Home provides residents with everything for a happy Christmas
Thursday December 20, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Staff members at West Lake Terrace work tirelessly during the holiday season to ensure residents at the Picton long-term care home have a joyous Christmas, complete with all the fun times that come with this time of year.

Included during the Christmas season is an open house at the home, which sees scores of family members and friends drop by for visits. The open house features a silent auction to raise money for programming, as well as to buy equipment to benefit residents.

However, some residents have family members and friends who live far away. To ensure these residents keep in contact with their loved ones, staff members help those individuals send e-mails expressing their best wishes during the season.

“I think the e-mails are helping keep people connected, plus, of course, (residents) got a lot of mail and they got a lot of Christmas cards,” says life enrichment aide Marnie Klein.

Another way staff members have kept residents engaged in activities during the holidays is by encouraging them to help decorate the home. This serves as an opportunity for staff members to get an idea of things to do to help improve the atmosphere in the home.

“(Residents) talk about what they would like. They talked about the fact that they would like a fireplace, (so) we got them a little electric fireplace for the activity room,” says Klein.

Life enrichment staff also took time during residents’ council meetings to talk to residents about the types of activities and events they would like to see in the home over the holidays.

As a result, the home brought in a choir, a husband-and-wife singing duo and an entertainer who plays the squeeze box to entertain residents. Music, adds Klein, is a vital ingredient in keeping spirits up during the holidays, which, for some residents, can be a sad time of year.

For residents who no longer have family members, staff members make a point of going Christmas shopping so these residents have gifts to open Christmas Day.

Staff members are on the lookout during the season to see what gifts these residents might enjoy. The open house proved to be the perfect opportunity to find out what some residents might want to find under the Christmas tree.

“We watched a lady go around the silent auction table and look at a porcelain doll (but wasn’t) able to bid on it. But she’s going to get a porcelain doll for Christmas,” says Klein.