Mother’s Day was a tough but joyful day for our moms and their families. It was a tough day as we were physically distant from our loved ones, but joyful as we found other ways to connect and show our love.
Feeling Loss
During this time, all of us are feeling loss. Loss of birthday parties, sporting events, graduations, and loss of spending time with our mothers on Mother’s Day. Each moment spent together is precious, even more so in memory care as dementia creates an unpredictable future.
Bitter-sweet, but more sweet than bitter
We knew from the start that this would be a tough day for our residents and their families. We decided to have a staff member totally dedicated to our moms on Mother’s Day. Our families were informed that we would be able to facilitate virtual visits, flower and gift delivery, and anything else in-between for their moms on Mother’s Day. Our virtual visit schedule filled quickly and families informed us of when they would be stopping by with gifts.
On Mother’s Day the virtual visits were bitter-sweet, but more sweet than bitter. While it was tough for our moms and their families to not be with each other physically, technology like FaceTime and Zoom helped us to feel connected.
The virtual visits were full of smiles, laughter, and happy tears. Our staff was brought to tears frequently during the visits at the outpouring of love from the families to their moms. Many of our mothers showed their loved ones the gift and flower deliveries they received. But the gifts and flowers were mainly afterthoughts, our moms were really only interested in spending time with their families and seeing their smiling faces. The time together was truly what brought the most joy to the day.
From Parks’ Place to our moms
Parks’ Place also wanted to show our moms how much we love them so we had a flower delivery for each of them with a card. We also had a special Mother’s Day treat at lunchtime. The final thing we did with each of our moms was actually more of a gift to their family. We made a video of each mother saying what they loved best about being a mom and sent it to their family. For our mothers whose dementia is a little more advanced we made simpler videos saying thank you for the gifts and cards. Our families did not know we were making the videos and were so surprised when they received them.
A heartfelt day
Although this was not the Mother’s Day anyone would wish for, it turned out to be a pretty wholesome and heartfelt day. Our moms were able to spend time with those who call them “mom” and felt their love and support even at a distance.
We are hoping that Mother’s Day 2021 we can welcome all of our families into our home and celebrate with them in-person!
Parks’ Place Memory Care is a privately owned assisted living home, specialized and specifically designed for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Our home is for people of any stage of dementia so they are able to age-in-place in their home. For tours, general information, or admission inquiry, please contact Kaitlin Kelly at 612-358-3725.
