Crayons vs. coronavirus: These seniors are isolated. Then art created by kids arrives.

May 6--Janet Liedeker hasn't been so isolated from her friends since the 1940s, when the United States was buffeted by polio outbreaks and people were ordered to avoid contact with one another, quarantine at home and stay out of swimming pools, movie houses and stores.

Liedeker, 89, is now cooped up in her room at the Bay Oaks Historic Retirement Residence in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood. No card games, no conversation, no meals with her friends. Homes for the elderly have been on lockdown since they were identified as potential hot spots of the COVID-19 disease during the coronavirus pandemic.

So it came as a sweet surprise when drawings and paintings by young artists arrived at Bay Oaks in recent days. Although the colorful artwork came from complete strangers, Liedeker and her fellow seniors felt an immediate connection.

"It's nice to know there is someone out there thinking of you. We just can't see them or hug them," Liedeker said. "It breaks the monotony for both sides, the giver and the recipient."

Likewise, Julia Russell, 7, is bored and a little lonely after nearly two months at home, taking classes online and prohibited from playing in the park. But she had fun making drawings of a chocolate bar, a blue bird, a puppy and kitten, a rainbow-colored bucket of popcorn and a treasure chest. She wrote assuring messages such as "Dear Rosa, I'm thinking of you," or "Antonio, everything is OKAY," or "You're a butterfly, Francisca."

Her sister, Eva, 6, drew a winking pink bunny holding a carrot and wrote, "Dear Teresa, you are the luckiest person in the Whole Wid World."

"Everyone is sick and no one wants to catch it, but I want the seniors to feel happy," Julia said. "I really like coloring."

Art has a way of bridging gaps. Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell and Coconut Grove art therapist Morgan DeFranco put their heads together and figured out a way to knit generations together through the barriers of social distancing, closed doors and masked faces.

Russell represents residents of several senior facilities in his District 2. DeFranco has a passion for combining art and technology to teach self expression. They created the Hearts Passion Project, a website built by DeFranco that enables kids to send their creations online to a person they choose by first name.

So far, the four-day-old site has a list of 500 seniors living in 12 facilities. Students from 15 schools were initially tapped to participate but the number of contributors is growing.

"The mental health consequences of isolation can be dire," DeFranco said. "You're used to looking forward to seeing friends and family and suddenly that face-to-face interaction is gone. Art helps heal depression and anxiety. If a kid made me a picture, even if I didn't know exactly what it was, it would warm my heart.

"We don't want older people to feel forgotten and we want kids to share their creativity. We've made it simple to generate an act of kindness. As we expand, it would be cool to connect any senior in the world to a child through virtual art."

Russell, a wood sculptor and musician -- and father of Julia and Eva -- understands the power of art. He also felt deep concern for the elderly as soon as it became clear they were the most vulnerable population.

"Each new restrictive order gave them more protection but also more stress. They were sequestered. They were intimidated by the layers of PPE [personal protective equipment]," he said. "I know how art can transcend a phone call or Zoom gathering. Even more so the art of a child. It's so innocent. To have a child give comfort to an elder when it's usually the other way around is really powerful and touching."

Florence Anderson, 81, a retired interior designer who lives at Bay Oaks, said she received drawings from a girl named Sofia.

"She's pictured herself with a long pigtail and two people adjacent with sticks in their hands, which represent canes. That's us," Anderson said. "It's so cute. Kids are charming at young ages because they are not guarded or self-conscious.

"They've got us separated from each other here and it's demoralizing. What a lovely idea to pair older people with children. Makes me feel grandparently!"

Seniors are frustrated and frightened and the artwork brightens boring days, said Kathryn Moore, assistant administrator at Bay Oaks.

"You've got two generations, stuck in quarantine and eager to reach out," Moore said. "Kids' art doesn't ask anything of the viewer. Someone made it with love and that is easily communicated. As a person who's trying to make this whole nightmare more manageable for retirees, it's a great idea."

The artwork uploaded by DeFranco includes scribbles, paintings, abstract art, eagles, boats, fish, unidentified creatures, rockets, families, suns, flowers and photos of kids in homemade masks.

Liedeker, a retired geriatric social worker, said retirement residences and nursery schools occupy the same buildings in some countries she's visited.

"It's for a good reason -- because we've got a lot to share with each other," she said.

She also wanted to let the larger world know that everything is OK at Bay Oaks.

"On the news all we hear about is how nursing homes have the virus, ALFs have the virus, old people are dying of the virus," she said. "We are healthy here. We are fortunate. We see the pictures from the children and it signifies the future. We are hopeful."

Linda Robertson

Linda Robertson has written about a variety of compelling subjects during an award-winning career. As a sports columnist she covered 13 Olympics, Final Fours, World Cups, Wimbledon, Heat and Hurricanes, Super Bowls, Soul Bowls, Cuban defectors, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, Tonya Harding. She golfed with Donald Trump, fished with Jimmy Johnson, learned a magic trick from Muhammad Ali and partnered with Venus Williams to defeat Serena. She now chronicles our love-hate relationship with Miami, where she grew up.

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