Lois, a resident at the Good Samaritan Society in Kissimmee, FL, celebrated her 102nd birthday on April 28, and she knew exactly how she wanted to ring in her big day.
“I asked, ‘What do you want for your birthday? What do you want to do?’” Administrator Dorene Spies recalled for McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Tuesday. “She told me she wants a walnut cake without walnuts. I told her we’ll figure that one out.”
During their talk, Spies also asked Lois if she’d received any birthday cards in recent years. Since most of her friends have passed, she said she hadn’t gotten one in a very long time.
That gave Spies a grand idea.
“Good Samaritan really supports us in creating moments. We have a region [intranet] page, and I reached out to everyone in the region, which would be Florida, Nebraska and Iowa – crazy mixture, right?” she said.
Spies told the group all about Lois and made sure they knew that instead of sending over one jointly-signed card, she was thinking more along the lines of 102.
Days later, 100-plus cards were signed, sealed and delivered to Lois.
She spent all last week reading the handmade cards that came from staff members, regional employees, and even children enrolled in some of the on-site daycare centers across Good Samaritan’s network.
As of yesterday, she was still reading, Lois confirmed.
It’s not often that one of the 130 residents in the Kissimmee facility turns 100 or older, Spies noted, so she is already full steam ahead on planning Lois’ 103rd birthday.
Lois’ birthday festivities sparked a new tradition in the facility, one that Spies said she’ll be sure to carry out for other residents, regardless of how old they’re turning.
“We had a bucket of roses outside of Lois’ room, and every time a staff member went in, they took a single rose and gave it to her. We had a big vase in there for them to put them in,” she explained. “She was just in awe of that. So I think that we’ll be doing that for our residents on their special day. It’s meaningful for staff and for residents as well.”
