Countries all over the world have been facing a global health crisis for over five
months. Studies show that the severity and fatality of Coronavirus has been directly
related to age and immune-compromised states; apparently, elderly are more at risk
and most vulnerable to the virus.
There are so many reasons that make the elderly more vulnerable to this
dangerous disease. However, the biggest reason is social networks. It might be a
challenge for older people to have access to the news or the internet. Due to the
isolation, the seniors cannot get enough accurate information about the resources on
how to stay physically and mentally healthy during the pandemic. Many senior
members from different associations and organizations in Washington state shared
that they used to have meetings every week before the breakout happened;
therefore, emotional support and comfort from other people meant a lot to them.
A few seniors shared that their family members who do not live in the same
household with them cannot come to visit as often as they used to do. “My kids are
still working as normal so they have to limit their visits to my house, unless They
fear that there is always a possibility of accidentally being associated with someone
who carries Coronavirus at work,” Mrs. Kim Lundgreen, an organizer of the Elder
Organization in Cherry St said. “I am the organizer of the Elder
Organization-Seattle. Our association was founded years ago and has a very close
relationship with many healthcare facilities in Seattle, such as: Harborview,
Swedish, and a Nutrition Program of Sound Generation. Therefore, we often had
people who worked at those facilities come visit us and represented their healthcare
and nutrition programs. The local authorities had visited our association a couple of
times during some of the special occasions such as: Thanksgiving and Lunar New
Year. Before the outbreak started, we used to hold meetings on every Tuesday and
Friday at Garfield Community Center, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with many different
activities, including: line dance, stick Tai Chi, chess, and lunch; it was very enjoyable
for us as such a big group.
Mrs. Thu Le, secretary of the Elder Organization in Cherry St, who was in
charge of registering people for the weekly music program, answered the interview,
“We ran a Food Serve program on every Friday as well. Sometimes, we did organize
book launching events of famous Vietnamese poets or writers. Now, we connect with
the City to provide Hot Meal for who needs it – thanks to the City of Seattle!
However, since we have to practice social distancing during this time, we cannot see
each other anymore. We found a way to hold our meetings, virtually, at 5 P.M. every
Sunday. In each of our call conferences, we usually go over the latest news, share
and update about our lives during the quarantine. Everyone also expressed how
much they missed our weekly meetings and activities. All we want is to let every
member know that we are all safe and healthy. Mrs. Wendy, instructor of the
organization and Asian Counseling & Referral Service shared that many seniors,
including herself, were refugees who fled Vietnam by boats–were also known as
Vietnamese Boat People–, then were immigrated to the U.S. through the ODP’s
subprogram, Humanitarian Operation (HO), for former re-education camp
detainees. Wendy said, “Most of our members value the importance of voting;
therefore, they encourage everyone else to vote because every vote counts. We left
Vietnam due to their disagreement with the harshness that the government of
Vietnam enforced upon their citizens at that point and we did not have a voice to
speak up. That is the reason why we really want everyone to utilize their right and
take the responsibility as a U.S citizen to vote in the upcoming elections.”
This pandemic has been such a huge tragedy worldwide and for the
Americans in particular. It has definitely changed the daily routines of many
seniors.” Mrs. Wendy, one of the members of the organization expressed that she
missed all the good old memories when everyone was able to gather and meet every
week to exercise with “Line Dance”. Mrs. Wendy shared further that she was an
instructor of the “English For Second Language” program at the Vietnamese Church
of Hope.
Furthermore, Mrs. Lundgreen shared that she has been assisting the
Vietnamese Health Board in Washington. She also raised a small fund to help out
the seniors in the Elder Organization to get through this difficult time. She has been
dedicating a lot of effort and time to help her fellows out by sending masks and hand
sanitizer to the people that she could reach out to. Moreover, she always announces
all the Covid-19 testing locations that do it for free for the seniors and their family
members.
Fortunately, it starts slowing down a little bit in Washington state so hopefully
the Covid-19 vaccine will be released soon and everything can slowly go back to
normal.
Mrs. Thu said. “I have lived in this country for so long but I have never in life
seen something so dreadful like this happen to our country before. During the days
of isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, people in our local community in Seattle
were worried when all the community programs and events were reduced or
cancelled. Government facilities also started to limit the number of people when it
came to serving. However, the members of the Elder Organization in Cherry St
always get their questions answered by Mrs. Lundgreen whenever they need the
newest updates.
The Senior Association in Lynnwood was one of the most active associations;
however, due to the Covid-19, they had to postpone most of their weekly activities, a
few members shared.
Besides the Seniors Organization in Cherry St, there is another admirable group of
senior, which is The Senior Association- Tacoma Pierce County, with about 80
members and is led by Mr. Robert Tran, known as the spine of the Vietnamese Community in Tacoma, most of the members from his association are former Boat
People, or were immigrated through the Humanitarian Operation (HO) program.
