Senior titleholder continues work for residents as nursing homes open to visitors
Special to Leader-Press
Copperas Cove Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility opened its doors to visitors again on Monday, March 8, but there are limitations.
No more than two visitors per family per week and all visitors must show proof of a negative COVID test within 14 days of each visit. The tests are not free and there is a time lapse before results are announced. So, residents are still expecting to see few visitors despite the change.
Senior Ms. Five Hills Dawn Hale has worked throughout the past year of the Coronavirus to make the pandemic bearable for nursing home residents. Hale started a pen pal program with nearly 60 residents recruiting volunteers to send letters, cards and pictures at least twice a month.
“I shared with them that I am a military veteran, married for 20 years, have five children and six grandchildren,” Hale said. “I wait with anticipation to get letters back so that we can have regular correspondence and then meet in person when restrictions are completely lifted.”
During the holidays, Hale purchased gifts for all of her pen pals and adopted additional residents to ensure that their basic needs were met.
Hale also organized a recycled wind chime project with the royalty to create their own wind chimes from recycled CDs to brighten the rooms of nursing home residents.
“As I thought about the residents laying in their beds and looking up at blank ceilings, I imagined how sweet it would be for them to be able to lay down and look up and see the beautiful artwork from our titleholders,” Hale said.
From Boggie Woogie Bugle Boy to I Will Survive, music from 1940 to the year 2000 made up the compact disc wind chime that Hale created.
“My idea was to do a record theme since we had some old CDs that look like 45s and we used an old vinyl album for the top,” Hale said. “The residents looking up at this think of songs that they enjoy from their past. It brings back some great memories.”
Hale also leveraged social media during Giving Tuesday raising money for Hill Country Community Action Association’s Meals on Wheels program. She created valentines and donated knitted hats for winter to nursing home residents.
Hale’s major service project on behalf of nursing home residents is one that she has worked on throughout the year. Her Busy Hands-Peaceful Minds project has resulted in Hale and community volunteers creating lap quilts with different textures and objects for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease to fidget with, reducing their stress and calming their emotions.
“These mats spark memories and even help the elderly sleep more soundly because they reduce frustration and stress,” Hale said. “The mats can easily go with the residents when leaving the facility for appointments.”
Hale has provided enough Peaceful Mats for all residents at two of Copperas Cove’s nursing homes and plans to provide Peaceful Mats to the third nursing home before crowning her successor at the pageant on March 27.