Senior centers not on the list to reopen

Although Guam returns to PCOR 3 next week, senior centers remain off the list of approved facilities to re-open.

John Palomo says he's seen the toll the closures have taken on our island's elderly. He's  the primary caregiver for his mother and says it's been difficult for her as well as other manamkos in the same situation that are left sitting at home. He explains how for years, they've been accustomed to gathering and socializing through village senior centers, but in an instant, their whole lives changed due to the pandemic.

"We just made them bedridden basically you know and we had to struggle to find activities for them something for them to do you know I don't speak our language but I understand it so when my mother is speaking to me in CHamoru it's very sad when I'm speaking to her in English and she gives me this frown look," he said. 

Senior centers are one of the few establishments that remain closed under the governor's executive order. Palomo says he understands why the centers aren't open, and is grateful that some facilities were able to operate because the lockdown has been very hard on manamkos.


"There are a lot of manamkos out there that are just there by themselves I mean you have to literally go there every day just to make sure they're okay or call them and just five minutes of their time five minutes of your time it's like a lifetime to them just to hear someone," he said. 

Thankfully, technology has kept Jon's mother and some of her friends connected, but he says it's not enough.


"Every morning afternoon and evening I hear it's so boring where can we go and me I'm afraid because I don't know how to take care of my mother so I literally lock her up like no I'll go to the store I'll go and you know sacrifice I'll go and do this because I don't want her to get sick," Palomo said. 

Almost a year has gone by since the virus breached our borders. Palomo explains how we can't go back and fix what's happened, but our island leaders can better plan for the future if a pandemic were to happen again. He acknowledges the hard work of the village mayors and staff members that have continued to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their communities.


"They're going out and making sure that everyone is okay yet they're still cutting grass on the side of the road they're still picking up the dead carcasses that someone ran over and didn't care to report it they're still taking care of all the problems that a regular village has you know those are the things that if no one knows how hard those village mayors actually work you see what they did for the manamkos during this pandemic," Palomo said. 

Palomo said he promises that the moment senior citizen centers are given the green light to open, his mother will be one of the first ones to walk through the doors.