Christmas Dinner

December 9, 2012

Yesterday there was a Christmas dinner for the residents and employees. A few residents were wearing Christmas sweaters (even though it was really hot outside) and wearing Santa hats and reindeer ears. I came in with my family and we met with the residents for a while before we ate dinner. One of the residents sat with us and he wanted to eat along with us, but his condition does not allow him to eat solid food. The nurses puree the food for him.  After the dinner, gifts were handed out to the residents that nurses and other employees bought for them on behalf of the nursing home. In the end they had music playing and everyone was having a good time.
 Around 7 pm, the night shift nurses started coming in and the residents had to get ready to go into their rooms.
Even though I've been volunteering here for a few years, I never volunteered during Christmas time. The nurses and the residents are like a family. One of the nurses brought her kids for the dinner and the kids were talking to the residents (I thought the kids were grandkids of one of the residents, but they aren't).

On a sad note, the nursing home is going through many legal issues, so I'm not sure if there are going to be other buyers or if it's going to be shutdown and the residents will be sent to other homes. Whoever will the new buyers I hope they are able to fix up the nursing home, because half of it is under construction, recruit more hospitals to send their patients here, and also have enough money to plan more activities for the residents.