MSC Magazine | Issue 4 | Summer 2020

Page 36| Missionaries of the Sacred Heart LIFE AT LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR, RANDWICK UNDER COVID 19 by Greg McEnnally msc L ife is full of surprises. When someone says “I am going to do …”, God laughs. We do not know the future and if we had any doubts about this before, surely Covid-19 has put an end to them. Probably nobody could have predicted this pan- demic and how it would pan out – medically, geo graphically, economically, and politically. I have been chaplain to the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home in Randwick since 2014, each day driving the 3.5 km from the Sacred Heart Monastery at Kensington to the Little Sisters, and back. By March, 2020, Covid-19 had arrived. The monastery, where most of the residents are elderly, went into lock-down. The Little Sisters, where all residents are elderly, also went into lock -down. What to do? It seemed logical that I shift my residence to the Little Sisters. They were ame- nable and they expressed utter delight! Did they really know what they were getting?? – charita- ble community, these Sisters. I moved in at the end of March, taking with me only what I would need. Now they could be assured of daily Mass, and it is an honour for me to be able to provide this. Residents remain in the house, going out only for medical appointments, shopping or exercise. If a resident needs to go to hospital, then he/she needs to be tested for Covid-19 and to spend 14 days in isolation up- on return. This can be irksome. If the residents need to do shopping often other people can do it for them. On one occasion the Sisters did a lot of shopping for general items, which went on display: people could take what- ever they needed. A fantastic initiative, indicative of the real caring spirit of these Sisters. I doubt if many other nursing homes came up with this ser- vice. As regards exercise, I certainly relish the op- portunity each afternoon, either to swim, walk or bike ride. Once a month I take a day off to go walking sections of the Great North Walk up near the Hawkesbury. Anybody coming into the Home must first have had a flu injection. Hand sanitisers are available in the foyer and throughout the home and tem- perature is taken upon entry. This could be rather amusing during the winter months when skin