Horsing around at Pleasant Meadow

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LEA commended for going ‘above and beyond’ to help bring two horses for a visit with residents

A Pleasant Meadow Manor life enrichment aide (LEA) is being praised for going “above and beyond” to help bring a pair of horses to the Norwood long-term care home to visit residents on a Sunday afternoon.

On Oct. 9, the horses stopped by the home with a representative from the Norwood Fair, whom LEA Emily Gerow had contacted to arrange the visit, explains life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams.

Emily had also organized a visit on Oct. 7 from fair organizers who shared information with residents about the baking and crafts contests the fair hosts (residents won two ribbons in the crafts contest. See Nov. 9 OMNIway story).

Kim says the work Emily did to bring the horses to the home, as well as her efforts to ensure residents entered crafts and baking in the fair’s contests, was “much appreciated.”

The horses were brought to the front of the home and residents spent part of the afternoon petting and interacting with them.

Kim is commending Emily for coming up with an idea she knew the residents would appreciate.

“Emily thought it would be a great idea for the residents to see the horses, and she was right,” Kim tells The OMNIway.

“That was above and beyond, and it was very thoughtful of Emily to arrange that.”

The Norwood Fall Fair returned this year for the first time since 2019. The event, which has been a highlight of autumn in Norwood since 1868, was cancelled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Pleasant Meadow residents win two ribbons in Norwood fair craft contests

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‘The residents were pretty proud of themselves’

Pleasant Meadow Manor residents and team members were hoping to pull off a big win with their crafts entries at this year’s Norwood Fall Fair, and for their hard work, they earned two ribbons.

A terracotta pot and a basket that were decorated by residents both earned second-place honours at the fair, which ran over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Pleasant Meadow life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams says residents look forward every autumn to entering crafts and baked goods in the fair’s contests, so winning ribbons for their entries is always a big deal for them.

Other items residents entered in the fair’s contests included wall decorations, door decorations, a Pleasant Meadow Manor scrapbook and homemade fudge.

The Norwood Fall Fair returned this year for the first time since 2019. The event, which has been a highlight of autumn in Norwood since 1868, was cancelled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every September, residents get to work making crafts and preparing baked goods to enter in the fair’s contests. Residents win prizes for their crafts and baking entries almost every year, Kim says.

Fall Fair organizers supply the home with a list of crafts and baking that residents can enter. The Pleasant Meadow Manor life enrichment team presents the list to residents for them to decide what they would like to work on for entries.

About 12 residents worked on crafts and baking for the fair this year, and lots of hard work was put into the entries which made the wins even sweeter, Kim says.

“The residents were pretty proud of themselves,” she says.

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Pleasant Meadow residents gearing up for Norwood Fall Fair

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Residents have been preparing crafts and food that will be entered in the fair’s contests

The Norwood Fall Fair is returning for the first time since 2019, and the residents of Pleasant Meadow Manor are preparing crafts and food to enter in contests held during the event, which has been a highlight of autumn in the community since 1868.

Every September, residents start making crafts and baking for the fair, which is held during the Thanksgiving weekend. Residents win prizes for their crafts and baking entries almost every year.

Fall Fair organizers supply the home with a list of crafts and baking people can enter. The Pleasant Meadow Manor life enrichment team presents the list to residents for them to decide what they would like to do.

This year, about 12 residents have been preparing items to enter in the fair’s contests, says Pleasant Meadow Manor life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams.

Some items residents will be entering in contests include wall decorations, door decorations, a Pleasant Meadow Manor scrapbook and homemade fudge.

Kim says residents have been showing their creative flair once again.

“There is a resident who is doing three different things: a painting of a Christmas ornament, a Christmas wreath, and a Halloween door decoration,” she tells The OMNIway.

Participating in the Norwood Fall Fair has become an important part of the culture at Pleasant Meadow Manor over the years.

The fair is returning for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020.

While Kim isn’t making any specific predictions for winning entries this year, she says she’s hopeful there will be more ribbons coming to Pleasant Meadow.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed,” she says.

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Chef’s hot hamburger steak makes an impression on Pleasant Meadow residents

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‘It was a huge hit when it was served’

When submitting a recipe for OMNI Health Care’s inaugural March Madness recipe challenge, Pleasant Meadow Manor chef Connie Doherty turned to an old-time classic that proved to be a big hit when served to the Norwood long-term care home’s residents.

