CENTENNIAL, Colo. (KDVR) – A retirement community is using a construction boom lift to raise loved ones to visit with residents. A safer way, they say, to maintain social distancing and to protect residents.

It was the last place that Melissa Dundas ever thought she would be visiting her father, Don.

“I was nervous because I have a fear of heights. Once Pinkard got me in, it was great,” said Dundas.

Fear quickly faded to happiness as Dundas spent precious moments with her father.

“Great, amazing, personal. The plexiglass works great, and I felt like I was visiting him from a treehouse,” said Dundas.

The idea of connecting residents of Someren Glen Retirement Community with their loved ones using a boom lift from Pinkard Construction, was from the community’s CEO Camille Burke.

“We wanted to find a way for family members to be able to interact with their loved ones here in our community so this is quite simple,” said Tim Rogers, Someren Glen Retirement Community Executive Director.

The idea is so simple, it’s genius. Residents sit outside on a balcony, behind a plexiglass screen while loved ones are hoisted skyward, at a snails pace, to greet them.

For Melisa Dundas, not seeing her dad was tough.

“Really hard, really hard, it was definitely a hardship, not being able to be in his space,” said Dundas.

That was not the case today.