Eesti Elu / Estonian Life No. 21 | May 29, 2020

Nr. 21

EESTI ELU reedel, 29. mail 2020 — Friday, May 29, 2020

11

Keeping spirits up for residents and staff of Ehatare during the COVID-19 pandemic Vincent Teetsov While long-term care facilities have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1,855 active LTC resi­ dent cases in Ontario as of May 25th, the long-term care and retirement residences at Ehatare have had no known cases of COVID-19.

Beyond complying with nu­ merous government regulations, Ehatare has made significant ­investments in protecting Resi­ dents and Staff. For instance, a portable room sanitizer unit was recently purchased and is being used throughout the building.

Eight young members of our community have been hired to assist with rigorous screening as well as frequent and diligent cleaning of all high touch sur­ faces.

In the early stages of the pandemic, Ehatare implemented a single home employment ­policy for Staff, to reduce expo­ sure to outbreaks taking place at other facilities. This reduc­ tion of employment has been responded to with increased hours whenever possible, to protect the livelihoods of re­ maining Staff. Based on recent announcements from the Govern­ment of Ontario, Ehatare expects to receive temporary additional pandemic pay fund­

Armenia, Estonia and the Soviet past Vsevolod Jürgenson is an interesting figure. The Esto­ nian Center Party politician is on the city council of Tallinn’s Mustamäe district and a ­frequent Facebook poster. His name, and his chosen topics are what catch the eye. H ­ is first name is Slavic, meaning “lord-of-everything/every­ body”, similar to Vladimir (we know of one such in the Kremlin) or Voldomyr. With a common Estonian last name that has Scandinavian roots it is possible, due to his given name, that his mother is Russian. His geni.com listing is, due to being a politician, private. Yet that bold first name might explain his post­ ings.

In early May Jürgenson post­ ed (in Estonian) on Facebook a piece marking the anniversary of the 1915-1923 genocide of Armenians. You can find it on­ line under the title of Armeenia genotsiid puudutab ka meid – the Armenian genocide affects us as well. In brief, the two nations, decades apart, had to ­ bear Soviet cruelty and deporta­

tions. It is an interesting histori­ cal fact that Armenia declared independence three months af­ ter Estonia, on May 28, 1918.

That Republic lasted until So­ vietization, meaning illegal armed occupation on December 2, 1920.

After reading this opinion, one was reminded of Edward Alexander’s 1990 book The Serpent and the Bees. A KGB Chronicle. This was translated into Estonian, the first foreign language for the work and appeared in 2002 as Madu ja ­ mesilased. The title is taken from the Armenian proverb.

After three translations (Arme­ nian to English to Estonian to English) the wisdom is “A ­serpent sucks poison and a bee honey from one and the same flower.” The Estonian transla­ tion, by the way, is by AulisLeif Erikson (1968–2017). Viki­ peedia, Estonia’s Wiki, has no further information on this per­ son; the name may be a pseu­ donym.

Similarly there is little avai­ lable online about Alexander, although he provides informa­

Ehatare people during pandemia.

Photo: Ehatare

ing for non-management staff.

Family visits for residents of Ehatare have been eliminated, allowing for only staff and essential visitors to enter the ­ premises. All such visitors un­ dergo screening questions and twice-daily temperature read­ ings. Visitors and Staff with COVID-19 symptoms or con­ cerns are refused entry or sent home. Similarly, if Residents leave Ehatare for any reason, they must complete a 14-day quarantine in their rooms upon their return. Sometimes Staff need to restrict interactions with their own families, to mitigate any possible transfer of the ­virus.

Although it has not been necessary, and despite the fact that LTC homes are not always designed with isolation in mind, financial investment has also been applied to create isolation areas for Ehatare’s Nursing Home. Similarly, Ehatare has introduced dual seatings for each meal served to Retirement Home Residents in order to address social distancing con­ ­ cerns.

So far, these protection

­ easures have protected the m Residents of Ehatare’s residen­ ces, such that zero cases of the virus have been identified at Ehatare; but the restrictions have also made it socially challeng­ ing for these very same people.

With this in mind, everyone has been working together co­ operatively to sustain a warm, enriching environment, and this is why extra effort has been made to provide a variety of new activities.

