Relatives parade past loved ones at Brackenridge nursing home
The covid-19 pandemic has kept families separated from their loved ones at a Brackenridge nursing home for two months, their contact limited to video calls and window visits.
That came to an end Wednesday afternoon, when relatives of residents at Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation and Healing took part in a parade.
About 15 family members participated in the afternoon parade, along with local fire departments and ambulance companies, said Activities Director Karla Langer, who organized the event.
Platinum Ridge is a 97-bed facility that has about 85 residents, Langer said. She said it has had no covid cases; visitors have not been allowed since March 13.
“We invited the residents’ families to come up and drive by,” she said. “We took the residents outside. They got to see them. They haven’t seen them for two months.”
About 30 of the facility’s residents came outside for the parade, on a day with brilliant sunshine and temperatures going into the 60s just a few days after the region saw record-breaking cold and snow flurries in May.
The parade coincided with National Skilled Nursing Care Center Week.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better day for it. It was beautiful,” Langer said. “They all enjoyed it. They got to see their loved ones or just be outside and get some fresh air. It was just fun for them to see a parade.”
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.