Wife works as dishwasher to visit husband in nursing home after 114 days

They say love knows no boundaries. In the case of Mary Daniel and her husband, Steve, no pandemic can keep them apart.

Although during the first 114 days of the pandemic lockdown, Mary and Steve were not able to see each other, Mary made sure she could find a way to see her husband.

Steve was in a nursing home. Since the United States government has banned visitors from nursing homes, Mary could not do her daily routine of visiting her husband there.

That was not until a position for a dishwasher in the nursing home opened. Mary decided she will become a dishwasher to be able to visit her husband.

Ban on visitors

Steve is 66 years old and has an early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He stays in an assisted living facility in Jacksonville.

Every night since Steve lived in the facility, Mary would visit him. However, in March, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an executive order which prohibited visitors from coming to nursing homes in Florida. This announcement came after reports of nursing homes being hit hard by the pandemic.

In an interview with Today, Mary said, "I went in on March 10 and on March 11, they called and said, 'You can't come back.'"

Despite this, Mary still tried to visit her husband through a window. However, this only made Steve confused and just cried.

Mary had to wait for 114 days until she got a chance to see Steve again.

A creative idea to visit after 114 days

Because of the restrictions on visits, Mary cannot think of any other way to visit her husband, but to volunteer. When she first asked, there was nothing that the nursing home could offer.

After a few weeks, she got a call and offered her a job as a dishwasher.

She quickly accepted the job as the dishwasher and had to go through training and tests. Mary shared, "I had to have a background check, a drug test, a COVID test, 20 hours of video training on everything, including infectious diseases. It was 100 percent legit."

Mary took everything seriously as she also wants to avoid bringing the virus to the facility. Besides, it has been 114 days of not seeing each other, so she took her chance.

Working with a nice reward

Mary did not mind being busy in her shift as a dishwasher in the day. She thought of this as a way to get her reward in the evening, seeing her husband.

Mary's shift is twice a week, every Thursday and Friday. She works washing dishes for 90 minutes.

She says this is the job that she cannot afford to lose.

After 114 days of not seeing Steve, Mary was afraid that he might not recognize her. However, when Steve saw Mary, he cried and called her by her name.

With everything that is going on in the world, Mary says that his husband's presence makes a lot of difference. She says, "There's something that comes with that comfort of just being together."

Because of the ongoing pandemic, the ban on visitors at nursing facilities in Florida has been extended for sixty more days.