As much as it is possible to continue normal life under the circumstances, Residents have been enjoying various events including socializing at happy ­ hour, time on the backyard ­patio, Netflix movies on the big screen, and internally organized exercise classes. One particularly memorable event was the “Day in Paris”, where all Residents enjoyed French meals, includ­ ing crêpes, coq au vin, niçoise salad with tuna steak, and crème brûlée. Live piano music floated through the air.

Decorations and the French ­tricolore adorned Ehatare, ­creating a lively and diversion­ ary atmosphere.

tion about his career throughout the book as a United States State Department employee.

First as a Voice of America journalist, heading the Cau­ casian languages department, and responsible for Armenian language broadcasts. This after WW II service as a psy-ops ex­ pert. Later his work for Foggy Bottom included postings to Berlin, Greece and Hungary among other places, as an ex­ pert on Soviet and Eastern Europe affairs. Wikipedia indi­ cates that he is still alive, at a hundred years of age, born in 1920 in the USA. His father fled the genocide noted above; Americanized his name from Alexanijan and Edward’s parents raised him as an American-Armenian. Alex­ ander’s first language was Ar­ me­nian, a linguistic ability that he made great use of during his career, earning the acquaintance, sometimes significant trust, of many important cultural figures, including composer Aram Khachaturian, who was actually born in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Much like many notable Armenians, forced into exile either by the Ottoman empire or a rapacious

tsarist, then Soviet Russia.) Of interest to chess-playing readers is Alexander’s conversation with Tigran Petrosian, also Tbilisiborn, at a reception held in the latter’s honour in Washington; the Armenian not yet at the time World Champion on 64 squares.

The bulk of the memoir deals with the efforts of the KGB to recruit him as an agent, to be used in Armenia against American interests. The USA has a large, initially refugee, now expatriate, émigré popula­ tion that kept contact with Yerevan and family throughout the country. Alexander was, however, emphatically loyal to his country of birth. But his State department handlers en­ couraged stringing the KGB along. Fascinating reading, es­ pecially in the Estonian lan­ guage, as many refugees from Estonia were also approached abroad – or when they dared to visit occupied Estonia.

Madu ja mesilased reads almost like a John le Carré ­ ­novel at times, yet is based on fact. Curiously, Alexander, drawn to his ancestral homeland, was visiting Soviet occupied Arme­

On a day-to-day basis, activi­ ty staff have upheld camaraderie and friendship, while determin­ ing the specific emotional and physical needs of Residents through regular individual con­ tact by Activity Staff with all Residents. This has brought to the forefront a challenge that is difficult to solve, despite the best efforts of everyone in­ volved: ultimately, we miss our family members. Their smiles, their jokes, their touch. During the lockdown, Residents have been able to communicate with their families using Skype, Google Duo, and by phone, of course. But close time with our loved ones is precious and ­limited.

In speaking with Einar Medri, CEO of Ehatare, I was told that they welcome and safely coordinate care packages, photos, cards, flowers, and more for residents. While the threat of this virus is frightening, unpredictable, and even exas­ perating, this is a way we can make the day-to-day more joy­ ful for our family members.

Every single one of us has been thrown for a loop with the coronavirus. It’s hard to accept.

It disturbs health and everything we live for. However, until we are all able to meet again in person, let’s stand behind our families and the people who take good care of them. Mr. Medri noted further that this is a time that “draws us all to­ gether as never before with a common objective of being here for our Residents, their loved ones, and by extension, the larger Estonian community that Ehatare has served for many ­decades.”

Photos used with permission from Ehatare.

nia precisely at the time when Kim Philby, the most notorious KGB spy and double agent ever, made his way from Leba­ non through Syria to Moscow (recommended further reading: Ben Macintyre’s Philby book, A Spy Among Friends).

Alexander’s book is a rarity but worth searching for, in ­either language. The connection between Armenia and Estonia is made by Jürgenson, who notes that an Estonian missionary, Hanna Hedwig Büll, born in Haapsalu, saved thousands of Armenian children during the genocide years from certain death. Jürgenson’s emphatic point is that like with all crimes against humanity it is in the interest of the oppressors to ­ deny, deny, portray the victims as perpetrators of brutality themselves. Hence the need to keep remembering such out­ rage. Facebookers might do well to occasionally visit his page. Who knows – his topics might trigger other, related memories and help in con­ tinuing to reveal the horrors perpetrated by the KGB and others in the name of commu­ nism.

TÕNU NAELAPEA