‘We got this.’ Child learns big lessons at Macon women’s shelter amid COVID-19 pandemic
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy we are publishing this series
Even in the coronavirus crisis, Georgians are looking out for each other, helping their neighbors and working from the front lines of hospitals and grocery stores to keep us safe and fed.
Portraits of a Pandemic is a limited series that focuses on people in our community taking on the coronavirus in their own small yet meaningful ways. We hope these stories connect you with other Middle Georgians, and entertain you, challenge you or simply give you hope.
If someone you know is playing a part in combating COVID-19, no matter how small, help us share that story by emailing us at breaking@macon.com.
The little girl at the women’s shelter was rambunctious.
She was maybe 8 or 9.
Adjusting to life in a safe house with nearly a dozen other mothers and children hadn’t been easy.
Being there would be difficult under the best circumstances.
Now she and her mom found themselves, in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, sealed off even more.
Suzanne Palmer sensed the girl’s gloom and had an idea.
Mere days into the COVID-19 hibernation, Palmer, who oversees the shelter run by Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia, had along with her staff begun doing what she could to inform families living there about the virus.
“We’ve tried to, without scaring people, educate all of our clients about the seriousness of what’s going on,” Palmer said. “They may not have a reliable source of news they can turn to.”
To pass time, they’ve played board games and painted their fingernails on a group spa day.
The shelter has a large dining room with a television and hardwood floors. It serves as a common area for doing homework, hanging out. On the recent afternoon that Palmer noticed the little girl down and out, Palmer went to the TV and turned on a children’s yoga show.
Palmer, 34, asked the girl to join her and soon the pair began their poses.
“It teaches you about breathing,” Palmer recalled. “The whole time the girl was looking up at me, asking, ‘Did I do it right? Is this right?’”
Before long, the girl was teaching Palmer.
“Put your feet like this,” the girl would say, “we got this.”
“She seemed,” Palmer said later, “much calmer.”
Just then the girl mentioned something about the coronavirus and, of all things, Prince Charles.
“Did you hear,” the girl asked, “that the prince is gonna die?”
“What do you mean?” Palmer said.
“Prince Charles,” the girl said, “he has that coronavirus and he’s gonna die.”
Palmer explained that the virus isn’t always deadly. She used the moment as a reminder to the girl of how important it is to wash your hands.
She showed the girl the science experiment where you add soap to a bowl of water with flecks of pepper floating in it. When the soap splashes in, presto, the pepper, like germs, flees the scene.
“Oh, OK,” the girl said, “this makes sense.”
Palmer graduated from Mercer University in 2007.
Upon taking a job at Crisis Line, she had told her parents she would work there “until I find my passion.”
She’s still there.
If you know someone on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak with an uplifting, heroic, triumphant or downright gripping story to share, email Telegraph reporter Joe Kovac Jr. at jkovac@macon.com
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 9:35 AM.