The “hot hamburger” she served is a hamburger steak plated with two sides – mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley – and covered with a special onion-mushroom gravy.

To make this resident-favourite meal, Connie mixes ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce.

She then divides the meat mixture evenly into burger patties which are then placed on a tray and put in the oven and cooked to an internal temperature of 71 C (160 F).

Connie then makes a sauce for the meat by sauteing thinly sliced onions and mushrooms in vegetable oil and mixing in brown gravy to finish.

“It was a huge hit when it was served,” Connie says of the hot hamburger steak.

Chris Weber, OMNI’s operations manager of nutrition and food service, says the March Madness contest, which saw 16 recipes compete in a bracket contest where votes were cast each week between April 14 and May 6, was close.

The winning entry was a Mediterranean omelette, created by Josephine Goddard at Country Terrace, which won “by a very thin margin,” Chris says.

OMNI launched the first annual March Madness recipe challenge in March in recognition of Nutrition Month in Canada.

Chris came up with the idea to encourage nutritional care managers and cooks to showcase their most-loved recipes and to highlight the high-quality meals served in OMNI homes.

Throughout March, nutritional care managers and cooks prepared their favourite meals, plated them and took photos that were sent to head office. The photos were accompanied by the name of each meal and its recipe.

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Taco-istic Treats Fiesta spices things up at Pleasant Meadow

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‘When the residents asked to have tacos, the life enrichment staff stepped up to the plate and hit a home run’

Pleasant Meadow Manor residents were recently treated to an afternoon “fiesta” that included lots of tasty tacos, pina coladas and Mexican-themed music – and this was after they’d already eaten lunch.

The residents of the Norwood, Ont. long-term care home recently asked to be served tacos, so the life enrichment team came up with an idea to make that wish come true and then some, says life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams.

“When the residents asked to have tacos, the life enrichment staff stepped up to the plate and hit a home run,” she tells The OMNIway.

The Taco-istic Treats Fiesta was held July 7. The life enrichment team made soft tacos filled with seasoned beef and an assortment of toppings, including cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, chopped jalapeno peppers, guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

Tortilla chips and Mexican corn salad were served on the side, and team members provided residents with non-alcoholic pina coladas to wash everything down.

Kim says the teamwork involved that day was stellar.

“The life enrichment staff had a great assembly line going, with two staff members making the tacos to order, one staff member playing the bartender and one delivering the goodies,” Kim explains.

To ensure everyone could participate, residents who couldn’t make it down to the fiesta were served tacos in their rooms.

The event included Mexican music videos playing on the home’s large-screen smart TV. Life enrichment team members wore sombreros and they decorated the activity room and trolley to add to the experience for the residents.

Kim says the tacos were so good that some residents couldn’t get enough.

“One resident had five tacos, and this was after he had a full lunch,” she says.

Kim says the event got residents socializing, and there was “a lot of chatting and laughter among the residents.”

“This program went off so well that the life enrichment staff are planning our next treat day,” she says.

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Laughter is proving to be the best medicine at Pleasant Meadow Manor

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New laughter yoga program is having emotional benefits for residents

Pleasant Meadow Manor residents are discovering that laughter truly is the best medicine.

Residents were recently introduced to laughter yoga sessions led by Kim Williams, the Norwood long-term care home’s life enrichment co-ordinator, and they’re seeing first-hand the emotional benefits the program delivers.

Laughter yoga is an exercise that marries voluntary laughter with breathing exercises. During laughter yoga sessions, participants maintain eye contact with one another which leads to contagious laughter.

Kim starts the sessions with a brief history and description of what laughter yoga is to help residents understand how the exercises may help them and to explain that it’s an activity that has been used in the medical profession.

This, she says, is to prevent participants from feeling “silly or foolish” during the exercises.

Kim and the residents then do warm-up exercises which consist of clapping and gently moving their bodies and legs. They then do deep breathing exercises.

They move on to the laughter exercises intermixed with “child-like playfulness,” and some singing. Sessions always include an affirmation which they say as loudly as they can: “I’m awesome, you’re awesome, we’re all awesome.”

