Students at a Shannon secondary school have written to residents of Carrigoran House urging them to stay hopeful during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
As with all nursing homes in the country, no visitors are allowed enter the Newmarket-on-Fergus nursing home in an attempt to limit the spread of Coronavirus among the nation’s most vulnerable.
Residents and staff at the nursing home shared a video with The Clare Echo earlier this week reminding people to adhere to public health regulations.
Every Easter, students from St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon visit the residents at Carrigoran. However with school closures and the visitor ban, such a trip had to be called off this year.
Members of staff at St Caimin’s felt writing letters to those in the nursing home would be a worthwhile exercise. Over eighty students from a variety of year groups penned letters and took photos in an attempt to lift the spirits of residents who have been unable to see their family and friends in the past two weeks in what teachers outlined was “a fantastic response”.
Chaplain at the Shannon school, Cora Guinane explained, “The students wrote letters, drew pictures and took photos to remind the residents to stay hopeful in these challenging time. The students wrote about how they were finding it difficult to self isolate and not meet up with friends. Many wished they were back at school. The overall aim of the letter writing was to bring a smile to the residents in these strange times and to wish them a happy Easter”.
Letters have been emailed to staff in Carrigoran and they will be printed off and distributed among the residents. As they are unable to visit this Easter, Cora said the initiative was “the next best thing”.
Teachers at the school have praised their students for the “beautiful sentiment” which they described as “a wonderful gesture of community solidarity”.
