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Special visiting booths help protect nursing home residents from COVID-19

Times-Tribune - 9/3/2020

Sep. 3--St. Mary's Villa Nursing Home is among three area nursing homes using a special booth that provides an extra layer of protection to nursing home residents during visits with their families.

The booths, built by Maclain Walsh, 29, of Covington Twp., are made of wood and Plexiglas that covers three sides. An opening in the back allows nursing home staff to easily wheel in residents.

Walsh's wife, Gwen Walsh, 29, said she came up with the idea after seeing a social media post about a similar type booth used at a nursing home in another state.

Neither Walsh nor her husband have any family members in a nursing home. She has a cousin who works at St. Mary's, who told her about how depressed residents had become after visits with families were halted to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The state Department of Health recently eased restrictions to allow visitation if a nursing home meets certain criteria. Walsh said she thought the booths would help ensure residents' safety, so she enlisted her husband, who at the time was laid off, to put his free time to good use.

"The lack of interaction was taking a toll on them mentally so we decided to give back," she said.

Each booth costs about $600 in material. The couple raised about $3,000 in donations from a Go Fund Me campaign, which they used to build four booths.

Two booths are at St Mary's in Elmhurst Twp. -- one at the skilled nursing center, the other at its assisted living center. The Carbondale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Green Ridge Care Center, in Scranton, each have one. A fifth booth, which is not yet built, is scheduled to go to the Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania, in Scranton.

Contact the writer:

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137;

@tmbeseckerTT on Twitter

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