National Guard Soldiers Serve Community At Nursing Home
December 5, 2020 at 2:03 a.m.
National Guard Soldiers Serve Community At Nursing Home
By David [email protected]
During the COVID pandemic, two local Guardsmen – Spc. Christina Burns and Sgt. Austen Oaks – have taken on guard duty at a local nursing home.
“We basically manned the door to make sure visitors that came in weren’t having any symptoms of COVID, checked their temperatures and screened them to make sure they were safe to come inside the building,” Burns said.
They started their duty at the nursing home in Kosciusko County Nov. 14 and will continue until the end of the year. Someone is stationed at the door 24/7, with Oaks and Burns there for eight hours a day.
“I think sometimes it can be a bit heartbreaking because that’s all these people have, and we can’t allow visitors in right now, so they’re basically doing window visits,” she said of the experience. Burns said everyone was “pretty compliant.”
Oaks said, “It can be hard. Some family members, the close ones like their husbands and wives, tend to come in, drop stuff off to them, and they’ll say they’re going to do a window visit and we’ll hand them the phone so they can have a line of communication through the window without really having to open it because of the temperature outside right now.”
He said, for the most part, people seem “pretty happy with the care we are giving for their husbands and wives and family members.”
In the weeks they’ve been stationed at the nursing homes, Burns and Oaks said they’ve gotten to know the employees and residents at the nursing home.
Burns said, “We are building relationships, which I think is good for the community.”
Oaks said they also are helping to build relationships between the nursing home employees and residents.
“We’ll go and we’ll talk to the residents and see how they’re doing,” he said.
Burns has been in the Guard for four years, while Oaks is going on seven years.
“It is very new,” Burns said of the nursing home guard experience versus other jobs she’s performed in the Guard. Oaks agreed.
What stood out to Burns about the whole experience was, “Being able to have hands-on (experience) with our community, which is one reason I joined, so I could make a difference within my community.”
Oaks said, “Just being able to work within the community and showing our support for the community we live in.”
Guard recruiter Ssg. Randy Jackson said, “I would just like to point out the fact that this is just another way that we stand out as a National Guard. You see us out there supporting the local community, reinstilling the fact that we live here, we work here and we serve here.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Army National Guard can contact Jackson at 574-526-0537 or [email protected].
The armory is at 315 W. 350N, Warsaw.
During the COVID pandemic, two local Guardsmen – Spc. Christina Burns and Sgt. Austen Oaks – have taken on guard duty at a local nursing home.
“We basically manned the door to make sure visitors that came in weren’t having any symptoms of COVID, checked their temperatures and screened them to make sure they were safe to come inside the building,” Burns said.
They started their duty at the nursing home in Kosciusko County Nov. 14 and will continue until the end of the year. Someone is stationed at the door 24/7, with Oaks and Burns there for eight hours a day.
“I think sometimes it can be a bit heartbreaking because that’s all these people have, and we can’t allow visitors in right now, so they’re basically doing window visits,” she said of the experience. Burns said everyone was “pretty compliant.”
Oaks said, “It can be hard. Some family members, the close ones like their husbands and wives, tend to come in, drop stuff off to them, and they’ll say they’re going to do a window visit and we’ll hand them the phone so they can have a line of communication through the window without really having to open it because of the temperature outside right now.”
He said, for the most part, people seem “pretty happy with the care we are giving for their husbands and wives and family members.”
In the weeks they’ve been stationed at the nursing homes, Burns and Oaks said they’ve gotten to know the employees and residents at the nursing home.
Burns said, “We are building relationships, which I think is good for the community.”
Oaks said they also are helping to build relationships between the nursing home employees and residents.
“We’ll go and we’ll talk to the residents and see how they’re doing,” he said.
Burns has been in the Guard for four years, while Oaks is going on seven years.
“It is very new,” Burns said of the nursing home guard experience versus other jobs she’s performed in the Guard. Oaks agreed.
What stood out to Burns about the whole experience was, “Being able to have hands-on (experience) with our community, which is one reason I joined, so I could make a difference within my community.”
Oaks said, “Just being able to work within the community and showing our support for the community we live in.”
Guard recruiter Ssg. Randy Jackson said, “I would just like to point out the fact that this is just another way that we stand out as a National Guard. You see us out there supporting the local community, reinstilling the fact that we live here, we work here and we serve here.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Army National Guard can contact Jackson at 574-526-0537 or [email protected].
The armory is at 315 W. 350N, Warsaw.
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