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Rodney Michel oral history, 2021.
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- speakerI wanted to ask you, when did you first hear about COVID-19?
- speakerWell, I probably with most other people, I began
- speakerto hear about it on the television news
- speakerand probably like so many thought, oh, well, that's something
- speakernew, but it's never going to affect us.
- speakerAnd then very quickly the world learned that
- speakerit was a pandemic, a serious plague.
- speakerThat and of course, here at Cathedral Village, they were.
- speakerI think they were.
- speakerAhead of the game, in the best sense of the word, to begin taking
- speakerprecautions, we knew very suddenly
- speakerwhat was coming our way.
- speakerWe didn't know for how long did we?
- speakerNo we didn't, not at all.
- speakerWhat
- speakerwhat would you what would you say or what did you think?
- speakerDid you have any thoughts about it when you first heard about it?
- speakerWell, again, I thought, oh, with modern technology
- speakerand medicine and science, there will very quickly
- speakerbe a medicine that takes care of this and it won't
- speakerlast long.
- speakerAnd then, you know, as weeks and a few months went by, I began
- speakerto realize that it was like a historical plague,
- speakerlike the like the 1918 flu, the Back plague
- speakerand all of those things, it was a worldwide
- speakerepic pandemic.
- speakerAnd that was pretty mind blowing.
- speakerYeah.
- speakerWhat would you say was the most significant consequence for
- speakeryou personally?
- speakerWell, a couple of things.
- speakerJust after the,
- speakerjust after the shutdown happened in our living accommodations,
- speakermy partner fell and broke his hip.
- speakerAnd while he was in the hospital, I could still
- speakervisit and he had his replacement and was doing well.
- speakerBut when he returned here to Bishop White Lodge for rehab,
- speakerthere were no visitors. And that became a very big challenge,
- speakerprimarily because he was beginning to kind of slip into
- speakerdementia a bit.
- speakerAnd he was like a little child. He wanted to see somebody that he knew and
- speakerI would call him every day and he would just cry and say, please
- speakercome and get me to come see me.
- speakerI said, well, I can't take you out, but I can't come see you yet.
- speakerWe have to communicate by.
- speakerAnd then on December 1st, he
- speakertested positive for COVID and died that very
- speakerday. He had COPD.
- speakerSo he he was a risk.
- speakerBut so my biggest sort of shock
- speakerand regret was that I didn't get to see him before
- speakerhe left. And interestingly, six months before
- speakerall of this, he and I had had several conversations.
- speakerHe said, now you you you know, I'm 91 now.
- speakerYou won't let me die alone, will you? And I said, no, of course not.
- speakerThat I'm going to be at your side, whatever.
- speakerSo that kind of weighed heavily on my mind
- speakerfor a long time until I worked through it.
- speakerBut so that so that sort of began
- speakerthe COVID experience and then it was full blown
- speakerisolation, basically.
- speakerAnd I have to say that our residents
- speakerhere, our residential staff, really
- speakerdid a yeoman's job of delivering meals and,
- speakeryou know, keeping us informed and all of that.
- speakerSo I never really felt I never really felt in danger.
- speakerI mean, I was cautious, as everybody else was to wear a mask, but
- speakernobody went anywhere. We just lived here.
- speakerYeah, I'm pretty much an introvert by nature.
- speakerSo the isolation did
- speakernot really affect me that much.
- speakerI mean, I just sort of settled in and started reading some books that I wanted to read
- speakera long time and worked on a few projects that had been
- speakerhanging. And so, so,
- speakerso I, I, I think I managed that
- speakerfairly well. Although I have to say, like everyone, I think, you know, I had some
- speakerdepression and anxiety, never knowing
- speakerwho might be next. And my children were very
- speakergood about calling me and face timing with me.
- speakerSo I, I felt that connection.
- speakerAnd then one of the real benefits of the whole thing,
- speakerI would say is that I got to know
- speakera few residents here at Cathedral
- speakerVillage that I hadn't known before and we became very good friends.
- speakerThat first it was a strange, strange
- speakersort of friendship where you couldn't spend any time with each other.
- speakerBut, you know, we could text and call and send
- speakercomputer messages. So I came to know of
- speakera few people much, much better during that time.
- speakerAnd that was a real plus for me.
- speakerIs that because of my partner, Al, as
- speakerhe as his dementia sort of increased he wasn't he didn't want
- speakerto be out much. So, for instance, I couldn't go to Village college
- speakerclasses because he couldn't hear well enough and
- speakerhe just didn't like to go. So I stayed home with him.
