A season to … celebrate: holiday vignettes from our readers - Cover Story

Nursing Homes, Dec, 2003 by Sandra Hoban

Throughout the year as we've endeavored to inform and assist our readers, we've published articles on regulations, staffing, resident care, legal pitfalls, information technology, and much more. As the year draws to a close, we wanted to give you a change of pace, a little break from talk of surveys and staffing shortages and reimbursement woes and MDS coding conundrums.

To bring you some holiday cheer, Managing Editor Sandra Hoban has assembled a series of holiday vignettes contributed by long-term care facilities from around the country.

In this assortment you'll read about a variety of traditions and ethnic customs, along with some plain old holiday-inspired acts of kindness. You'll probably notice a recurring theme--that the organizations sharing their holiday stories are committed to enriching their residents' lives by being mindful of their holiday traditions.

Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the diversity and joy of the celebrations shared in these pages by your colleagues. Along with them, we at Nursing Homes/Long Term Care Management wish you a happy, prosperous, and healthy 2004!

Preparing Early

At Presbyterian Homes in Evanston, Illinois, some of our residents get in the holiday spirit during summer. They get together at workshops lo create their own holiday cards using old and new photographs in creative aim personally meaningful ways. A unique card was created by a resident who used a photograph, circa 1910, of her husband in a goat cart with his sisters. Copies were made of the photo and the cards were ready for holiday mailing.

Presbyterian Homes' residents also make use of the technology available to them. For example, one resident, who loves to take pictures, selected a favorite snapshot from last winter. This photo was scanned, sized, aim positioned on card stock.

Our residents' talents are not limited to greeting card design. Another favorite project is creating recipe cards. Many family events involve favorite or traditional foods, so each recipe is annotated lo describe its origin and how it became a tradition at family gatherings. Documentation such as this provides another way to record family history. When completed the cards will be printed, packaged, and given as gifts or favors.

Jane H Grad

Presbyterian Homes

Evanston, Illinois

Living Nativity

At Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, staff, residents, and families play roles in a Living Nativity scene that is staged in the courtyard of the Nursing Center. Live sheep, goats, and other animals wander around the stable as volunteers re-enact the miracle of Christmas night. On a starry night, residents can enjoy this spiritually uplifling tableau from their rooms.

Emily Kerstetter

Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village

Diakon Lutheran Ministries

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Warm Hands & Hearts

The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen and Elaine Greenstein is a story about an elderly woman whose children were grown. One very cold day she was looking out her window and noticed that one of the children waiting at the bus stop did not have any mittens. She derided to knit him a pair and left them on a tree near the stop. After seeing how excited the children were with the boy's new mittens, she continued to leave mittens on the tree to keep all the children warm. Although this was done anonymously, her identity was discovered. One morning a basket of yarn was left on her doorstep so she could knit mittens for the next children who waited there.

Inspired by this story of giving, the residents of Willimansett Centers East and West in Chicopee, Massachusetts, adopted the children of a local elementary school. Each home set up trees in its living room and residents, staff, and families were invited to donate new hats and mittens to the "mitten tree." Just before Christmas, the mittens were collected from the trees, paired up, and placed in handmade bags with snowmen that indicated the color of the mittens inside. The bags were delivered to the school for distribution. Last year, there were more than 80 pairs of mittens donated.

Willimansett Center East

Willimansett Center West

Chicopee, Massachusetts

Homeland Tradition

December 13, St. Lucia Day, is a traditional Swedish holiday. This 4th-century martyr is a symbol of light, and the holiday reminds the Swedish people that after December, the dark nights will become shorter. The Swedish women living in the Rainbow Lane neighborhood at Haven House in Wahoo, Nebraska, asked if they could celebrate St, Lucia Day the way they did at their church in town.

According to tradition, a young girl in the family is dressed in a white robe with a red ribbon around her waist and wears a crown of candles (battery-operated today) in her hair. On St, Lucia Day, she serves her family special sweet buns flavored with saffron. For our celebration, it was the "mayor" of Rainbow Lane who represented the young girl and read the legend of St. Lucia to residents from all three neighborhoods at Haven House, The other Swedish women involved and the primary care staff also dressed in traditional blue and red clothing and wore bright aprons and red hats.