SASKATOON -- Since March the Scharfstein-McGettigan family hasn’t been able to hug their 95-year-old grandmother who is isolating in her house, but as the holidays got closer, the need for physical contact grew.
Becky Scharfstein-McGettigan decided to do something about it and created a "hug station” using wood, plastic sheeting and gloves.
“This idea came from me wanting to hug my grandma, and I didn’t know how I could do that, I needed to do that safely,” Scharfstein-McGettigan said.
“She’s been here since March, we haven’t had a hug since March and I missed it.”
Scharfstein-McGettigan said she was on social media when she came across “hug stations” that allow people to safely hug friends and family again.
“I enlisted the help of my partner who is a carpenter, Derek is amazing, and he built it for me.” Scharfstein-McGettigan told CTV.
The hug station went up on Christmas morning for the first time, and Scharfstein-McGettigan’s seven-year-old son Sean finally had the chance to hug his great-grandmother.
“We were the first of the family to come over and we had it all set up and Sean got the first hug since March,” Becky said.
Scharfstein-McGettigan’s grandmother, Lou MacDonald said she was thrilled when it was installed and she finally got some physical contact again from her family.
“I think it’s the most spectacular thing I’ve seen in my 95 years,” MacDonald said.
“I don’t know how to explain it, I’m just so thankful for Becky and Derek thinking of something like this.”
Sean said it felt great to finally have his great-grandmothers arms around him once again.
“I used to like hugging my (great-grandmother),” Sean said." "It made me very happy because I got to hug my (great-grandmother).”
Scharfstein-McGettigan said they have been cleaning the device after each visit, allowing other family members to drop by and get some more hugs from grandma.
