‘The perfect morale booster’

Creative Halloween decorations at Elk Court bring out the best in the community

To splash fun into the lives of residents, one seniors’ complex teamed with members of the community to celebrate Halloween.

Elk Court is a seniors’ living facility in Brookfield.

Its employees see residents as family and wanted to do something special for them.

Jannis Sanford, recreational manager at Elk Court, said when she heard what staff wanted to create, she thought it would be a perfect idea.

“It was two employees who came up with the original idea,” said Sanford. “They saw how Truro had scarecrows placed all around as decor and I thought that it would be fun for us to do.”

Sanford said she tries to ensure a sense of fun and involvement for residents of the home during holidays. For their special surprise, she wanted to reach out to members of the community to help work on the project.

With volunteers built from family members, staff and community members, people quickly began creating fun scarecrow decorations for

Elk Court. Sanford said the turnaround was quick, but unique process.

“Everyone had their own approach to it,” said Sanford. “Myself, I created a scarylooking scarecrow. It was fun to see all of them together and how each person interpreted the project.”

While the main objective of creating the scarecrows was fun, Sanford said such activities are also beneficial to residents’ health.

“Most residents here have some degree of dementia. So, when we do something like this it helps them orient the time of year. That gives them a visual cue to remember that it is that time of year again.”

Residents were thrilled to see the decorations, which included a live-action scarecrow. They also judged best scarecrow. Sanford said residents’ reaction even exceeded her expectations.

“I was very pleased,” she said. “They were so delighted. They talked about their favourite ones and when they saw the live-action scarecrow there were hoots, howls, and laughter and it just brought them to life.”

Sanford said people are now eager to see what’s in store for the next big holiday – Christmas.

“People loved what we did,” said Sanford. “They do want to know if I have anything planned for Christmas and I do want to continue on with this for residents for the holidays so this season I have plans on doing Christmas trees for the residents.”

Sanford is proud of the project, and she is excited to continue pushing creatively for residents. The part that gives her a bigger sense of pride is the way the community came together.

“The amount of community that came by; it was just a really great bonding moment between the nursing home and community. It all connected us. Every staff member and resident was uplifted. It was the perfect morale booster.”