As a new year draws nigh, may we look with hope toward a future of unfettered hugs for everyone who wants them.
masks—yet I yearned for something more. One morning, rounding the corner in front of at Aegis Living Ravenna in northeast Seattle, I spotted a tree small enough to get my arms around, so I spontaneously hugged it. I repeated the gesture many times in the months to come, sometimes musing that a resident of the assisted living center would look out her window at just the right moment and smile at the sight. Sadly, however, tree-hugging couldn’t give me what scientists say we get from touching and being touched. According to Francis McGlone and Susannah Walker, faculty at Liverpool John Moores University in England, humans have evolved to translate touch into emotional wellbeing. Hugs and caresses stimulate the release of endorphins and the feel-good hormone oxytocin. Touch also helps us sleep better, reduces stress, and boosts our immune response. Human touch is something most of us need. When we don’t have it, we must adapt.
Aging with Confidence
That’s what residents and the staff at Aegis Ravenna and other senior living communities have been doing throughout the pandemic. At the outset of COVID, “there was no touch,” says Chris Corrigall, vice president of life enrichment for Bellevue-based Aegis Living. But as weeks turned into months, “We had to look at the social and emotional wellness of our residents,” he adds, especially when it came to curbing isolation and creatively structuring visits once they were allowed under local health guidelines. The emphasis was on filling the greatest voids in people’s lives, whether through pet therapy, outdoor living rooms and virtual spaces where loved ones could spend time together, or steady doses of daily conversation and interaction with staff. When it was safe to do so, the Aegis communities brought back an acupressure program called “Comfort Touch.” But nothing could beat the first full-on bear hugs once the pandemic eased. Says Corrigall, “As soon as our residents were allowed to have a family member visit them in their apartment,” following all guidelines for vaccinations or negative COVID tests, people have been allowed to exchange hugs. “There’s all this pent-up emotion and wonderful reunification energy that is happening now and it’s been wonderful for everyone,” he says. Animal companions can also provide the same sort of reassurance that, despite much evidence to the contrary, all is well in the world. For much of the pandemic, the nonprofit Animals as Natural Therapy couldn’t allow the human-critter contacts that are at the heart of its programs, though it did offer window visits where people could at least see, if not touch, another living thing. In the summer of 2021, however, the nonprofit was able to resume regular outdoor visits with at least one client, Silverado Bellingham Memory Care Community. “We’ve done a few visits out there where we bring our horses and goats and chickens and rabbits and sometimes a staff member’s dog,” says Lindsey Witus, the mobile team coordinator. “It’s been amazing to see the smiles and sometimes (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)
winter 2021/22
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