Door decorating contest brings holiday spirit to Homeland hallways

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Angels and reindeer. Snowflakes and snowmen. Santa and seven swans a-swimming.

Homeland’s 2020 door decorating contest brought a host of beloved characters to the hallways during an unusual holiday season. In those couple of weeks in December, the people who keep Homeland running smoothly — and always focused on the best interests of the residents — took the time to adorn their office doors in holiday style.

“With all of our responsibilities around COVID, we thought we could use a little pep and cheer in our hallways,” says Activities Director Aleisha Connor. Aleisha invited department directors to join the fun, acknowledging in an email that she was adding another duty to their long lists.

So, with that encouragement, did the department directors respond with enthusiasm?

“Oh my gosh, yes,” Aleisha says. “Everybody loved the idea.”

Adhering to regulations limiting coverage to no more than 30 percent of the door, departments got out the tinsel, decorative papers, and artificial snow. Entries came in from the business office, personal care offices, administration, dietary, therapy, activities, Ellenberger, nursing, the laundry. Even the office of Homeland President/CEO Barry Ramper II, was decorated with images of reindeer and gingerbread men made by his grandchildren.

Then came the vote. Due to COVID restrictions, residents couldn’t walk outside their areas to see all the doors, so the doors came to them. Homeland staff loaded pictures on tablets and showed them to residents individually. Then, they cast their votes.

And the winner was – drumroll, please – Administrative Assistant for Strategic Projects/IT Alice Kirchner and Administrative Assistant Esther Burnside with their angel-themed door. With 16 votes, they topped the list, just edging out the 15 votes won by Ellenberger’s “Christmas to Remember” door.

“The residents had a blast voting for all of them, and many mentioned how hard it was to pick just one!” Aleisha told all the entrants when she announced the winner.

“It was a success, and we’re definitely doing it next year,” says Aleisha.

It was all part of Homeland’s overall effort to bring cheer during a holiday season limited by COVID restrictions. Staff dressed up in holiday gear for the residents to see. The Board of Managers decked the halls with greenery. The Salvation Army donated gift packages for each resident, stocked with such goody-bag items as backscratchers, word search puzzles, and magazines.

With the hallway decorations hung by the Board of Managers, the décor “really did brighten up the environment tremendously for staff and the residents,” says Alice. She adds that she and co-winner Esther are not natural-born crafters, but they wanted to join in the holiday spirit.

Alice says she is blessed to have creative siblings, so she reached out to her sister Mary Ellen, a retired teacher in Baltimore who’s the family creative spirit and organizer.

“In about 30 minutes, I heard back from her with some pins,” Alice says. “Thank goodness for Pinterest.”

Together, they created a tableau of heavenly angels, including three whose faces were baby pictures of Esther, Alice, and Barry Ramper. The angels flew amid stars and white fluffy stuff.

As the winners, Alice and Esther won a $50 gift card for use in their office.

“All in all,’’ she says, “it was a nice demonstration of teamwork and creativity.”

Most importantly, she says, the residents liked it.

“I’m glad that it also brought smiles to their faces,” says Alice.

Homeland Center Activities Department: Going ‘above and beyond’ to make residents smile

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Dee, Emma, Kristin, Diomaris, Tyra, Aleisha, Martha, Tyanna

When Pennsylvania Farm Show milkshakes suddenly became available mid-year, Homeland Center’s Activities Department didn’t waste any time buying them as a special treat for residents.

Activities coordinators Emma Lengyel and Diomaris Pumarol worked on decorating a cart they could use to distribute the milkshakes, complete with carnival music playing and banners.

“We made it into a fun presentation,’’ Lengyel said. “The residents loved it.’’

That kind of teamwork and creativity are hallmarks of Homeland Center’s Activities Department — in the spotlight more than ever with COVID-19 limiting contact and the usual programs and entertainment. Activities staffers have forged themselves into a cohesive, supportive team focused on keeping residents engaged and connected.

“They all go above and beyond,” says Activities Director Aleisha Connors. “They don’t do something just to do it. They always do it to make an impact, and for a reason.”

