Window decorations brighten holiday season for care center residents

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

For residents at McGregor’s Great River Care Center and Turner Pointe Assisted Living (GRCC), the holiday season has gotten a littler brighter—literally. Over the past few weeks, groups of people—including residents’ families, several businesses, both hospices that serve the facility, daycare and school representatives and other community members—came together to decorate residents’ windows.

The end result is a festive mixture of colorful, twinkling lights, Christmas trees, snowmen, wreathes and red bows around most of the building’s exterior.

“I was really surprised and happy at the response. All but two of the windows ended up decorated. The building looks great,” said Debbie Johnson, GRCC’s activity director, who organized the decorating effort.

Johnson was inspired to create a Christmas event after the success of an outdoor Halloween Trunk or Treat and Costume Parade, which residents could safely watch from their rooms. 

“I wanted something with lights,” she said, “so that, when residents saw them, it would be like a light in the darkness. It would light up the residents’ lives and remind them that they’re loved.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for both long term care staff and residents, but the grief is even more amplified this time of year, Johnson admitted.

“My residents have been living alone since March, and here we are coming on Christmas, which is usually the best time of year at the care center,” she reflected. “Churches would come in to visit or sing, school and daycare kids came, even the Grinch came. The residents were remembered just a little bit more.”

“This year,” Johnson said, “I just didn’t want them to be forgotten.”

Of all the decorators, she said one of the sweetest was the family of a resident who recently passed away.

“But her family still wanted to decorate,” Johnson remarked, “so we just moved them to another window.”

Another family, after helping decorate one window, decided they wanted to do three more.

“They made it into a competition between themselves,” Johnson quipped.

One group drove from Illinois to make sure a friend’s window was properly decked out.

The residents had just as much fun with it.

“One got right in the window and watched people decorate,” Johnson said. “Another said, ‘Did you see the lights outside my window?’ They like to know people are remembering.”

The window decorations were officially unveiled Dec. 5. Santa Claus was there for the festivities, waving at residents through their windows, and the MFL MarMac Bulldog Dance Team performed dancing/singing telegrams.

“It all just fell together so well,” Johnson said.

Other individuals have helped make the holiday season special too. Last week, for example, high school art students painted Christmas scenes on the GRCC office windows. MFL MarMac’s plant and soil science class also made holiday arrangements of flowers and greenery and wrote cards that were delivered to the care center.

Crossing Rivers Health Clinic brought in little presents, Johnson added. Pocket City Pub in McGregor has adopted residents again, as have GRCC staff members. One individual will make an annual donation of word search books for residents to enjoy.

“We’re trying to set up Zoom caroling with Prairie Christian Academy, which is one of the schools that would come in,” Johnson said. “That’s something that will be special.”

Residents will also continue the tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve.

“It will definitely be different,” noted Johnson, “but still good.”