Greetings from “The Home” front …

As you may have already heard, CMS has restricted indoor visitation in nursing homes as cases continue to climb in North Dakota. This is being done to protect the residents in nursing homes. Triall County has moved into the “red” which stands for counties that have been identified with the highest level of positive cases. At this time there are no indoor visitations at LMH with the exception of compassionate care visits. Door and window visits are still available. We do have IPADs and encourage families to continue to visit via Face Time, Zoom or video chat. Please contact LMH to set a time up for a virtual visit.

The residents sure had fun at our Octoberfest last week – we served dark beer, root beer, pretzels and calabaza snacks and music was played thru the halls. They were personally delivered by our two fraulein hostesses to each resident’s room. Lots of fun and laughter. Our residents are able to leave their rooms and walk in the hallways as long as they maintain a safe 6’ distance and are wearing a mask. However, we are still not able to have group activities or communal dining. We are thankful that we are able to live broadcast activities on our closed-circuit channel and staff are able to offer hallway and in room 1;1 activities.

I missed an important birthday on Sunday October 25th – our therapy dog Scooby turned 13. That’s a lot of human years and Scooby is slowing down but still remains a faithful companion for our residents and staff. Happy Birthday Scooby!!!!

On Monday, the residents tried guessing the number of kisses in a jar, and other guessing games. Plus, they were able to vote on their favorite decorated pumpkin – the voting continues until Friday. We have some very cute entries. Tuesday brought Newscurrents and Name That Tune. There was Music in Motion on Wednesday morning and then Crafts with Molly in the afternoon. The activity staff went room to room making a fall greeting card that the residents could send to a friend or family member. The Men’s Club on Thursday morning talked about various North Dakota birds. Did you know that North Dakota is considered a prime birding location by the National Audubon Society? North Dakota has a diverse terrain (i.e. potholes, tall prairie grass, and shelter belts) that attract various species of birds. It is also in the “flight path” for birds that are either migrating to Canada or the warmer climate of Mexico for the winter – Who Knew!!! The ladies also got their nails done during Pretty Nails. After Mass and Church on Friday it was time for our Halloween Festival. Several staff members dressed in costumes, we had a hallway parade and the activity staff made Halloween treat bags for each staff member to bring home to their kids. There is a Halloween fishpond planned for Saturday.

Because of the Covid 19 restrictions both here at LMH and at Peter Boe Elementary, we are not able to have the 3rd graders “adopt” a grandparent program so far this year. I know both the residents and the children enjoyed their once a month visit to play bingo or do a craft project with their “adopted” residents. SO-O-O it was decided that the children would become pen pals with our residents. Each child was given the name of someone here at LMH to write to each month. The LMH residents also got the name of a Peter Boe third grader to write to. It is a win win situation – who doesn’t like getting mail (other than bills!).

There are no resident birthdays this coming week but two Sun Center residents will celebrate theirs- both on November 7th. Marion Knudson and Donnal Wilkie!

And only one staff member has a birthday next week – Sophie Kloster on November 8th. Happy Birthday to all of you and enjoy your special day!

Until next time … a thought for the week … You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind …