After spending last Mother's Day on lockdown, residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities will welcome visitors and celebrate the holiday at the homes of family and friends this weekend.
Massachusetts has eased restrictions for the state's 400 nursing homes due to the increased number of vaccinations and low infection rates. The change means people like Helen Robbins can visit their children and grandchildren on Mother's Day.
Robbins, who turns 88 next week, lives at the Pond Home, a 40-bed retirement and residential care facility in Wrentham. She plans to visit her daugher in Foxboro for the holiday, she said — her first visit since last March.
“The menu is going to be a big Thanksgiving dinner,” her daughter, Kathy Restuccia, said. “It'll be Thanksgiving, Christmas, two Mother's Days and two Easters. So, a big celebration.”
Mother’s Day is the biggest day of the year for visitors at skilled nursing facilities, said John Corliss, the administrator at the Baypointe Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brockton, where 170 residents live.
"I think it's exciting for the residents and the families to be together for Mother's Day, to to have more of a sense of normalcy," said Terri Javery, nursing director of the Pond Home, a residential care facility.
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Correction: This story has been updated to correct the attribution of the final quote.
