Nursing homes fight isolation in lockdown with furry robots MARDI LINK, Traverse City Record-Eagle April 3, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail EAST JORDAN, Mich. (AP) — Mary Ecker is one of about 100 elders who live at Grandvue Medical Care Facility, a county-owned nursing home a few blocks from the south arm of Lake Charlevoix. Outgoing and naturally optimistic, Ecker has lived at Grandvue for 16 years. She’s happy there, yet said she feels nostalgic for the small farm in Burt, a four-corners near Saginaw, where she grew up. She especially misses the family’s dogs. “I’ve had dogs all my life,” Ecker told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. “If you would come in my room right now, you would see nothing but pictures of dogs. I like any kind of dog, but I favor the smaller ones.”