
Isolation and Connection
Special | 6m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerda’s symptoms have worsened.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerda’s symptoms have worsened as she is no longer able to physically connect with friends and family. See episode six in our series with Gerda as she contends with increasing isolation. Episode 6 in RadioWest Films' original 6-part series. Produced by KUER & RadioWest Films.
RadioWest Films on PBS Utah is a local public television program presented by PBS Utah

Isolation and Connection
Special | 6m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerda’s symptoms have worsened as she is no longer able to physically connect with friends and family. See episode six in our series with Gerda as she contends with increasing isolation. Episode 6 in RadioWest Films' original 6-part series. Produced by KUER & RadioWest Films.
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RadioWest Films on PBS Utah is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipjust thinking of managing the kind of social life that we had before the virus despite my dementia of thinking of managing that ever again seems impossible to me being isolated is very hard for haram i mean she is a social person and she's always organized for us to go and see the family we didn't see the grandkids for ages at the beginning of the pandemic and that just you know depressed tread on no end and that of course is no good for this dementia of hers to even add on depression as well so that's been very very hard for her you know just being at home together quietly has been good for us but um the loneliness i think is is causing her more problems [Music] with being quarantined or otherwise just very much at home i feel the physical disconnection from our children and grandchildren now that talking is becoming more difficult for me that is a form of connection that i sort of counted on we see them at at the distance [Music] back part in the vaccination trail i went in and just did like a wellness checkout gave me a vaccine yeah took some blood did a nose swab but that connection with a child where they just even if they now are 13 like our oldest grandson when i can just say from sit on my lap and just be with me [Music] wow you know it's like putting somebody alone where they can't communicate with other people to to calm down and to express the problems and the needs and discussion she wants he just gets agitated and alone and just starts crying and that's that's been an enormous jump since the pandemic i mean it's just been this big a change so it's been odd for both of us but here i am the rest of me how are you kirsten i only see you now properly oh i'm i'm good it's fun well i mean it's back oh so exciting is she there can she say hi i don't know can she say hi um don't worry about it now but if if there's a chance let's let's do it yeah what have you been doing on earlier this weekend oh you know my usual um i was just totally uninspired and then i i gave into it and i watched all of downton abbey in you know a week's long ongoing you know three episodes a day splurge and i went to the orthopedic hospital in by the university and they made me this support for my hand but it was such an amazing feeling i sat there for almost an hour and it was such an amazing feeling to be in a room with other people you know it was just it's like you know it was like being in starbucks you know just that scent if you are in a kind of community even though you're not interacting very personally with everybody around but it was such a reminder for me of what a loss it is that was an important day for me too i loved it [Music] one of the things that i have feared about getting dementia of getting to a point where i'm not physically approachable because of my behavior and now circumstances have brought that moment forward to me while i can still mourn the loss whereas if i had been rendered unapproachable or you know just being off-putting to people i always thought that if i get to that stage maybe what would last the longest would be the physical comfort it it causes me grief because it feels to me it's one more thing that i could use to be close to people that now some of the time i had left to do that is now gone it also makes me understand much better what it's like for people especially elderly and alone people and i feel such sorrow for them and and and for myself [Music] what exercise you
RadioWest Films on PBS Utah is a local public television program presented by PBS Utah