Coronavirus: Sisters see their mother in nursing home for the first time since mid-March

BEAVERCREEK — Monday was the first time in more than four months that nursing home residents and their families can visit in person. The visits have to take place outside. The state of Ohio stopped nursing home visits in March because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, News Center 7's John Bedell watched at a distance as two Greene County sisters invited WHIO along as they reunited with their mom at her nursing home in Beavercreek.

One of the touching moments he witnessed was an embrace with their mom that Becki Bickett, of Beavercreek and Janet Maggard from Xenia, have been waiting months to share.

“I’m just so excited. I’m excited and I’m a little nervous only because I don’t know how she’ll react,” Bickett said just before the visit. “It’s very confusing for her. She hasn’t been off her floor from what I understand in their group of people since all this started. So to come out of that area and to come outside may be very confusing for her.”

Bickett and Maggard’s mother, 88-year-old Virgina Jones, is a dementia patient at Trinity Community at Beavercreek. The last time the siblings saw her in person was just before Ohio Governor Mike DeWine closed nursing homes to visitors in March. “I was able to come in and see mom for one last visit before the next day they said that we couldn’t come back,” Bickett said.

Since then, it's been virtual visits by FaceTime only. "A couple of times they told me she was kind of touching the screen like touching my hair and things and when they told me that it just broke my heart, you know?" Bickett said. "I just wanted crawl through there and be able to tell her, 'we're here still.'"

Bickett told News Center 7 that kind of separation weights heavy on the heart. It's a situation so many Ohio families have been through over the last four months. "It's been horrible," Bickett said of not being able to see her mom in person. "It's just been so frustrating and sad. And you just as a dementia patient you just don't know how she feels or what she understands or what she doesn't understand so it's been very difficult. It's been difficult on our whole family."

Bickett and Maggard asked our WHIO crew to keep our distance during their visit -- not just for everyone's health, but for their privacy and Jones' ease and comfort.

The visit was short, 30 minutes max. A staffer at the nursing home wheeled Jones from inside the building, to a table set up outside under the shade of the facility's awning where her daughters were waiting. The siblings embraced their mother almost immediately.

There were all kinds of state guidelines for safety like masks and sitting outside at opposite ends of a table that gets sanitized between visits. But through all that, and even from our distanced vantage point, it was clear to see this visit was good for the soul.

"It's been March 15 since we've seen mom, so it was wonderful," Maggard told WHIO after the reunion. "She said it's been a long time since we've seen her and we went to give her a hug and that was good."

“It was wonderful being able to just let her know we are still here,” Bickett added. “It’s not just on the phone or whatever she thinks that device is that my picture shows up every once in a while. It was wonderful to give her a hug.”

The sisters said the visit was healing for them and their mother. A welcomed change after a long four months.

"Had to tell her we'll be back soon," Maggard said.

"And she told us she loved us and she even sang a little bit with us so it was awesome," Bickett said. "Very, very, very thankful that we can do this."

“We’d like to thank Trinity for setting this up for us so we could do this,” Maggard said. Bickett added, “As often as they’ll let us, we’ll be here.”

Cox Media Group