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It’s Visit A Nursing Home Week in Ohio
By John Johnston
Albert “Al” Kuhn, recalling Christmases long past, thinks back to his boyhood in Price Hill when he was surrounded by family. He remembers a surprise gift.
“My father had four boxes,” he says. “He had them all wrapped inside of each other.” Kuhn would unwrap one, only to find another, until finally: “In the last box was three Hershey bars.”
Christmases are different now.
Kuhn, who is 71 and never married, has lived in Meadowbrook Care Center in Montgomery since suffering a head injury almost seven years ago after slipping on ice. His doctor said he shouldn’t live alone.
A brother and sister-in-law are in Arizona. A sister and brother-in-law in Dry Ridge visit every couple of weeks, he says. “Sometimes you wish it would happen more often. But sometimes they don’t have enough time to be here. I understand that.”
The seven days from Dec. 24-31 is Visit a Nursing Home Week, which the Ohio Department of Aging says is a reminder that visits by individuals, families and groups to such facilities can brighten residents’ days. And not just during the holidays.
“There are opportunities all year,” says Katie Brown, the administrator at Meadowbrook, which has 156 residents.
“Some people just need a hand to hold, and to say a prayer...”
Kids are always a hit. “No matter what stage of physical health a resident is in, I can’t tell you how much it means to see a child,” Brown says. “The same with a pet.”
Holidays can be particularly difficult, Brown says, because they remind residents of happier times and losses they’ve experienced. Those losses can include the death of loved ones, as well as diminished physical capacity, such as the ability to walk or enjoy food.
“The physical loss compounded with the emotional loss is pretty significant,” Brown says.
In another part of Meadowbrook, Evelyn Robinson, who is 90, also recalls holidays of long ago.
“Usually Christmastime was all fun,” she says. But one Christmas didn’t start out that way. She was expecting a gift from her boyfriend. He arrived at her house empty-handed. “I got mad,” she says.
That’s when the boyfriend, Clarence, nodded to Evelyn’s mother, who retrieved a hidden gift. “Then he took my hand,” Evelyn says, “and put a ring on.”
She and Clarence married in 1942. A few years later they settled in Woodlawn. Clarence was ill when they moved into Meadowbrook eight years ago; he died shortly thereafter.
Robinson never had children, but a niece and nephew visit her frequently. Others aren’t so fortunate. In that case, the nursing home staff provides “a little extra [tender loving care],” Brown says.