Sending love through the letterbox to ease lockdown
loneliness

As care homes continue to remain closed to
visitors under Alert Level 3 and 4, Bupa is calling for
Kiwis to pick up their pens and crayons and write a letter
or draw a picture for residents.

“Keeping connected and
maintaining relationships are important to everyone’s
health and wellbeing but even more so for older New
Zealanders during lockdowns,” says Carolyn Cooper,
managing director, Bupa.

Across the country, care homes
are providing extra activities and video calling
capabilities to keep residents connected with friends and
families. But at Bupa we would love to provide residents
with the extra joy that comes from receiving mail and so are
calling for friends and whānau to get in touch via the
post. For our residents without family we would love the
public to send correspondence to their local care
home.

“Receiving and sending letters is a really
positive thing that anyone can do. From my conversations
with residents I know how much joy it brings them. This is a
generation where people often communicated by writing and
while it’s not something the younger generations do,
it’s undisputed that whenever any of us receive a letter
or card in the mail it makes us feel very special,” says
Carolyn.

For Dorothy Retter from Bupa Hillsborough Care
Home, it’s always a thrill to open a letter, to see who
it’s from and what news they bring her.

“Whether
it’s family or friends it’s always quite exciting when a
letter appears on my table. I think it’s really important
that we keep on writing letters. I write letters myself
because I think that people who are sick or who are lonely
just love getting them and I get a lot of comments from
people that I write to.”

Letters and cards have the
added bonus of not being reliant on people’s ability to
use technology, such as email or social media, like
Facebook. It is also an easier mode of communication for the
significant number of people (1 in 3) who suffer from
hearing loss as they get older.

Bupa resident, June
Ryan, finds letters to be a helpful way to stay in
touch.

“I love receiving mail, particular from friends
as they keep me up to date with what’s going on. It’s
all very well to have a phone call but you can put the phone
down and lo and behold you think of something you haven’t
told them, but in a letter it is much easier then
talking.”

“What is more, I feel that handwriting these
days is something that’s been lost. And I think its lovely
to have a look at everybody’s handwriting at times.
Because it’s one way of expressing our feelings, in the
way that we write,” adds June.

Vitolia Tauai adds that
she mainly receives letters from her children,
grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. “I look forward to it
as they tell me what they’re doing and how they’re
going. It’s really important to me to receive these
letters to see how they are…in this time of
COVID-19.”

Carolyn also suggests that people send
residents photos or pictures.

“Without doubt, all our
residents love receiving photo updates or pictures. It helps
people connect with what’s happening in the world,
especially what’s happening with younger generations in
the family,” says Carolyn.

“Not only do you get the
initial enjoyment of receiving photos or pictures, but they
can then be hung up in people’s rooms and shown around to
their fellow residents, starting conversations.”

With
all the kids at home at the moment, this is also a good
excuse to get them involved and entertained. There are
several creative ways they can share what they are up to
with the older members of their family:

Create a lockdown
day-in-the-life cartoon
Collages / pictures of their
favourite lockdown activity
Even an update on what they
have learned this week, book they have read or TV show they
are watching

The full list of care homes and their
address can be found on our website here. Either address
letters to a specific resident or put c/o Lockdown Letterbox
at the top. Our care home managers will then distribute your
letters or drawings to our residents in most need of
connection.

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