As the Easter holiday approaches, life and activity at local nursing homes and care centers are beginning to open up as COVID-19 protocols become less restrictive.
Seehafer News spoke with two officials Monday at Felician Village.St. Mary’s Home in Manitowoc.
Marketing Director Barb Fricke says the changes are being well received.
“Certainly everyone is thrilled to be able to have visitation,” she said. “For awhile we were doing lots of outdoor visitations through the windows, or virtual visitations that Tim (Reinemann) and his activity staff were able to facilitate. And of course, every one whether it’s a resident or a family member is thrilled to death to be able to visit in person.
However, there are some DHS regulations still in place, such as wearing masks for employees and visitors.
Life Enrichment Supervisor, Tim Reinemann, explains the scheduled activities are going back to almost normal.
“Two of the activities that we usually got the residents involved in at the assisted living, which is the court and the villa and St. Mary’s Nursing Home was our music and our bingo,” he told us. “We haven’t been able to get those populations together yet, so we’ve been taking our entertainers to specific areas of the nursing home and we also have the capabilities to tape the performance live so everybody else can see it on their television.”
Fricke said one of the neat things they’re doing this week in the independent living facility, The Gardens, is an early visit and 400 eggs from the easter bunny.
Also, “throughout this week the residents have been tasked with finding those eggs which all contain special little prizes inside. They turn them in and that’s when they get their prize. We’re all kids at heart no matter what age we are, right?
Reinemann added they have some activities every day that leads up to Easter.
“The Easter day itself I like the residents and their families just to be together,” he said. “The residents can enjoy a ham dinner, they can’t eat with their families yet, but members of their families can bring in a special treat for them. We also have Holy Week services here starting with Holy Thursday, then Good Friday and Easter Sunday.”
Fricke says a very generous donor, who wished to remain anonymous, wanted to make sure that all residents at St. Mary’s Home received an easter lily and also placed them throughout the campus so that other staff and residents can enjoy them too.
Reinemann added residents are able to show their appreciation to staff this week by making goody bags and chocolate-filled Easter eggs for them.
