By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the Cazenovia community in a variety of profound ways, transforming the daily lives of its residents and the operation of its businesses, schools, local government and service organizations.
Valentina Heishman and her husband Duane are two Cazenovia residents who have gone to great lengths to protect themselves from the virus.
Since the start of the shutdown, 65-year-old Heishman has been spending her days and nights in self-isolation in the couple’s front apartment.
“We are so lucky to have a B&B apartment [that was] ready for guests,” Heishman said. “I [have] an active case of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and just recently had a week of intravenous steroids, so my immune system is pretty much gone.”
Duane, who works as the network support engineer for Cazenovia College, has been living and working in the couple’s main house.
“My husband, who is 58, has heart and blood pressure issues [and is] now working from home . . .” said Heishman. “He does the food shopping, picks up meds and runs every other errand we need. We only peek through a connecting door, 10 feet away from each other or have ‘dates’ out on the front porch [with him] downwind.”
Heishman has been passing the time by channeling her creativity in a number ways, like cooking, painting and planning her spring plantings.
“I’m lucky to be an artist,” she said. “I am just starting a painting of a local barn, [and I] am in the process of starting some seeds for the spring and getting used to quasi single life again . . . I have the TV going and am trying to not watch CNN 24/7, choosing instead [to watch] HGTV and ‘Naked and Afraid,’ just in case we have to build a structure out of fallen trees when the bank repossesses our house, [or in case] there’s no food left to feed the huddled masses, we can eat grubs and kill fish with our bare hands. At least we’ll know how.”
During this challenging and uncertain time, Heishman is managing to remain positive.
“So far [it seems like] we’ll get along just fine,” she said. “We have some land to grow vegetables on if this madness continues . . . The only problem is I miss my family, my life, my friends, my dogs, my animals and just the touch of another human being . . . Unfortunately, my Multiple Sclerosis has taken a bad turn and . . . I’m having a lot of trouble walking and cooking for myself, etc., but it is what it is. I’m realizing how much Duane really does for me and it’s humbling.”
The CDC encourages individuals at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 to take extra actions to reduce their risk of getting sick with the disease.
For more information, visit cdc.gov/coronavirus .
For the latest COVID-19 updates from the Madison County Health Department, visit madisoncounty.ny.gov/2479/Coronavirus-COVID-19.
