Betsy Burmeister is the director of recreation at Windemere Nursing Home, a job she has held for 25 years.

It is quiet these days at Windemere, she said, because no visitors are allowed. The population of seniors is at high risk and so extra precautions are essential. But Ms. Burmeister is there every day, checking on the residents, making sure they are safe and helping to keep them connected.

“We get a lot of one on one time now,” she said, looking on the bright side.

Ms. Burmeister said during her tenure she and the residents have weathered many storms. “We’ve had some blips over the years with the flu, when we couldn’t have visitors for awhile, but nothing like this.”

“Usually, the recreation room is busy,” she added. “The residents come down mornings and afternoons and we have therapy dogs visiting, exercise classes, music therapy. There are a lot of things to do. But now we can’t have families or visitors.”

But that does not mean the residents are alone.

“Merrily Fenner comes and plays her guitar outside in the garden and on both sides of the building so the residents can hear her,” Ms. Burmeister said. “She’s a regular so they are used to seeing her.”

Families stop by too, waving and talking through the glass front doors as residents come down one at a time. And the children of the Vineyard are checking in too. For years, students at the Chilmark school have spent time with Windemere residents as part of a school program. Now they write letters. “And the kids at the West Tisbury School have pen pals here, and the Oak Bluffs students, the younger ones, are sending in photographs.”

“We are all good here,” Ms. Burmeister added. “The residents are remarkably stoic. Their attitude is we’ll get through it. They’ve lived through the Depression, the wars. They are doing well and they are all healthy. That’s the main thing.”

-Bill Eville