WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A woman from Norton has taken on a second job at a Rhode Island nursing home amid the pandemic, so she can visit her 90-year-old mother who lives at the facility.
M.J. Ryan told WBZ NewsRadio her 90-year-old mother suffers from dementia and heart issues, and with no visits due to COVID-19, her mom's health was taking a turn for the worse.
Ryan had an "Aha moment" when she heard about a woman in Florida who got a part time job in a nursing home kitchen where her husband was living, so she could see him more often.
She is now working part-time in the Friendly Nursing Home's laundry room, on top of her full-time job.
"[My mother] was definitely happy to see me," Ryan said. "Over time, I'd see that if I visited throughout my eight-hour shift, during my break, I noticed by the third time of the evening she was so much better."
It's made all the difference to her mother, and while it's very hot and hard work in the laundry room, Ryan said she would do it a hundred times over.
"It was just a matter of reconnecting, familiarity, understanding that I was her daughter, and that I was there."
WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe reports:
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(Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe/Twitter)