FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Many nursing home facilities in Central Georgia are closing their doors to visitors to protect residents from coronavirus.
That didn't stop one Central Georgia family from visiting their loved one on Tuesday.
Darrell McCrary, and his brother, Danny, went to visit their mother, Mable, on Tuesday afternoon at the Fort Valley Health and rehab Center along with their father, Samuel.
Instead of sharing hugs and handshakes, the family said 'hello' to Mable through a window.
"Since she's been in the nursing home, it's kind of taken us by storm," Darrell said.
Mable has seven kids, four boys and three girls, and the McCrary family has always been very close, Darrell said.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the family paid a visit to Mable everyday -- sometimes even making visits twice a day, Darrell says.
But he says he did not want the virus to stop their tight-knit family from supporting their mother.
"Whatever it takes to see my mom," Darrell said.
When the nursing home told the McCrary family that visits have been prohibited until further notice, Danny says he was worried that Mable would be sad about not having any visitors.
"From getting multiple visits a day to no visits," Danny said. "I was concerned she would think that she'd been forgotten."
Danny says he knows that prohibiting visitors at the home is for the better, but he wasn't sure if Mable would understand.
That's when the family decided to talk to the facility staff about seeing Mable through the window.
"It meant everything," Danny said. "Because I know it gave her a source of peace."
Samuel and Mable have been married for 60 years. Both Danny and Darrell said it is special to see the couple unite through the nursing home window.
"It really helped him," Darrell said. " That meant a lot."
"He was overjoyed," Danny said.
Darrell says although the window visit did not give him the same satisfaction of hugging his mother, it was nice to have the opportunity to see her.
"That's my life right there. My mom," Darrell said. "As long as we have to continue to see her through a window, we're going to continue to do it."
The brothers say they thank the facility staff for making this all possible.
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