Nipissing Serenity Hospice says it’s a phone that’s connected to nothing, but everything at the same time.
A Wind Phone was recently installed to allow people an opportunity to speak with loved ones that are no longer with us, and to allow the wind to carry the messages to them.
“Sometimes it’s just so meaningful and so cathartic to have an outlet that’s so personal and individual,” says Lillian Cozac, Volunteer and Support Coordinator at the hospice. “You don’t necessarily have to share your thoughts or your feelings with someone else, but this allows you the opportunity to reconnect with your loved ones that have passed on.”
Anyone in the community is welcome to visit the hospice and spend some time at the Wind Phone.
“It might be to reconnect and say, ‘hello, I’ve missed you’. It might be to say the things they never got the chance to say, so in some cases it might be a goodbye they never had the opportunity for,” says Cozac. “Sometimes it’s a matter of sharing big milestones that have happened since we’ve lost a loved one.”
She adds physically using a phone offers something traditional.
“Most of us have grown up with those opportunities,” says Cozac. “Anyone that we have lost we have probably had numerous conversations with them over the telephone before and it’s a little bit of that history with them that we can relive and recreate in a way.”
The Wind Phone was inspired by the original in Japan that became a place of comfort after the 2011 tsunami.
Others in the area include one on a trail off Cedar Heights Road, one near Antoine Mountain in Mattawan and another on Eagle Lake Road in Machar Township.
You can find them online at the website mywindphone.com.
