Archive for category: Maplewood

‘It was a team effort on Easter Sunday’

Maplewood residents had a happy and memorable Easter, thanks to the generosity of the local community and the creativity of staff members at the Brighton, Ont. long-term care home.

People from the community donated Easter gift baskets to Maplewood, and staff members delivered these to each of the home’s residents.

Maplewood life enrichment aide Rosanne Blackburn, who is well known at the home for coming up with creative ideas for engaging residents and staff, dressed up as the Easter Bunny.

Before lunch was served on Easter Sunday, Rosanne and all of the Maplewood staff members did the chicken dance for residents. As an added touch, they wore chicken T-shirts and chicken headbands that were made by nutritional care staff members Jackie and Linda.

Residents were also served a special Easter breakfast of fried eggs and bacon that was plated to look like bunnies, with the eggs for the face and bacon strips for the ears.

Rosanne is commending everyone working at Maplewood for pulling together to make Easter special for residents.

“It was a team effort on Easter Sunday,” she tells The OMNIway. “It was a fun day full of laughs.”

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Activities like this ‘help with the loneliness we all may be experiencing during this pandemic,’ says administrator

The Maplewood team recently hosted a fun-filled week for the Brighton, Ont. long-term care home’s residents that was highlighted by a “deer hunt” and the life enrichment team transforming a mobile snack cart into both a hot dog and banana-split stand.

Life enrichment aide (LEA) Lynanne Campbell saw a Facebook post recently about a mock deer hunt that was organized by a long-term care home on Manitoulin Island. The activity had staff members dress up as deer and residents were tasked to “hunt the deer” with Nerf guns.

Lynanne gathered the needed supplies, starting with her own costumes which include many animals. She then transformed the dining room into a “forest”. She enlisted the help of residents and staff.

“What followed was genuine happiness,” Maplewood administrator and life enrichment co-ordinator Rachel Corkery tells The OMNIway.

“It was truly awesome.”

Rachel says Lynanne and fellow LEA Rosanne Blackburn also harnessed their creative flair and dressed up as food-cart vendors to serve hot dogs and banana splits during the week of Jan. 3 to Jan. 9.

Not only was Maplewood’s mobile snack cart transformed to match the theme of the day, there was also music played to match the theme, Rachel notes.

Rachel underscores the difference activities like this make to residents and Maplewood team members.

“It truly is amazingly creative,” she says. “(These activities) help with the loneliness we all may be experiencing during this pandemic and all the restrictions.”

Rachel also commends the life enrichment team for adapting so well to the changes that have affected the home since the global COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.

“Yes, our activities have changed, yes, we all wear masks, we miss our families, but the fun and laughter hasn’t changed,” she says.

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Rosanne Blackburn’s rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas is the latest example of how she uses creativity to enhance quality of life for residents

Maplewood life enrichment aide (LEA) Rosanne Blackburn is often using her creativity to enhance the quality of life for residents at the Brighton, Ont. long-term care home, and she recently recruited her co-workers and some residents to perform a skit based on a parody of the famous poem Twas the Night Before Christmas.

“I just thought it would be nice to do something different,” she tells The OMNIway. “I always used to make up my own poetry, so I thought I would make up my own version of the poem for the home to act out.”

Rosanne says a conversation with a member of the Maplewood nutritional care team inspired her to write a parody of the poem and create a skit. The two were chatting about how to keep residents’ spirits high during the holiday season amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Rosanne’s colleague suggested a humorous skit, and Rosanne thought, “what a good idea.”

“I just went home that night and tried to think of something that we could do that was short for the lunch service, and I just came up with Twas the Night Before Christmas – but in my own words,” she says.

The performance of the poem happened shortly before lunch was served on Dec. 10.

Rachel Corkery, Maplewood’s administrator and life enrichment co-ordinator, commends Rosanne for the creativity she has brought to the home to help enhance the quality of life for residents over the years.

Rosanne has been an especially valuable asset to residents since the pandemic began in March, she adds.

“She truly has been such an out-of-the-box thinker during this pandemic, and has come up with some amazing ways to brighten everyone’s day,” Rachel says.

Here is Rosanne’s rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas:

Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the room
The residents were all ready for the food service soon

Diana the cook forgot to make soup
So she ran in the kitchen and she said “oh poop”

Harry just laughed and said that is alright

Make the soup later we’ll have it tonight

Corina hit the table and shook her head NO
I want my soup now and don’t be too slow

When out came Jackie with two plates in her hand
So hot to the touch, it was all she could stand

Tracy came out wondering, what’s going on

She said this will not happen in here from now on

The PSWs were waiting, oh so patiently

To start with feeding, all smiling with glee

When what to my wondering eyes should appear

Rosanne in her costume … a happy reindeer

The nurses just laughed and thought, what a sight
Don’t turn on the music, or she will dance, she just might

Now Diana, now Jackie, now Tracy and Rosanne
Please tell me, please tell me, do you all have a plan?

They sprang to the kitchen and gave us a whistle
The way they all flew like the down of a thistle

I heard them exclaims as they dove out of sight
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Rosanne Blackburn recently performed a traditional dance, which received a warm round of applause

Life enrichment aide (LEA) Rosanne Blackburn is known for entertaining the Brighton, Ont. long-term care home’s residents with her Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton impersonations, but she recently changed things up and shared some of her Ojibwa culture by performing a ceremonial dance.

On Sept. 22, Rosanne, dressed in her traditional regalia, danced for residents, who gave her a warm round of cheers.

She explains how the idea came to her.

“I was listening to Native music one evening, and the idea for dancing for the residents came to me,” she tells The OMNIway.

“The residents loved it. They were clapping their hands in their rooms.”

Rosanne dances at powwows every summer; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these traditional First Nations social gatherings were cancelled.

Having an opportunity to dance for Maplewood residents was a way for Rosanne to continue doing something she enjoys while sharing an important piece of her culture with residents.

Rosanne says she tries to do something special for residents every week.

Performing a traditional First Nations dance for residents also proved to be an opportunity for Rosanne to learn about some residents’ own cultural backgrounds.

“There were a couple of residents who I did not know came from Native cultures,” she says.

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