Even when the Homeland doors are closed to visitors, residents have enjoyed luaus, coloring contests, and hallway bingo. In a department of veterans and newbies, there are no egos, says Pumarol. Colleagues share ideas and adapt to the interests of the residents they serve in Personal Care, Skilled Care, and the Ellenberger Unit, the home of those with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

When the activity coordinators joined a Zoom call to discuss their work, they showered praise on each other.

“They were very welcoming to me when I first came, and being a new grad out of college, everyone was very helpful in helping me figure out how to be an adult,” says Kristin Oliver, one of the coordinators.

“This is an overwhelmingly kind group,” agrees Lengyel. “Everyone listens very well.”

Homeland’s pandemic-year Halloween demonstrated how the team builds upon each other in the ideas department. To cheer up the residents after the cancellation of the annual trick-or-treat night, someone had the idea to hold a parade. Someone else thought of M&M costumes. Oliver said, “Let’s wear tutus,” so Activities Coordinator Dee Smith made the tutus.

“In the end, we had a beautiful parade, bringing joy and music to the residents,” says Pumarol. “It was teamwork. Everybody did something to make it work.”

The team also includes part-timers Lateefah Battle, Tyanna Jennings, Malani Tate-Defreitas, and Tyra Bell.

As the department pulls together, teamwork translates into smiles for the residents, says Activities Coordinator Martha Morgan.

“Working with the residents has been a great treasure for myself,” she says. “A lot of times, they miss their family. When you go in and talk with them, build up their spirits and tell them that everything is going to be all right, you see a big difference.”

It’s a matter of warding off isolation, Lengyel says. “I love making them smile and laugh and just get them happy for a couple of minutes.”
Activities Coordinator Becky Devan loves sharing one-on-one time with the residents she calls “my little ladies on the first floor.”

“They just enjoy being able to sit there and talk about whatever they want to talk about,” Devan says. “And if you’ve got a snack, that’s even better.”
Teamwork gets the group through hectic days. Morning meetings turn into daily pep talks.

“We couldn’t get as far as we are now without supporting each other and helping each other,” Morgan says.

The group has received flowers and text messages from residents’ family members thanking them for paying extra attention to their loved ones during this stressful time.

Coming to work feels like spending time with friends and making them happy.

“A simple back scratch. A hug. A pat on the back. It doesn’t matter. It’s just that affection and empathy they’re all kind of starved for now,’’ Smith says. “You can see it in their face. They tell you as you leave the room, ‘I love you.’ That makes it all worthwhile to me and all of my coworkers.”

The first 2021 Calendar Winners are announced – is your name included?

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A Homeland tradition returns! The Fifth Annual Homeland “Lottery” Calendar is now available and the first winners of the year have been drawn.

The calendar is a gift that keeps on giving because everyone who purchases a calendar automatically is entered into daily drawings for cash prizes of up to $100.

Additionally, your $25 calendar purchase helps Homeland provide financial support and additional services to so many of our residents, patients and clients. Over the past five years, our annual calendar has raised more than $40,000 for Homeland’s benevolent care.

Thank you for your support.

We have distributed $690 thus far to the winners.  They continue to be eligible for repeat prizes.

1/1/21 Karen Shook
1/2/21 Babs Phillips
1/3/21 Robert Browne
1/4/21 Laurie Murry
1/5/21 Sally Klein
1/6/21 Scott Thomas
1/7/21 Jessica James
1/8/21 Joseph Stine
1/9/21 Rob Alexander
1/10/21 Carolyn Humphrey
1/11/21 Tim & Pam Madden
1/12/21 Elaine Lepley
1/13/21 Megan Davies
1/14/21 Amy Jo Adams
1/15/21 Joyce Thomas
1/16/21 Victoria Gephart
1/17/21 Linda Stoner
1/18/21 Gina Snoke
1/19/21 Larry Kuykendall
1/20/21 Buffie Finney

To order your 2021 calendar, contact the Homeland Center development office at (717) 221-7885 or visit https://homelandcalendar.fasttransact.net/ (sold out)

A full list of 2020 Lottery Calendar winners is available here; 2019 Lottery Calendar winners, click here; or 2018 Lottery Calendar winners, click here.