Some of the laughter exercises Kim and the residents do include:

Gradient laughter: Everyone starts laughing quietly, gradually becoming louder

Roller-coaster laughter: Residents bring their arms up over their heads while saying “awww.” They then bring their arms down while saying “weee” or laughing

Full-moon laughter: The “favourite” laughter exercise where everyone howls like a wolf

“And of course, Rick (Riel), our maintenance manager, joins us for our Santa Claus laughter and our monkey laughter, which really gets everyone laughing for real and at times can cause tears of laughter,” Kim tells The OMNIway.

Kim learned about laughter yoga when she was a student in the recreation and leisure program at Fleming College and a laughter yoga instructor visited her class.

While admittedly skeptical at first, Kim says she noticed physical benefits after her initial laughter yoga session and even says she slept better that night.

Eventually, she took classes to become a certified laughter yoga instructor.

She first used laughter yoga with residents while working as a life enrichment aide at Frost Manor, where the sessions went over well. In fact, one Frost Manor resident said laughter yoga helped ease the severe anxiety she lived with, Kim notes.

Kim is noticing similar benefits at Pleasant Meadow Manor.

“We have found that our residents’ spirits are lifted, and you can see them smiling throughout the day,” she says.

“The way that I measure the benefits to the residents is that they returned for the next session and ask when the next one will be scheduled.”

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In-house collaboration delivers memorable diner-style lunch to Pleasant Meadow residents

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‘You could hear a pin drop in all the dining rooms as residents thoroughly enjoyed and devoured their chosen meal’

What began as an idea to make onion rings for Pleasant Meadow Manor residents quickly blossomed into an interdepartmental collaboration that created a 1950s-style diner for everyone that raised money for the Norwood long-term care home’s garden.

In late May, life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams asked nutritional care manager Judy Schell if she and her team could make onion rings for residents on June 22 to celebrate National Onion Ring Day.

Judy liked the idea but suggested they do more than just make onion rings. Judy envisioned making onion rings as well as hamburgers, chicken burgers, french fries and root beer floats to create a diner atmosphere that would bring back fond memories for residents.

To sweeten the deal, meals could be sold to staff members with all proceeds going towards beautifying the home’s garden.

The two departments collaborated to make this happen.

The nutritional care team prepared the food while the life enrichment team made the floats and decorated the dining areas. Decorations included a large sign that read “PMM Diner” and a jukebox.

Team members served residents wearing special hand-painted hairnets, and the burgers, onion rings and fries were served in handmade containers that were delivered on a tray, diner-style.

It was immediately evident this was going over well with residents, Kim says.

“You could hear a pin drop in all the dining rooms as residents thoroughly enjoyed and devoured their chosen meal,” she tells The OMNIway.

“Some commented that they were stuffed and that they hadn’t had a root beer float since they were kids.”

It turns out staff members enjoyed organizing this event as much as the residents enjoyed eating the delicious food.

“All the staff that were involved in pulling this off have asked to do it again, so I take this collaboration of the life enrichment and nutritional care staff as a great success,” Kim says.

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Sunday tradition inspires Pleasant Meadow cook’s favourite recipe

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Dean Smith serves up his turkey roast dinner for March Madness recipe challenge

Pleasant Meadow Manor cook Dean Smith found inspiration in a Sunday tradition when he decided to enter OMNI Health Care’s March Madness recipe challenge.

No meal says “Sunday” quite like a roast dinner, and Dean’s favourite type of roast is turkey. And a roast turkey dinner on Sundays is also a fan favourite with residents of the Norwood, Ont. long-term care home, Dean says.

“I have chosen this meal and recipe because it is, by far, my most favourite dish in the home to create,” Dean explains.

“(It is also) the residents’ most chosen meal for residents’ choice meals, (and) it’s one that hit home for me because I also like it a lot.”

Dean’s turkey dinner features sliced, juicy roast turkey accompanied by mashed potatoes, mashed turnip, sage stuffing and gravy.

The meat, mashed vegetables and stuffing are all layered on the plates to provide an eye-appealing look.

Dean says he’s happy to be able to provide Pleasant Meadow Manor residents with one of his own favourite meals – and having a roast dinner makes for a perfect Sunday for the home’s residents, he says.

“I live in a large family myself – and a gorgeous turkey dinner with all of the fixings always goes down easy with friends and family on a Sunday afternoon because nothing unites us more than delicious comfort food,” he says.