- speakerProbably one of the things I miss the most was water
- speakeraerobics, because that really is a health
- speakersaver for me. I mean, that's a real plus for me.
- speakerAnd I didn't.
- speakerFrankly, I got kind of weary of Zoom, so I couldn't
- speakereven conceive of doing my fitness on Zoom
- speakerbecause I had some meetings that I had to attend and I was treasurer
- speakerof the Residents Association, so I had to attend president's
- speakermeetings on Zoom. And that was I'm
- speakerI'm sort of a technical dinosaur.
- speakerI come at it very clumsily and slowly, and
- speakerI was always so afraid that I wasn't going to do all the steps right.
- speakerBut somehow we got through it.
- speakerNow.
- speakerSo I don't I don't think I suffered like
- speakerI mean, I was very concerned about some of our residents here really, really
- speakeralone, probably did not have any
- speakercomputer or any way to be in touch with the people on either
- speakerside of them. That must have been a very frustrating and frightening
- speakertime.
- speakerI think you anticipated some of my questions.
- speakerAs far as COVID of people acquiring new routines
- speakeror new habits, do you think that this will have a lasting
- speakereffect on people?
- speakerI think it's going to.
- speakerI have talked to so many people who, for instance, work
- speakerfrom home and, you know,
- speakerand there they are really not happy about having to go back
- speakerinto the office. They enjoyed and felt that they were just
- speakeras effective and doing doing
- speakertheir work well.
- speakerWith church the same way, I think people discovered that it was much easier to just
- speakerkeep your pajamas on and watch a screen zoom
- speakerservice then have to dress up, drive somewhere.
- speakerAnd I think that's something that our church at least is sort
- speakerof wrestling with because people have made it.
- speakerYou know, we have a church right here in the diocese
- speakerthat's in the city and they
- speakernormally have around 50 people on a Sunday.
- speakerIt's sort of the old fashioned type service
- speakerthat they had on Christmas Eve.
- speakerThey had eighteen hundred people watching
- speakertheir service on from all over the world.
- speakerWas that the church here on the property?
- speakerNo, it's the one St. Clement's Church down in Appletree Lane,
- speakerdown by not far from the Franklin Institute.
- speakerOh, so they're and they had the same
- speakerthing on Easter because we weren't quite open on Easter.
- speakerSo I don't think they actually know how it happened.
- speakerI was going to ask you.
- speakerBut they're trying to work with it now and see what
- speakerwhat it might mean for their future.
- speakerYou know, I think the Wagner Science Museum had a similar
- speakerexperience. They they offer courses.
- speakerSure. And they they continue the courses, but on Zoom and this is a very
- speakerlocal institution with in-person free science
- speakercourses, and they had people from all over.
- speakerWell, I think that's one of the things that I felt and I think other people
- speakerdid too.
- speakerWe came to have a kind of a hunger for knowledge
- speakerand information and and whether it be from
- speakerfrom reading books that we had in the pile to read or doing
- speakerZoom classes or whatever.
- speakerWe wanted to know more. Certainly know more about COVID, but
- speakerjust increase our knowledge.
- speakerI think it probably pulled a lot of people up short
- speakerand made them think, hey, you know, this life may be fragile and
- speakerif we have unfinished things on our bucket list that can be
- speakerdone during COVID, we need to get on with those because
- speakerpeople were dropping all around us, you know, so
- speakerso so that was a that was a benefit.
- speakerI still do some Zoom things and I still get
- speakeranxious getting all set up.
- speakerSo I'm by no way an expert in that.
- speakerBut but you know more now than.
- speakerI certainly do know more now.
- speakerAnd it was a it was such a it was such a benefit for me
- speakerbecause all of my children have cell phones and
- speakerwe could do FaceTime so I could at least see my grandchildren and
- speakersee how they were growing and developing and keep in touch with my kids
- speakerand their families. So that was good.
- speakerA little more probably than usual.
- speakerYou know, that's great.
- speakerIt has kind of hooking
- speakeron to that. Has covid changed any of your plans, do you think?
- speakerWell, to be honest, yes.
- speakerAnd I can tell this to you on the tape, but I have
- speakerto swear you to secrecy, first of all, I was
- speakerso upset about Al's
- speakerdying. And my never even getting to see him.
- speakerAnd I kept getting different stories, and if we went on hospice, I could go visit
- speakerhim. Well, they went on hospice and when they called me
- speakerthe morning that he tested positive and
- speakersaid the doctor actually called me and said, Al has just
- speakertested positive. As soon as we get him settled in a quarantine
- speakerroom, you may come over and visit him.
