Allison Abbetiello is a respiratory therapist at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She's working with COVID-19 every day she clocks in.
A job like that comes with sacrifice. Allison is from a family of huggers, but she couldn’t risk getting anyone sick, so that means no hugs for a while.
Her sister, Annette, calls Allison her hero.
"I remember the day she was born. Now she's out there saving lives,” Annette said.
The family has Zoom calls. The pair talks on the phone and have even traded off sitting on each other’s porches, doing dinner a safe distance apart. But when Annette was scrolling through social media, she struck gold.
She saw a Facebook post about a “hug door.” Take a shower curtain, cut some holes, seal together plastic bags, and toss some gloves on the end. Simple, yes, but good enough to make Annette stop and get the family together for some crafting.
Thirty minutes later, the door was complete.
"The one we were missing was that physical contact," Annette said. "When I saw it, I was like, ‘that's it. That's the one piece that will make this feel so much better.’ "
Allison came over shortly after the contraption was created. After two months without a hug, the tears couldn't be avoided.
"Oh, I cried like a baby,” she said. “I got to hug my mom. That was the big one."
Joey, Annette’s son who’s a third grader, said every family should make one.