Christmas with care

People often make their way home for the holidays, but what happens when you have to spend time at a nursing home during Christmas?

Though being in a nursing home during the holidays is not ideal, staff and residents do their best to make the best out of their time together. Creston Specialty Care hosted a Christmas party for residents and their families on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

“Santa Claus and Christmas carolers come in. They participate in a bunch of activities and there’s snacks, trays, punch; it’s a big ordeal for them,” LPN Lisa Wilson said.

The staff also adopted residents to buy gifts for, meaning each resident had a present to open during the party.

“It’s fun seeing them open the gifts,” Wilson said. “Their eyes light up. [It’s nice] just seeing them smile. It was wonderful with the staff. They all volunteered. [The boss] put the list out and bam they were all booked up.”

Residents were able to send formal invitations to family and friends for the Christmas party, many then joining these people for the holiday later in the week. However, not everyone is able to go home.

“Seeing the residents not have a family member come in [is hard],“ Wilson said. ”But you know, that’s our job – to make them feel special, give them a good day. We do that every day. When you work here, they become your family, too.”

Even outside of the holidays, residents are kept busy with entertainment.

“This place is wonderful. I came to their state fair party too and that was great too. It was fun,” Jill Breach, sister to resident Beverly Sage, said. “With this, it seems like they’re so interested in making life here as normal for people as they can. Everybody seems happy and upbeat. It’s just great.”

Cheyenne Roche contributed to this story.