Chris Weber, OMNI’s operations manager of nutrition and food service, says the March Madness contest, which saw 16 recipes compete in a bracket contest where votes were cast each week between April 14 and May 6, was close.

The winning entry was a Mediterranean omelette that was created by Country Terrace team member Josephine Goddard.

OMNI launched the March Madness recipe challenge in March in recognition of Nutrition Month in Canada.

Chris came up with the idea to encourage nutritional care managers and cooks to showcase their most-loved recipes and to highlight the high-quality meals served in OMNI homes.

Throughout March, nutritional care managers and cooks prepared their favourite meals, plated them and took photos that were sent to head office. The photos were accompanied by the name of each meal and its recipe.

If you have a story you would like to share with The OMNIway, please contact the newsroom at deron(at)axiomnews.com.

If you have feedback on this story, please contact the newsroom at deron(at)axiomnews.com.

Platinum Jubilee: Pleasant Meadow resident recalls her brushes with royalty

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Jill Raines shares her unique moment in history with fellow residents during Jubilee celebration

Pleasant Meadow Manor resident Jill Raines remembers having a front-row seat during one of the 20th century’s most memorable moments.

The Norwood, Ont. long-term care home celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee last week, and Jill had a chance to share the story of her brush with the monarch on the day of her coronation 69 years ago.

Following the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, the Royal Procession made its way through central London – and Jill and her sister were among the children moved to the front of the crowd to watch and wave as the newly crowned monarch passed.

Jill’s uncle, a colonel in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was marching behind the gold coach carrying the Queen. Jill says she got excited and started waving and jumping up and down, calling out her uncle’s name.

But, Jill says, her sister felt she was “making too much of a scene,” so she “poked” her and Jill fell close to the carriage.

“I got a very good look at the carriage and it really was a sight to behold,” Jill recalled.

But this would not be the last time Jill saw the Queen. In 1977, during the celebration of her Silver Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth said hello to Jill as she passed by.

When Pleasant Meadow life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams asked Jill what she said in reply, Jill said, “oh no, you don’t speak to the Queen, you just smile sweetly and curtsy.”

This, of course, sparked more questions from the other residents as well as from the staff, Kim says.

“When I told her that I thought that it was cool that she got to see the coronation and the Queen herself, Jill said she never thought of it that way, but looking back she supposed it really was quite special,” Kim said.

Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on Feb. 6, 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI. Her coronation took place 16 months later.

Pleasant Meadow Manor celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with trivia and a cake that was donated to the home by the Township of Asphodel-Norwood’s heritage and cultural committee.

Kim says the event was well-received by residents.

“The residents enjoyed the Jubilee party, and everyone helped each other with trivia,” she said.

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PHOTO CAPTION: Pleaseant Meadow Manor resident Jill Raines and her husband, John, are pictured at left during the Platinum Jubilee celebration the home recently hosted in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. Pictured at right is a banner that was made for the occasion.

Ides of March celebration takes residents back to ancient Rome

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Residents and staff mark March 15 by acting out a day in the life of Romans

Pleasant Meadow Manor became an arm of the Roman Empire on March 15 when the Norwood, Ont. long-term care home’s residents and staff members celebrated the Ides of March.

The Ides of March was the day in ancient Rome marking the deadline for settling debts, but it became more famous as the day Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.

In honour of this day, Pleasant Meadow Manor life enrichment co-ordinator Kim Williams and her team organized an Ides of March party, which saw everyone dress up in togas and enjoy foods popular in the Mediterranean region, including mozzarella and feta cheeses, olives, cherry tomatoes, Italian flatbread crackers and grapes.

The snacks were washed down with non-alcoholic wine and grape juice.

The life enrichment staff shared famous quotes by Julius Caesar. The residents donned togas and became Julius Caesar or Roman goddesses to have their pictures taken in front of the Roman columns team members created for a backdrop.

“I was looking to do something different with the residents and came up with the idea of celebrating March 15th and the Ides of March,” Kim tells The OMNIway.

“The residents really enjoyed themselves and got quite a chuckle with the staff costumes and when they dressed up. One gentleman was quite impressed with his picture, exclaiming, ‘now that’s a handsome picture of me.’ ”

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PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above, Pleasant Meadow Manor resident Frank Bischof plays Julius Caesar as “life enrichment goddesses” Emily Gerow (left) and Sheila Fleury feed him grapes during a celebration of the Ides of March.