Tignish Seniors Home residents share life advice during pandemic

A video of residents at the Tignish Seniors Home sharing their best pieces of life advice has amassed over 12,000 views online.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, residents have not been able to have visitors since March 15. Tignish Seniors Home activities director Meghan Keough says making the video was a way for residents' families to see "that they're doing well."

"See the smiles on their faces, and also lately we've noticed everything is about the coronavirus," said Keough.

"I thought it would be a good idea to put something else on the newsfeed."

The advice in the video ranges from "don't get married too young" to "save your money and travel while you can" to "be careful what you're doing."

'I'm trying to take what they say'

Keough said when she first pitched the idea to the residents, some of them didn't think they had a story or any advice to share. She had to tell them otherwise.

"Some of them were like 'oh nobody would want to take my advice' most of them would say it right away but some of them I had to help, but most of them really wanted to give advice," she said.

"Some of them had it written down, they were ready to tell me."

The idea for the video came to Keough after she had previously posted another video of the residents dancing to the song Don't Worry Be Happy.

"It just really like, touched my heart, some of the things they were saying, because I'm one of the younger generations growing up. I'm trying to take what they say," said Keough, who is a third-year science student at the University of New Brunswick who hopes to go into the health-care field.

She said the COVID-19 visitor restrictions have been a challenge for her residents.

"A lot of them are doing good, especially when they have different activities but in the nighttime they get bored and they want to see their families," she said.

"Some of them are taking it very well and they're understanding of it, and others, they just can't wait for this to be over."

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