The residents of Blue Ridge have had a wonderful time in the past few weeks celebrating holidays with many family members and guests.
We thank Laurel Wagoner and her mother Kaye for coming in and decorating pumpkins for Halloween. The residents had a wonderful time doing this activity. Laurel’s grandmother, Ruth Martin, who is a resident here at the center participated in the activity and was proud of her creation, along with those of other residents. During our Community Halloween night we displayed the pumpkins outside on the patio.
We would like to invite Laurel and Kaye to come back to do another activity with the residents since they had such as good time and used their imagination to decorate their pumpkins. We would also like to thank Stuart Elementary School for their invitation to participate in their veterans’ program at their school on November 9. The children did such a wonderful job of having the school decorated for the occasion and the program in which the children participated in was fantastic.
The teachers and children really put in a lot of hard work to make it a great event for veterans in Patrick County. Our veterans really enjoyed seeing and hearing the little ones singing and how they participated in the program. Here at Blue Ridge, we also honored our veterans with a pinning with Mountain Valley Hospice that same afternoon. We are proud to have 28 veterans here at Blue Ridge and we thank Mountain Valley Hospice for coming and doing their pinning program for them.
On November 10 we had a Veterans’ Day Parade in the hallways where and most of our veterans participated in it. We went up and down the hallways with other residents and staff members “thanking them for their service” and clapping for them. After the parade they were served refreshments in our dining room.
On Veterans’ Day we celebrated with the ribbon cutting for our new Veterans’ Hall at Blue Ridge. We had the honor guard to come in and help with our flag ceremony. During the celebration, SPC Gerard Sanders pinned each of our veterans.
We invited the family members of our veterans to participate in the ceremony. During the ceremony each veteran’s name was read, with their history of their branch they served and the history of their military career. We are very proud of our veterans and we thank them for their service for our freedom! The Alzheimer’s Association had a “yard sale” for the residents of Blue Ridge on November 9 in the recreation room in which everything was free for the them. We invited them down to go shopping. They really enjoyed visiting with the ladies from the group and they had a great time shopping for themselves.
Staff also was invited to come in and shop; for staff members everything was a dollar. Staff members got some good deals. We are planning another yard sale with the Alzheimer’s Association next year. Our residents love to have this activity. We are booking entertainment for Christmas. If you or your group would like to perform for the residents, please call so we can put you on the calendar. Call (276) 694-1761, extension 1804 and ask for Dee Dee. The staff and residents of Blue Ridge would like to wish all a “Happy Thanksgiving.”
