Dartmouth speech therapist asked for valentines for nursing homes. Thousands responded

Feb. 12—NEW BEDFORD — The pandemic hasn't made it easy on anyone's interpersonal communication, especially those in nursing and assisted living homes. Luckily, residents in Greater New Bedford facilities will receive valentines from SouthCoast families this week.

It began with a fundraiser last March, called FaceTime for Nana, in which a New Bedford Public Schools nurse and a speech therapist teamed up to raise more than $3,000 to purchase iPads for those in nursing homes who could not have family visit at the beginning of the pandemic. The fundraiser granted 20 iPads to Autumn Glen's memory unit in Dartmouth and Alden Court Nursing Care and Royal of Fairhaven Nursing Center in Fairhaven.

"It was really fun, really rewarding, and we continue to get feedback from random people," speech therapist Jill Valadao said.

After such great success and collaboration from the community, Valadao of Dartmouth wanted to continue to give back to the nursing homes for Valentine's Day and decided to collect valentines from the community. She placed a decorative dropbox on the back deck of her mother's house in New Bedford, right across from the barn at Buttonwood Park Zoo, and created a private Facebook group for those interested in crafting a sweet message. She requested valentines contain a note of encouragement or a quote, "think...what would your gram or gramps like to read in a card?"

The box was open for business and began collecting valentines at the beginning of January and became extremely popular about one week later as the cards began rolling in in waves. Valadao said that a random resident dropped off 150 Hallmark cards.

"We received both homemade and store-bought cards," Valadao said. "Although we appreciate the store-bought cards, the fun ones are the ones people put a lot of TLC into."

Word spread around Greater New Bedford. Entire classrooms pitched in once they heard of the project. Valadao said she received a large stash of cards from the Bishop Stang High School Honor Society, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. For those who wanted to send in cards from out of town, Valadao provided a mailing address to members of the Facebook group. Soon, she received valentines from different areas of the country, including California, Georgie and Michigan for a total of about 2,000 cards.

"People forget about [nursing] homes all the time, especially now," Valadao said. "There's no entertainment during COVID—no pianists, musicians. They need entertainment."

Valadao, who formerly worked in a home herself, said she has connections with several homes and will be safely dropping off valentines to 12 facilities throughout New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion and Wareham from Wednesday through Friday. The community has donated enough valentines for one for each resident so no one is left out.

"The census is low," Valadao said. "There's only about 50 to 150 residents per home."

These valentines will hopefully instill a sense of belonging and family in the homes for those who have not been allowed any visitors or any form of contact with family throughout the pandemic, something that is a growing issue.

"Those with dementia need continuity," Valadao said. "They can't understand why their family isn't coming to visit them."

This will not only benefit those in nursing and assisted living homes, but the families and children whose work is behind the paper hearts. Valadao said that through writing these notes, she hopes children learn lessons of empathy. Valadao said about 70% of the batch were homemade, coming straight from the heart.

Besides cards, community members donated candy and even some homemade crafts. One woman on maternity leave made beautiful papier-mâché shells sourced from Clark's Cove in South Dartmouth.

Valadao is hoping to host a similar project around the holidays in December, collecting cards wishing nursing home residents season's greetings, especially if there are still visitation restrictions due to the pandemic.

"I always tell my kids that kindness is the most important thing," Valadao said. "If you get a 100 on a test, that's great. But when I hear you're being kind and empathetic, that's the most important and receives the ultimate praise."

Her sons have actively helped spread the word in their classrooms. She said they feel a proud sense that their classrooms have participated and can say, "hey, my mom came up with that idea."

Valadao passed along an important quote: "In a world where you can be anything, be kind."

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