Greetings from “The Home” front …

I think we have gone right from winter into summer with no stop at Spring! The weather these last few days has definitely been “summer weather”. It did give us a chance to get out into the courtyard to plant a few flowers and some tomato plants. A special thank you goes out to Paul Groth who donated flower planters to LMH and also to Country Side Creations for donating 3 flowering planters. They will certainly make the courtyard look beautiful this year. Jackie at Countryside also donates flowers every month for our resident birthdays – each resident having a birthday that month gets a lovely flower in honor of their birthday. Thank you so much Jackie for making our residents day a little brighter.

The activity staff has been busy coming up with different activities to do while our residents were confined to their rooms. A very popular one is fly swatter balloon ball – lots of laughing as everyone tries to hit the balloon back and forth with a fly swatter. This also works well with those big foam noodles. Since the residents were not able to come to the activity room to read the newspaper, our activity staff have been reading many of the articles to them over our in house tv station – Just like a news anchor! I am pleased to report that as of Monday our residents are once again going out of their rooms and able to go outside in the courtyard using precautions. Precautions include hand hygiene, wearing a mask and social distancing. At this time family visitation is still restricted to closed window visits and electronic visits. on June 9th, Luther Memorial Home will be having our next round of COVID 19 testing of all staff and residents, after the results are in, visitation restrictions will be reevaluated, and a new set of guidelines will be presented. Monday, we had Bible Study via Channel 98 and then Hallway Toss Across. Several residents enjoyed walking in the hall, going for a walk or w/c ride outdoors, came to the activity room to read, work on a puzzle, sort, and other individual activities. There were root beer floats on Tuesday and Sit & Be Fit via Channel 98 on Wednesday. Goodness I didn’t realize how out of shape I am! Thursday brought Flyswatter Balloon Ball and there was Church and Happy ½ Hour on Friday. The activity gals make frequent trips through the hallways to deliver magazines, jigsaw puzzles, word search games and videos to residents. Reading Devotions and one on one visits also help connect with people. Face Time and Window Visits are also encouraged.

We have one resident birthday next week – Hazel Bird on June 8. Sun Center resident Winky Gummer has her birthday June 12 as does staff member Dani Rader. Happy Birthday to all of you and enjoy your special day.

We appreciate the cards and cute pictures that you and the children of the community have made for our residents and staff. Your words of encouragement are meaningful to all of us. Thank you for your support.

Until next time … a thought for the week from Christopher Reeves … A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. A big thank to all of our staff.