in the plexiglass days, there was a little slot that allowed them to pass notes and photos to their dad.
"I look back on it and I think, 'wow, we really did that,' you know? But it seems like things are slowly coming back to more normal," Planer said.
Normal in the sense that they don’t have to worry this year if they’ll see their father around the holidays. They know they will. And there were some tips they took from the pandemic that have carried on — things like FaceTiming that helped Doug Aldrich stay connected to the outside world.
"One of my best friends is a retired doctor down in Rock Hill. He feels like my dad helped him get into medical school with a recommendation," Joe Aldrich said. "So he loves my dad and so I just FaceTimed him the other day. I said 'Robert, here!' You know with FaceTime you can go anywhere."
Then there’s the digital picture frame on Doug Aldrich's dresser. It’s connected to an app that allows his family to send photos to it. He names the great-grandchildren that pop up on the screen.
And if you ask him what he does now to fill his days — there’s physical therapy, card games, and also he says with a laugh — surviving.
Faith and working on his memoir kept him going during the pandemic, Doug reflects. And of course, time with his family — even if it was on a screen or through plexiglass. Another takeaway from the pandemic for the whole family was how precious that time together is and how fragile a guarantee it can be.
