La Voz de Galicia – September 4, 2020 →
It’s complicated, because Maruxa was excited to return to work, and even though we knew that the situation could change at any moment, we did not imagine that it would change so quickly. Since March, she has not received the therapy that does so much good to those who lose their memory, and that does so much good to those who intend to improve the life conditions of a loved one.
During the months of confinement, we tried everything to keep up the energy related to cognitively stimulating activities, but after some time I realized that no matter how much I tried, I would never achieve the same results because there is a fundamental part of those therapies that I could not offer my mother: socialization.
Months passed and, in truth, things have changed very little for the majority of the Galician population. Our elderly, or most powerful majority, continues to be the most vulnerable, and it is the first to suffer the outbreaks as well as the restrictions. And now that cities like Ourense or Santiago have to close the day nursing homes to, among other things, limit the ways of socializing among the most vulnerable with the goal of protecting them, I ask myself what it is that we are trying to do so that many of them don’t die of heartbreak this year…
The start of the school year is going to be complicated for all–for the teachers, for the children, for those who don’t have a job, and for those who have too much work. It will continue to be almost impossible not to worry about things we cannot control, but perhaps we should not forget that continuing forward with our lives, adapting ourselves to the new normality, is a privilege that not all can afford. Especially our elderly.
