Springdale residents and staff enjoy ‘Halloween hoedown’

There are two things most Springdale Country Manor residents love: Halloween and country music. So the Peterborough County long-term care home created a program that combined the spookiest day of the year with a country-western theme.

To keep residents and team members safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, activities were limited to small groups, but the engagement level was high and residents and staff had fun, says Springdale Country Manor life enrichment co-ordinator Sonia Murney.

“We had a celebration up front where residents could come up in small groups at a time in the afternoon, and there were all kinds of treats for them to have,” she says of the program, which was dubbed the Halloween Hoedown.

These treats included sarsaparilla, popcorn that looked like corn on the cob and licorice that looked like dynamite.

Residents and staff members dressed in their favourite cowgirl and cowboy attire. Sonia sported a costume that had her as a cowgirl sitting atop a bull.

And, of course, there was lots of country music for the residents to enjoy.

Team members also decorated the home with combined Halloween- and western-themed fixtures, such as hay bales topped with pumpkins and a signpost that included directions to the saloon, blacksmith shop and post office.

Sonia says the program proved to be a great way to bring residents and team members together in a fun way.

“(The Halloween Hoedown) was for everybody – both residents and staff – and we all had a lot of fun,” she says.

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