This blog features a snippet about The Selfhelp Home from AARP article: These Nursing Home Workers Are COVID Pandemic’s Unsung Heroes.
While hospital workers fighting the COVID crisis have justifiably been called out for recognition, those serving on the frontline in nursing homes have remained, for the most part, in the shadows. But they, too, have put their lives at risk to protect the most vulnerable — people who often feel like family. They have become lifelines for residents and their loved ones, offering comfort and connection at a time marred by crisis, fear and death.
Many nursing home workers have saved lives, refusing to leave their jobs even as their workplaces became epicenters for infection, with long-term care facilities claiming 40 percent of the country’s COVID deaths — representing more than 90,000 victims. And many workers have been infected themselves. More than half of the nation’s 15,000-plus nursing homes recently reported at least one COVID infection among staff, according to a recent AARP analysis.
The video below tells the story of Sofia Bardic-Metovic, the director of dining services at The Selfhelp Home in Chicago. After that nursing home shut its doors to non-essential workers because of COVID-19, Metovic began running its beauty salon. She washes and styles hair, paints nails and applies makeup, making conversation and connections at a time when many residents feel desperately isolated.