Mr. Robert Tran has been strongly supporting not only his own members but also
other seniors who needed help; especially, they would assist families of seniors who
unfortunately passed away by planning a funeral and memorial service for their
beloved family members. As the President of the Senior Association in Tacoma
Pierce County, Mr. Robert Tran would give out masks, sanitation supplies, free
Vietnamese newspapers, and essentials to the seniors in his group weekly, or even
helped them to do their grocery shopping and refill their medication if needed. He
also invited and assisted everyone to vote in Primary and General Elections because
it is one of the traditions of his community that has been going for over two decades.
Every member is still keeping in touch with each other through the phone or the
internet during the quarantine because they want all of the members to strictly
follow the safety guidelines for Covid-19.
The Senior South Park has to be mentioned because they are one of most
active associations in the state as well. Over the past few days Senior South Park has
had the opportunity to reach out to more families in the community to work
together and solve their difficulties such as supporting and connecting them with
distribution centers. Food is also cooked the same day and delivered to seniors’
homes on request. The association helps other seniors to claim assistance for
unemployment benefits. Reducing rent forms are also presented to the community
as well as how to request transportation for those having difficulty walking,
transferring back and forth in the community. Moreover, they provide everyone with
reliable sources and information related to Covid-19 from the testing center.
Thanh Tam, an organizer of the Senior South Park Association, shared that she is
very happy to have many great achievements because it has helped the seniors who are
sixty-five and over to receive benefits with SSI, Medicare Part A and B application
support as well as getting into the home care program.
Feeling the passion of seniors in the community, Senior South Park has set up a
“Sing For Each Other” program for everyone in the community who have time, love
music & would like to get together via online or phone. This program starts every
Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Almost everyone is very happy and looking forward to
Sunday so they can listen to Covid-19 updated information, raise their needs for help
and then get to see the performance of each person who registered with Senior South
Park to sing.
The Vietnamese Senior Association also realized that due to the lack of
knowledge and problems for all seniors from using a computer to register to participate
in the program, the person who is in charge of Senior South Park has decided to record
step-by-step instructions on how to participate in online meetings via Zoom meeting
app. Phone line is also actively open to support the elderly in the community to fight off
the boredom of the isolation period and never know when they can function normally
again. In addition, Senior South Park has designed a poster including pictures of all
singers who registered in the program to increase motivation for attendees and create a
fun atmosphere for the weekly activities with around 22 to 27 members. Senior South
Park is still looking for more people who enjoy and love singing to participate in this
program. “We are looking forward to seeing you participate in the next coming weeks.”
Beside the “Sing for Each Other” program, everyone also gets a chance to share
their excitement by dedicating their time and support every Friday afternoon to another
program called “Senior Women & Middle Women Who Loving Life” from 5 p.m. to 7
p.m. each week . This program will highly support all the women so that everyone can
coordinate and join the program by using a computer or phone to call in, share their
stories and then sing together, or listen to songs that bring back memories.
There are other seniors – for example Mrs. Kim Le, whose husband is a family
doctor in South Vietnam and now has children who is also a doctor working for a
hospital in the United States, Mrs. Kim said that a lot of her friends are “addicted” to
good music concerts in Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, EQC, Tulalip, Great America-Tukwila
Casino. “We still said to each other that before Covid-19, a few hundred people attended
the music concert without paying anything because it’s mostly free or if we needed to
pay for the tickets, they were always at a reasonable price so everyone can afford it. We
would love to attend the music concerts again with the limited capacity of 50 guests.
Even though the price of a ticket might range from 50 dollars to 100 dollars, it is still
something we would be happy to pay for. Unfortunately, our group would rather listen
to talented or famous singers instead of having me or the other seniors to sing to the
group,” Mrs. Kim said.
Religious and spirituality play such an important role in each individual’s life.
Therefore, after getting many suggestions, the organization decided to support their
people by creating a “Pray Together” program that everyone could join via their
mobile devices on every Saturday from 5 p.m. to 6p.m. The prayer room was set up
irrespective of religion and age because everyone who called in to participate would
be able to get an update on the newest information about the Coronavirus. People
could also share their thoughts and difficulties with everyone else in the meeting so
that they could pray together to spiritually lift each other up and reduce the anxiety
that each individual is experiencing during this time. Thanh Tam felt wonderful to
know that most of the participants are residing in Washington, California, and Texas
as they all truly took their time to join in the program. She was very glad that the
“Pray Together” and other programs attracted so many Vietnamese fellows inside
and outside of Washington state.
Through the days of isolation from the time of dedication and community service,
Senior South Park has felt the passion and contribution of each individual in every
program to support each other’s spirit during the Covid-19 pandemic. A member of
Senior South Park said, “We would like to remind everyone that we are still in
quarantine so please don’t forget to practice social distance by staying two meters away
from each other when going out in public. Furthermore, we need to wash our hands
more often and wear masks in public.”
At the end of the day, everyone should take responsibility and precautions because
that is the only way to support the seniors to reduce their risk of exposure to Covid-19.
People should remember that there is a possibility of one or more than one of their
family members are among the higher risk groups. The slogan “We are in this together”
might sound cliche, but it is true; if one individual does not take this matter seriously,
then the consequences of their action are going to be a cruel blow to the whole
community. Let’s get better together!
Jane Nguyễn
