Physically distanced but not alone
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This week, Bayside resident and Black Rock Activity Centre socialite Frank Holland-Stabback was interviewed for The Australian newspaper about his experience of self isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.
World War II veteran Frank Holland-Stabback knows a thing or two about confinement — he was a prisoner of war in Singapore for 3½ years from 1942, including eight months in a Changi cell.
This time round, the 99-year-old is confined in more comfortable surroundings, the home he built in 1952 in Sandringham for his wife Lillian, the love of his life who died 15 years ago after 57 years of marriage.
“I’ve always been a sociable person,’’ he said. “I learned early in my life what it is to want, what it is to need people, and what it means to give back to others. That’s what the Black Rock Activity Group has given me. (The lockdown has) made a big difference to my life. Being compliant has been hard. The quicker we can get back to a normal routine, the better.”
The group’s shutdown led the Bayside City Council to redeploy those who ran activity programs to instead visit participants in their homes.
Mr Holland-Stabback used to have a carer go with him to do his shopping, but they now do it for him. And his exercise regime is done through home visits rather than with the activity group. “It’s a wonderful group down there … I’m really missing them,” he said.
Taken from Coronavirus: Changi survivor exercises patience but missing mates published on The Australian website 27 May 2020 by Stephen Lunn.
Frank Holland-Stabback, 99, stretches with carer Liebe Shannon at his Melbourne home. Picture: David Geraghty