BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — More than a dozen people gathered in Bridgewater Saturday night to honor the lives of nursing home residents who died during the pandemic. The vigil was held nearly one year after nation-wide lockdown restrictions were first enacted.
For some in attendance, the grim anniversary was personal.
“If he didn’t get the COVID, he would still be alive,” said Elaine Raggiani, a Bridgewater resident who lost her husband Robert to COVID-19 last year. “My heart is broken, naturally. You don’t spend 50 years with a person to lose them, and it just takes time.”
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Raggiani said the two were high school sweethearts and had been married for 50 years.
“If it weren’t for my family, my kids, my grandkids, I would be lost because they’re kind of what’s holding me together,” she said.
Social worker and event organizer Melinda Gribko-Reyes led the group at Central Square.
“We watched a lot of heartache, we watched a lot of despair, we lost so many patients in that time period,” she told Boston 25 News. “They felt helpless, they felt confused, they were scared, they didn’t know what to do, and then all around them people were dying.”
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Gribko-Reyes drew attention to the living situation that many vulnerable citizens had to endure with much of the time spent in isolation away from family. She added that, while the night was one filled with reflection, it was also one filled with hope.
“For the first time we all feel hope,” she said. “I saw last week, I saw families hugging each other for the very first time in a year.”
That message was also echoed by Rep. Stephen Lynch, who gave a speech praising the community for reaching out to each other this year during a time of grief.
As candles were lit, white ribbons were given out as well, symbolizing elder affairs.
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