Coronavirus Leaves Senior Lonely With No Visitors; Letters Wanted

RIVERHEAD, NY — With coronavirus cases continuing to spike, new restrictions for nursing homes went into effect statewide Friday, with only medically necessary visits allowed.

But, while the state is asking nursing homes to set up online systems so families can communicate with their loved ones — the lack of visitors has left some seniors feeling lonely.

That's why Kathleen Berezny has reached out to ask people to "drop a note" to her friend Bertha Kulesa, a 96-year old who lives at the Acadia Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Riverhead.

To write letters, address them to Bertha Kulesa, Acadia Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, 1146 Woodcrest Ave., Room. 123, Riverhead, NY 11901.

"She cannot have visitors — no one, as the nursing home is closed to public," Berezny said.

Kulesa, Berezny said, has a daughter, Pat, and two sons, Donald and Thomas, as well as two grandsons and a great-grandchild; she lost her husband Henry and daughter Juliana.

Before coronavirus, Berezny said, Kulesa's daughter would visit her in the daytime, her sons, at dinnertime, and she and a friend, Peggy Sparrow, would go once a week, to do her hair, and to visit and chat. "We have Valentine's Day parties, Peggy's birthday party in February — and I have the cakes for St. Patrick's Day, but that's on hold, of course," she said.

The friends have been having lunch with Kulesa for years, even before she lived at the nursing home.

Throughout the years, Kulesa has been a familiar face in the community, working at Polish Hall, Regula's, and other local businesses.

Kulesa has even been recognized for being a 90-plus senior at the Riverhead Senior Center, Berezny said.

"She is a friendly, outgoing, and happy lady. She loves doing her exercises every day; she loves to read. She was never a TV watcher — except for Jeopardy," Berezny said. "She's alway loved feeding peanuts to the squirrels and leaving bird feed for the birds, too. She loved going to the senior center for special events. And she crocheted afghans — she's always loved doing that."