Sam Kleiman has been visiting his wife of 70 years through the glass of her personal care home since Manitoba public health officials suspended visitors from entering long-term care facilities.
Every afternoon, Shirley Kleiman, 92, is wheeled from her bedroom in a Winnipeg personal care home to a window, where her husband, Sam, is waiting to greet her on the other side of the glass.
Sam, 93, taps on the window, blows kisses to his wife of 70 years and waits for her care aide to pass a phone to Shirley so she can hear his voice.
“Hi sweetheart,” he says. “Do you know I love you?”
Shirley can’t speak very well after a stroke, but a big grin spreads across her face when she hears his voice.
“We’re in tune with one another. That’s just the way it’s always been,” Sam said.
Visits every day for 6 weeks
Manitoba public health officials suspended visits inside long-term care facilities on March 17 in order to stem the spread of COVID-19 to some of the people most vulnerable.
So Sam has been visiting with Shirley at the window at the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre in southwest Winnipeg every day for the last month-and-a-half.
