HOMECOMING DAY is Friday and Saturday, August 27-28. A drive thru Fish Fry dinner will be Friday, the 27th, from 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. Each meal is $10 and includes fried fish, green beans, coleslaw, rye bread, and a chocolate chip cookie. There will also be an online auction again this year, starting August 27 at 8:00 a.m. and concluding on August 28 at 7:00 p.m. View auction items received so far on the Home’s website: www.achroanoke.org
Construction has resumed at the Home on the new canopy project. The west side of the old blacktop driveway has been torn out and the new concrete began being poured last week . While the recent rains have slowed the progress down some, it’s still exciting to watch the improvements being made at the Home. Thanks to Dan Magnuson in maintenance for his efforts to help coordinate all of this.
The week of August 8 started with welcoming Bill Noll of Roanoke back to room west 18 on Monday, the 9th. This morning we had a new activity called Get-to-Know-Me. Residents gathered in a circle and an activity staff member tossed a special beach ball to each resident. This beach ball contained a plethora of questions like Where did you grow up? or Do you like summer or winter better? or What’s your favorite holiday? Many said afterwards that they really enjoyed getting to know their friends better. BINGO was a hit that afternoon with lots of residents gathering together to play and win candy. In the evening, the residents in the lobby were blessed to have the A.C. Faith Young Group sing while those in their rooms could listen over the intercom. Many residents joined in and sang the songs they knew. It was such a lovely evening.
Tuesday started with a fun game of kick and hit during Morning Stretches to get some exercise. Everyone sat in a circle and could either kick or hit a beach ball. Residents laughed at some of the goofy things everyone was doing to try and pass the ball to each other. One resident even stated “this is a fun way to start moving in the morning. Later that morning several gathered in the activity room for Goodwill Club to write letters to anyone about anything they wanted. One resident wanted help writing a letter to an older person in her church who she admired. She wanted to let him know that she was thinking of him and praying for him. The amount of love she had for this person really touched the hearts of those who were working together on the project. For Dining Room Melodies before lunch, Volunteer Coordinator Pricilla Bill play her violin and sang for the residents, even bringing a tear to a resident’s eye. After Pricilla was done entertaining, the resident was asked if she was okay since she had been crying and she responded “It was so beautiful that it brought back memories of when I was younger and my family and I would sing and play instruments like that.” Such a sweet memory! Fresh popcorn was passed out that afternoon for a light snack. Trivia Night was a hit with information shared about different countries around the world. It was amazing how much the residents knew and it was fun to learn a few new facts, too.
It was a new twist during Morning Stretches on Wednesday to use a balloon and play “Don’t Let It Touch the Floor!” A couple of residents said that they did this as a kid. It was nice to see them get in touch with their childhood self. All day long was an “Anne of Green Gables” marathon with back-to-back shows available on activity channel 2. After lunch was the monthly Birthday Party, celebrating three August birthdays: Lorraine Durst on the 20th; Ginny Baumann on the 24th; and Pat Ringger on the 27th. The entertainment this month was Courtney Genard, who brought her guitar and sang. She went around to some residents who were singing along and held the microphone up to them so they could sing into it and be a part of the entertainment. Everyone thought that was pretty neat that she included them like that.
While residents were doing Morning Stretch in the lobby the next morning, a special visitor arrived. Activity Director Jenna Sizemore’s little boy, Carson, stopped by to see each resident. They all loved seeing such a young tike only 4-months-old with many reaching out to touch his little feet and hands. Some even got to hold the little baby for a little bit, which Carson loved and bonded with the dementia residents. One particular resident’s brain kicked into “Mom mode” and played peed-a-boo, talked goofy baby talk with him, and gently bounced the infant on her lap, all the while having the biggest grin on her face. It seemed so natural to her and at that moment, no one could have detected she had dementia. Meanwhile, little Carson had the biggest smile on his face the whole time he was with her. Such a precious moment for all to witness. Then Jenna took the baby to residents’ room to visits those who were not out for the activity. All the residents thoroughly enjoyed seeing a baby and Carson had a huge smile for everyone he met. His mama said that he loves meeting new people and seeing new things as he’s such a happy baby. What a joy to have this special intergenerational interaction. Also throughout the morning, the activity room was set up with an assortment of stations for residents to come and go at their leisure to enjoy the different games. Some of the options included were skee-ball, bowling, and bean bag toss and more as well as kinetic sand to feel, play with, and build. The high score for skee-ball was 225 points with participants loving to try to out skee each other. At one point, there were free golf lessons being given by a resident who loved to play golf and even has his own set of golf clubs in his room. It was a very fun time picking out what games to play and how long they wanted to do any or all of them. In addition, activities for Country View tenants are slowly being added into their activity calendar with an activity staff member playing dominos that morning with them in the dining room. They enjoyed a reason to gather in their dining room other than eating together at every meal. The afternoon had BINGO for residents at the Home. The evening activity was Bible Study in the lobby with a review of the 7 days of God’s Creation.
Friday the 13th was Mystery Activity Day and residents were curious what fun was going on in the activity room that morning. It turned out to be a cute craft, making pipecleaner bugs. An assortment of colored pipecleaners were bent and twisted and curled to shape into darling bugs that were hot glued onto a clothespin. These were then hung in the front lobby for everyone to view and enjoy the unique creations. That afternoon the weather was beautiful for Snack & Chat under the Pergola in the courtyard. It was a perfect day to sit in the warm sunshine and chat about all the rain that the gardens, lawns, and crops were blessed to receive the several prior days. The farmers loved the rain while the non-farmers complained about all the rain, making a good topic to discuss both viewpoints. After supper that evening, it was time for Paint Night with Mary. Several residents were extremely artistic with talent that had them all in and still painting to perfection. It reminded someone of their years and years of involvement with the old Bazaar fundraiser at the fellowship hall nearly 50 years ago when they painted many kinds of Christmas decorations, made floral arrangements, sewed assorted projects, and much more.
NOTICE: The visitation Cottage has been temporarily moved and is currently unavailable for use. The online scheduling option for the Cottage has been disabled at this time. This is only a short-term closure of the Cottage during the front canopy remodeling project while the west side of the driveway is getting new concrete, which is where the Cottage was located. Thank you for your patience during these exciting improvements at the nursing home.