Iowa Nursing Home Personalizes Build-a-Bears with Family Voices
Back at Halloween, it was an extra mile sort of thing for an Iowa nursing home to treat residents to an entertaining holiday-themed "Booze & Tattoos" event. Costumes, temporary tattoos, and a drink or two to take the edge off.
Residents thoroughly enjoyed that isolation-breaking, all-in-good-fun activity so much that staff at Rose Haven stepped up again with a meaningful gift for the Christmas/New Year's holiday season. A voice for radio wasn't needed, just a voice filled with love and the familiarity to brighten your loved one's day.
I've had a hard time reading the stories throughout the pandemic about older folks in these facilities not being able to properly visit with their loved ones because of social distancing. It's heart-wrenching but it was an emotional project for staff and residents alike to craft and receive custom Build-a-Bears before Christmas. Through help from the Build-a-Bear Workshop at Coral Ridge Mall, sponsors including Keystone Savings Bank, the Santa for a Senior program, Facebook followers, and families, each personalized bear came with voice recordings.