By Veronica Coons
Photos by Becky Gillette
ELLINWOOD — Residents at Azria Health Woodhaven and Ellinwood Country Living spent time outside Friday afternoon, enjoying a pleasant Spring afternoon as they watched and waved to family members participating in a drive-by parade led by Ellinwood Police Chief Chance Bailey and Ellinwood EMS staff.
According to Amber Anderson at Azria Health Woodhaven, the staffs at Woodhaven and Country Place nursing homes organized the drive-by parade.
“It is something that our sister facilities have been doing, and we thought it would be beneficial for our residents,” she said.
While family members prepared signs and decorated cars, some gathering beloved pets for the drive, residents at the nursing homes prepared by making personalized signs they held during the parade featuring messages of love for their family.
“They created the messages themselves,” Anderson said. “Some expressed how much they missed their loved ones.”
Staff at the nursing homes assisted residents as they took their places, socially distanced at least six feet apart in front of the facilities in anticipation. Parade participants began arriving around 3:45 p.m. at the designated line-up site at 7th Street and Park. Blocks long, the parade started at 4 p.m., swinging past Woodhaven first, then turning south on Main Street before cruising past Country place.
“It was amazing for everybody,” Anderson said. “It was so helpful for the residents to see family, see the posters they’d made attached to their cars, wave to their grandchildren and pets. It brought some to tears.”
The Centers for Disease Control have issued guidance for nursing homes to keep COVID-19 from entering their facilities, and to prevent the spread of the disease. Some of those measures have included temporarily restricting visitors, depending on the needs and circumstances of various facilities.
Since March, nursing homes throughout the area have come up with innovative ways for residents to see family members while staying safe, including social media campaigns or social distanced check-ins.
