‘We were missing them:’ Saskatoon woman creates ‘hugging station’ for family

For the first time since March, Becky Scharfstein-McGettigan’s family was able to hug her grandmother.

With the COVID-19 restrictions keeping everyone at a distance and families looking to keep their loved ones safe, Scharfstein-McGettigan said her family has spent time, resources and energy to keep her grandmother safe.

After so much time and distance, she wanted to find a way to simply hug her grandmother. She then had the idea to build a device that would allow her to do that, safely.

“I (saw) a hugging station on Facebook and went from there. I told my partner, ‘This is what I want, this is how it has to work, we need it for Christmas, go build it,’ and he did,” Scharfstein-McGettigan explained.

“It comes from my need and desire to hug my grandmother, I miss her so much and we’re a pretty close family … My seven-year-old used to get lots of hugs, and we were missing them.”

With the push for safety paramount, Scharfstein-McGettigan didn’t want to “ruin that for one day of hugs.”

She took inspiration from other devices tailored from intensive care units and infectious disease control, and said planning the device took her more time than the actual build.

“The sides will fold in for easy storage, and then we just pop out the legs and there’s a little latch so it won’t come apart,” she said. “My family’s already used it a few times, my brother and his little family have gone over a few times as well. It’s really special.”

The plan is to continue to use the ‘hugging station’ as the pandemic continues, Scharfstein-McGettigan said.

She said her grandmother was a big fan of the device.

“We set it up on Christmas morning. My little family went over (and) set it up for my grandmother and my seven year old son got the first hug from grandma since March,” she said.

“She’s still on cloud nine, so excited, loves it, is calling all of her friends, calling all of her siblings… Just the joy on her face, (it’s) worth everything.”

Scharfstein-McGettigan said she’s had others reach out to her on the build as well, looking for similar ‘hugging stations.’