COLUMBUS (WCMH) – After more than a year, loved ones are once again getting to hug their family members at nursing homes and assisted living facilities after visitation restrictions were loosened by the state this week.

And residents are saying that first hug means everything to them.

At Ohio Living Westminster Thurber, everyone’s spirits have been up this week.

The staff, and of course residents and their families who can hold on to each other again, are overjoyed with the changes. 

You can practically see the smiles through the masks.

“It meant that I could be with my mom again,” said Helen Nilsson.

The smiles that come after getting to hold onto a loved one for the first time in more than a year.

Nilsson took the selfie with her mom Betty earlier this week.

“I got to touch her, hold her, kiss her forehead and it’s been exactly 374 days since I was able to last touch her and hold her and kiss her, so it was truly amazing,” she said.

Every day, Nilsson stops by the bird feeder outside her mom’s window at Ohio Living Westminster Thurber. It’s something she did before the pandemic and something she still does.

Over the past year, she’d only be able to visit through the window or in a special area.

That changed on Monday.

Nilsson said the hug, getting to hold her hand, the touch is what truly connects them.

“For her, mom has severe dementia and for her, it’s just the touch and the feel as music is very important to her and anybody with dementia and I feel that gave her just an extra bond, like, ‘OK, my family is here. My daughter’s here,’” she said.

Previously, the state discouraged physical contact between residents at nursing homes and assisted living facilities and their visitors.

The new order from the Ohio Department of Health says vaccinated residents of those facilities can have that contact. Visits can also now happen in private rooms as opposed to special areas only.

However, the visits need to be scheduled and health screenings are required. 

“Our emotional wellbeing, our physical wellbeing, our spiritual wellbeing, all of these aspects are important and human connection is what links it all together,” said Joel Wrobbel with Ohio Living Westminster Thurber. “And for them to be able to be back together with a loved one means everything.” 

Nilsson calls her mom her sunshine. She plays You Are My Sunshine on every visit, and now she can hold her sunshine again.

“This last time frame, 374, I would say the worst time in my life, and Monday was one of the best days of my life,” she said.

Nilsson said she’ll visit her mother as much as possible, handing out more hugs.