Parkview Home

A variety of activities and events have had us ?hopping? here at Parkview Home in Wayland, throughout the month of April! I?ll highlight just a few of the things that kept us busy.

We had an Easter visit with Emily Chapman of Loveland, Colo. She is the 8-year-old great-granddaughter of Marie Lowe. Emily made Easter cards for every resident here and had special Easter treats, also. Marie had an Easter get-together in our family room downstairs over the Easter weekend and hosted more than 20 of her family members including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephew and others.

Kathryn Stoops also hosted an Easter gathering in our family room for 30 of her family members. Quite a few residents enjoyed watching the Wayland Community Easter Egg Hunt. Many of them had relatives participating in it, and afterward we had a special visit from the Easter Bunny! We had a Good Friday service with Pastor Nathan Luitjens of Sugar Creek Mennonite Church. We had a fun time coloring Easter eggs, and then we enjoyed eating them with our Easter supper. We had a great time playing an Easter egg toss game, tossing as many eggs as we could into an Easter basket. Residents, employees and visitors seemed to have a good time guessing how many jelly beans, chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies were in a container for our Easter-themed ?How Many?? guessing game. Our Easter Sunday worship service was held with the Independent Bible Church.

On National Sibling Day we had ?Sibling Stuff,? a very interesting, informative and reminiscing activity which was suggested by a resident, Evalyn Bock. She is one of 11 children and thought it would be neat to have an activity to celebrate Sibling Day.

INTERESTing Friends met at different times throughout the month. It?s a program in which people come and share in some way about a common interest with our residents. If anyone is interested in being a part of INTERESTing Friends, please call Jerilyn Winga, Activity Director, at 319-256-2775.

We had our Winter to Spring Brunch for residents of the 400 Hallway and their families. Participants enjoyed a breakfast casserole, muffins, fruit, coffee, juice and milk. It was a nice time of fellowship together with one another!

We held a Volunteer Appreciation party this month, since April is Volunteers Month. Mary K. Diers entertained us with music. We munched on a variety of delicious homemade cookies baked from our kitchen. Gifts and prizes were presented to volunteers in attendance, and we enjoyed social time together. We are so blessed and fortunate to have so many wonderful, dedicated and caring volunteers who share their time and talents with us and assist with a variety of things here at Parkview Home. We truly appreciate and are so very thankful for each and every one of our volunteers, more than they will ever know!

We were glad to have all of the children who came to see us throughout the month. We?re always pleased when kids come!

We?re grateful for all the different pets that came to visit us during the month!

At the moment, many residents, staff, volunteers and visitors are working on a jigsaw puzzle of a horse grazing in a field of wildflowers. It?s pretty amazing how much conversation one jigsaw puzzle can generate.

Our centerpieces for our dining room tables this month were cute little bouquets of flowers in painted and decorated cans which were made by the GMSA girls youth group of Bethel Mennonite Church. Everyone surely has seemed to enjoy these fun and colorful centerpieces on our tables, and they have provided a conversation piece as well.

In Parkview kitchen news, food service supervisor Deb Smith says that they are awaiting the arrival of our new spring and summer menus, and that there will be lots of fresh fruits and salads, and that the made-from-scratch items will be increased. She says that our winter brunches have ended now, and we are awaiting the barbecue grilling season the residents love to smell. And she adds that we would like to encourage family members and visitors to stop by and see all the new ideas and aromas that will be happening in the kitchen area.

They say that ?April showers bring May flowers,? and we know that the month of May will surely bring lots of fun and entertaining activities and events for us to enjoy here! We invite you to come and visit us anytime here at Parkview Home. We?re always thrilled to visit with our friends!