Nursing home shares hope with drive-thru parade

Monday was the start of National Nursing Home Week, and Church Home Lifespring marked it with a drive-thru parade to give the families of their residents the opportunity to see them face-to-face for the first time since early April, when Governor Brian Kemp set in motion the statewide shelter-in-place ordinance.

Led by official vehicles from Houston County Fire Department and Houston County Sheriff’s Office, a caravan of automobiles—many decorated with signs and balloons—coasted through the parking lot of the senior care facility. In those vehicles, were family members, friends and other loved ones of the nursing home populace. Parade participants waved and called out to their elders in hopes that the patients would catch a glimpse of them and realize that they were loved and not forgotten.

Lekesha Randle is the activities director of Church Home Lifespring, and she wiped tears from her eyes as she watched it all. Organizing the parade was Randle’s way to allow some level of real interaction between patients and their family members without disregarding the health mandates set in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. She said two important dates came into play with Monday’s parade; therefore, what she hoped to achieve was two-fold. “Yesterday was Mother’s Day,” Randale pointed out. “A lot of our patients have children that didn’t get a chance to see them, so we thought we’d kick off National Nursing Home Week with a family parade to allow a little bit of what might have happened yesterday, if the restraints had not been in place.”

Randale indicated that the parade was just the beginning of what the home’s staff had planned for the residents in the coming days. “We’re going to do more things in honor of this week,” she stated. “A lot of our activities are now taking place in each individual’s room because of the isolation, but I put things together on carts and bring them to the residents to keep them actively doing something. We’ve planned a lot of fun activities especially for this week.”

Monday’s parade was designed with the intent to lift the spirits of those in the Church Home Lifespring community, according to Randale. “I just really wanted to bring joy to them,” she explained. “They haven’t seen their families since COVID-19 changed the way we do everything. And although Kemp opened the state up for a few businesses to start doing things, he extended the stay-in orders until June 12 for the elderly and for those in nursing homes,” Randale said. “I just figured that was way too long for them not to see anybody in their family. This parade really made their day. I know it did.”

The residents had been waiting on the day with great excitement. Randale revealed that two weeks ago, the caregivers at the home began putting up poster boards about it and telling the patients what was planned. “We came up with a theme. We went with red, white and blue,” she added, “and then we started getting our outfits ready,” she said pointing at her own attire, which sported the patriotic theme colors.

The grounds of the home were decorated too. Streamers marked the main entranceway of the nursing facility, and many of the workers and patients carried small replicas of the American Flag.

“When they’ve been taken back into the building, a sense of hope is what I really want them to have gotten from this,” Randale said. “I want them to feel confident that one day their families will be able to come inside, sit down, and talk with them again. They’ll get to hug and kiss them again. I want them to hope and to know that this will be over soon.”

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