A parade of thanks for local seniors

Families and loved ones alike decked out their vehicles as they passed by the residents of Summer’s Landing, a retirement and assisted living facility in Warner Robins on Monday, November 23. Residents had been looking forward to this day for a while and were so excited to be able to see so many come out to wish them a happy Thanksgiving.

Emily Bowden, the Marketing and Admissions Director, and her team had been planning the parade for some time. Residents of Summer’s Landing were able to line up on the sidewalk while socially distancing from each other as they watched and waved to the caravan of family and friends that drove past. Usually on Thanksgiving, Summer’s Landing would host a large lunch that residents and families were all invited to participate in. There would be so many people each year that they would have to utilize two buildings to accommodate everyone. However, the staff was challenged to come up with a different approach this year due to the threat of COVID.

In preparation for the parade, the facility hosted “Pie Socials” at visitation where families were able to sit at one end of a six-foot table and share a piece of pie with a loved one who sat at the other end.

“They’ve been all excited about that,” said Bowden fondly. “Coupled with the parade, that’s what we [did] to add joy and be thankful for the families that are letting us take care of their loved ones.”

Summer’s Landing has over 100 residents and is the only facility in Warner Robins that has independent as well as assisted living and memory care. With only one resident case and one staff case in all the eight months of lockdown, everyone has proven to stay diligent in their precautionary measures for the safety of all. Staff members are cautious when going home or out in public, and residents have been keeping to their individual buildings to reduce the spread.

While safety has been the utmost priority, the staff has concluded that it is equally important to ensure all residents feel loved and appreciated at the same time. They’ve worked to come up with different creative activities day to day to boost morale. Depression and varying degrees of hopelessness of the residents has been a cause of concern for the staff.

“It’s a daunting state to be in,” Bowden began. “It’s important for them to know that their families are still there for them and that we are as well. We’re thankful for our families to participate in our parade and to come and do our visits with our residents. It’s important for all of us to keep our spirits up. And now with the holidays, it’s even more important to show that we’re all in this together, and we’re all just trying our best to be safe and to still be happy and content.”

As the Christmas season draws closer, Bowden and her team have been working on the December calendar activities. They have taken great care to plan out events and have no plans to stop showing their residents love and compassion.

Bowden hates the restrictions that must be set in place, but she cares too much for her residents to put them at risk. “Personally, I love my residents. I want them to be happy. I’m very sad that we’re still locked down, but it’s a necessity right now because the numbers are still so high in Houston County. We’ve got to be diligent in our rules and regulations to keep our residents and staff safe.”

Currently, Summer’s Landing is still taking admissions and has openings in all buildings. For more information on December’s calendar of events, please email SLMarketing@healthmngt.com.

HHJ News