Greetings from "The Home" front …
What a fun week full of many surprises! On Sunday, as part of God's Hand, Our Work we had several people here to serenade our residents with songs and a sing-along. They visited with residents, gave wheelchair rides and also went to Meadowlark Lane and Sun Center Apts to sing. The children also got involved with the God's Hands, Our Work project by making over 75 "care cards" which will be given out to our residents. Thank you to all the people who participated throughout our community for this awesome event. In the afternoon Marlene Johnson was here representing Bruflat church and gave a piano concert at 2pm in the chapel. What a day with wonderful music….
Another surprise happened when Angie Gaspers family brought baskets of flower seed packets to be given out to our staff. This was in honor and memory of their mother who loved gardening and flowers. Angie always got a smile on her face whenever she received or saw flowers. Thank you for remembering us and your mother in this special way.
In addition to the activities on Sunday, we had newscurrents and kitchen cappers on Monday. The residents made individual fruit pizzas. What a great treat! They were made with a sugar cookie as the base, cream cheese and powdered sugar "sauce" and then topped with fresh fruit. Absolutely delicious! Tuesday brought Sit & be Fit (after all those pizzas we needed this) and rhythm band in the afternoon. Mary and her quilting gang were here on Wednesday with another fun project. We are so blessed to have these ladies come twice a month to spend time with our residents. On Thursday, the Peter Boe third graders came for their final visit with their "adopted" grandparents. We held our traditional balloon release. After church on Friday we held our special Celebration of Women - honoring all women. There was special music, beautiful decorations and of course - food!! It was a very nice afternoon. There is Wheel of Fortune on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the activity room and Kaffee Hus from 2-3:30 in the dining room. Our Saturday movie matinee is "Mr. North". It stars Robert Mitchum and Lauren Bacall and is based on a book by Thornton Wilder - you can't get much better than that!!!
May 6-12 has been National Nurses Week. Here is a quote that sums up the feeling here at LMH -"nurses are drawn to this profession because of a desire to care, to serve or to help". We certainly appreciate all the work our nurses do - many of it behind the scenes. A big shout out THANK YOU to all of you!
Next week will be equally busy as we celebrate Nursing Home Week! The activity department has many fun events planned each day. Monday is Super Hero Day when everyone is encouraged to dress as their favorite super hero. We also have our Staff Recognition Program in the afternoon. Many of our staff were nominated for Caregiver of the Year and I will be posting those names in next week's column. We will also recognize many staff members for their "years of service" at LMH. It's Western Day on Tuesday - Yippee Hi Ho - the residents will be playing horseshoes in the morning and we will have a petting zoo in the courtyard in the afternoon. Everyone will be wearing Polka Dots on Wednesday - there is bingo in the morning followed by special music by Chuck Fox at our polka dot social in the afternoon. We will also serve dip and dots and cotton candy. There are two special events on Thursday - Syttende Mai and Throw Back Thursday. But first we start with Bible Study with Pastor Diane in the morning then have a Syttende Mai celebration in the afternoon with Rommegrot, lefse and stroll being served to all. There will also be Norwegian Golf! It's Crazy Hat and Sock Day on Friday! Oh My!!! We do have church in the morning, then pretty nails and happy 1/2 hour in the afternoon. Mark your calendar for Sunday, May 13th the No Name Band will be here in the chapel. They play great blue grass and gospel music.
We have two resident birthdays next week - Grace Lien on May 16th and Norman Grindeland on May 17th. Five staff members will be celebrating their birthdays also - Laura Ewert on May 13, Kori Fenske, Dwight Winger and Riley Francis on May 15th and Karina Perish celebrates her birthday on May 15th. Happy Birthday and Best Wishes to all of you! Make it a great day!
Until next time … a thought for the week … The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others…