Locked-down French care home combats loneliness with Skype chats

Neumann helping a 79 year-old resident attend an online video call with his relatives at Les Jardins d'Emeraude long-term care unit at Bischwiller departmental hospital, near Strasbourg, during a lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), France. — Reuters

BISCHWILLER, France: The Skype call had to be rebooted, but after several attempts Danielle Martin, a 71-year-old locked down inside a French retirement home, could finally see her niece Nathalie via the tablet propped up in front of her wheelchair.

"There you go, now I can see her," the pensioner said to Emilie Neumann, an employee at the home whose job since the coronavirus outbreak involves compering video calls between residents and their families.