MONMOUTH, Ill. — A retirement home in Monmouth, Illinois set up a booth to let visitors hug give their loved ones some long-awaited hugs.
Legacy Estates set up "hugging booths", consisting of a plexiglass wall with gloved armholes to allow its tenants to feel the physical connection they have been largely missing for the duration of the pandemic.
"We have had quite a few family members come by and use it. And they're just thrilled to death to be able to see their family members and hug them, even though it's through plastic, " says Michelle Newman, Legacy Estates' director.
The home says it got the idea from a sister home that had already set up its own hugging booth.