At WCBR, we are always ready to celebrate residents and staff.  Recently, on the week of May 6-13, we celebrated Healthcare Appreciation Week. As always, it was a chance to thank every associate who provides services in this area, from Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants to those in dining and environmental services.

And this year was special, because for the past two years, residents and associates were unable to get together in person. This year, we made up for lost time.

Ducie Minich of the Residents’ Health Committee found herself for the first time in charge of the big event the residents organized for May 11. She and many others in independent living worked hard to put on a daylong celebration decorated for a Tropical Island theme.

It was “a real beach party,” said Ducie. And it took a lot of preparation. There were handmade palm trees and some really “gorgeous” artificial flowers the size of dinner plates. A score of residents made two dozen cookies apiece – which Assisted Living Administrator Leah Queen would later testify were “amazing.”

There were gifts, from insulated snack bags to 16-ounce tumblers to 100 pairs of decidedly colorful socks. There was a raffle for $50 gift cards, and for hanging flower baskets. And there were lots of people, associates and residents, some of them wearing festive aloha shirts. It was a great party – or rather three great parties, for the different shifts of associates, at 6:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 3:30 p.m.

That was a big day, but just one of an eventful week of activities, the rest overseen by Leah Queen and Sandi Hall, our Health Services Administrator. The week started with an ice cream social and ended with hamburgers and hotdogs. There was a Sports Day, a Hat Day, Bright Colors/Flowered Top Day, Crazy/Mismatched Sock Day and, finally, a Jeans/T-shirt Day.

All involved regard the events as a success, as everyone pitched in to show how deeply we appreciate the extraordinary service provided by our healthcare associates.