Garden Terrace celebrates the start of Chinese new year

With strict safety protocols in effect, residents welcomed in the Year of the Tiger

Garden Terrace residents said goodbye to the Year of the Ox and welcomed the start of the Year of the Tiger on Feb. 1 when the Kanata, Ont. long-term care home hosted a Chinese new year celebration.

Each year in the Chinese lunar calendar is named after an animal, and with this being the Year of the Tiger, residents kicked off celebrations with a craft program where they made tigers from paper plates that were then decorated.

Residents were also treated to fortune cookies while learning about Chinese new year and the history of the celebration.

Although Garden Terrace was dealing with an outbreak at the time of the event, all pandemic protocols were in effect to keep everyone safe.

Residents live on five floors at Garden Terrace, and as part of the safety protocols in effect, there were no gatherings between residents living on different floors. Social distancing was also in effect.

Garden Terrace life enrichment co-ordinator Rachael King says a great deal of organization amongst life enrichment team members goes into creating programs like this, and safety is always the top priority.

“We try to be as organized as possible in our program creation; it’s all about working together because we couldn’t do it without each other,” she tells The OMNIway.

“It’s us all working together to make sure the residents (have programming) because they need it right now.”

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