- speakerAnd then 15 minutes later, I got a call saying we're sorry.
- speakerWe did get him settled but before we could call him, he passed.
- speakerSo that was upsetting to me.
- speakerAnd and then, frankly, other than residents,
- speakerno one from the administration ever said a word to me about
- speakerhis passing. So I felt I felt a little.
- speakerI felt slighted somehow.
- speakerAnd the upshot of that was that
- speakermy children then said, you know, this has
- speakerthis has awakened all of us.
- speakerWe would rather have you closer to us.
- speakerThey're are all about three hours away now.
- speakerAnd so I
- speakertook a step and looked in another place and I'm actually leaving.
- speakerLate September, where I will be 15 minutes from my son
- speakerand his wife and children and 30 minutes from my other children,
- speakerit's a very similar situation.
- speakerSo I know the routine.
- speakerMm hmm. I have a pool.
- speakerSo, well, that would be a loss to this community but a gain to your
- speakerfamily.
- speakerWell I'm feeling very kind of depressed about it is
- speakeryou know, I don't want to say anything yet because it's hard
- speakerto say goodbye for two months.
- speakerRight. You know, but I know I will have to do
- speakerthat eventually. And it's this has been a good this has
- speakerbeen a wonderful I really feel like this community is my family.
- speakerI mean, I'm sorry that personal
- speakerfamily and new family couldn't work out because of geography.
- speakerBut I'm feeling I think COVID made me feel
- speakera little more dependent on my kids.
- speakerAnd I really enjoy them.
- speakerI've been a caretaker all my life and now my kids
- speakerare reaching out to say we want to help take care of you.
- speakerAnd that seems right for me.
- speakerSo where are they?
- speakerThey're my three sons are in Maryland the
- speakerBaltimore well, Annapolis and Baltimore.
- speakerRight. My daughter lives in Northern Virginia.
- speakerHuh. That's my old Baltimore ground there as well.
- speakerMy parents are from Baltimore.
- speakerThis is and it turns out that I found out about it on a Zoom
- speakercall because another retired bishop from our church
- speakerwho used to serve in Maine came to this we
- speakerhad sort of sharing, you know, debriefing
- speakertimes with cohort's.
- speakerAnd she said, well, I'm living outside of Baltimore now and a wonderful
- speakerCCRC named Char called Charlestown.
- speakerAnd she said it's just it it does everything
- speakerthat we need. So I called her later privately
- speakerand said, well, you know, tell me about where is this place?
- speakerAnd she sent me the information and I looked into that and a couple of others.
- speakerBut it's.
- speakerIt's going to be all right, good, but as I say, it's
- speakeralso going to leave a chunk of my heart here.
- speakerHow long have you been here, Rodney?
- speakerI've been here eight years.
- speakerI came in 2013.
- speakerWow. So.
- speakerSo it's you'll be missed.
- speakerWell, you'll be welcomed down there,
- speakercertainly be missed. I mean, I will certainly miss here.
- speakerYes. There's so many really fine and wonderful people.
- speakerBut we have to go where the.
- speakerThat's right, and I think this will be wonderful for your kids.
- speakerYeah, I actually it was actually my sister who planted
- speakerthe seed after Al died.
- speakerShe called me and said, I'm so sorry.
- speakerI think you better be thinking about moving closer to your children.
- speakerOh, they have they have expressed to me, but they may not
- speakerhave told you, but they would like you to be closer geographically
- speakerso you could be more a part of their lives that.
- speakerOK, I'll take that away.
- speakerAnd then when my children began to voice, I thought, OK, it's
- speakertime to at least explore.
- speakerGreat. That's great. So.
- speakerOh, I don't have any other questions, Rodney, but is there anything
- speakeryou'd like to add or.
- speakerNo. The only thing the only for us main frustration I have is
- speakerthat, as you can see, I should have used COVID time
- speakerto get everything in order and we all should, but
- speakerI just couldn't. But I, I, I love to read and
- speakerI read I read so many good books and
- speakergot back into reading now. Right.
- speakerSo that's good. You know, with Al he kind of needed attention
- speakerall the time. That's right. But gosh, during COVID I had
- speakerhours to relax and read and learn new things.
- speakerRight.
- speakerSo what.
- speakerThank you so much. You're welcome.
- speakerThis is really interesting.
- speakerThank you.