Warm thanks to all of our supporters for helping us serve the Central Pennsylvania community for more than 150 years.

 

Resident Edwina “Winnie” Reese: A “very blessed” life

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Edwina “Winnie” Reese grew up in the Philadelphia-area neighborhood called Roxborough. Her father was a pressman for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“He left school at 16,” Winnie says. “He worked there for 25 years.”

Her mother was legally blind, without 85 percent of her vision. “When I was a child that was the only thing I knew of her. The older I get, the more I realize how remarkable she was.”

In 2011, Winnie came to Homeland, to help her sister, resident Lou Hepschmidt. She learned to play bingo and made friends with other residents. All three daughters — “three of the most wonderful women you’d ever meet” – pledged to visit every month, and they have (quarantine excepted). Two drive in from Montgomery County and the third takes a train from New York once a month, rents a car, visits for a couple of hours, and then gets back on the train.

On Winnie’s birthday this November, the Pennsylvania daughters surprised Winnie with an outdoor, socially distanced visit.

“That was the first time I’d seen them since February,” she says. “There was so much excitement, with them coming and surprising me. I had no idea they were coming. They just told me I had visitors at the gate, but I couldn’t figure out who it could be.”

Today, Winnie has five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, “and one more on the way.” In past years, the family would rent a house at Ocean City, New Jersey, for a week around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Those gatherings were “wonderfully fun,” and the cousins are all good friends. “I’m very blessed,” says Winnie.

Winnie describes herself as “very sickly” when she was a girl, but she managed to attend Roxborough High School. That was where she met her husband, William. Her last name was Reber, and his was Reese, so he was usually right behind her in the classroom seating. Around their senior year, they started dating.

They got married in 1944, at age 19. With his terrible vision, he had been considered 4F for the draft, but four months after they married, William was called up into the Army.

After William returned, he went back to his old job for a time, with a company making underfloor electrical distribution systems. “Those years are pretty much a blur,” Winnie says. “I had three kids in three years.” The family ended up moving to Montgomery County, outside of Plymouth Meeting.

She finally recovered from her sickly childhood when her first daughter was born, four years after she got married. “I only weighed 89 pounds when I got married,” she says. When her first daughter was three years old, she had twin girls.

Winnie worked for the Girl Scouts in Philadelphia for 23 years as the administrative assistant to the executive director.

William died when he was only 61, and Winnie managed on her own. She had always loved playing pinochle, so she joined a group of about 12 other pinochle players from her church, “and we had a wonderful time.”

From that group, she learned a recipe for “Bert’s pumpkin bread,” named after her dear friend Bertha. The pumpkin bread was a staple of many gatherings, and Winnie contributed the recipe to “Heritage Recipes from Homeland Center,” the cookbook published in 2017 to commemorate Homeland’s 150th anniversary.

Ask her what she likes about Homeland, Winnie simply says: “Everything.’’

“If I could pick it up and move it back to Montgomery County, it’d be perfect,’’ she says. “This is an exceptional place.”

She used to visit people from her church who were in nursing homes, and none of those places could compare to Homeland, she says.

“The people that work here are so good, so kind and thoughtful. They bend over backwards to do things for you. They’re very caring.”

Riddles, greenery, and holiday activities bring cheer to Homeland residents

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A holiday riddle: How do Santa and Mrs. Claus get around?

On an icicle built for two!

In a year when quarantine restrictions sidelined many holiday traditions, the Homeland Center team got busy creating new practices – such as delivering holiday riddles to residents in their rooms — and keeping an atmosphere of joy ringing through the halls.

“We’re bringing as much Christmas cheer as we can to the residents,” says Activities Director Aleisha Connors.

A full calendar of events assured that residents in every unit – personal care, skilled care, and Ellenberger – got a healthy, happy dose of holiday fun. Much of the bustle brought activities right to residents’ rooms to help keep them entertained.

Not your typical decorations when it’s in our Main Dining Room!

In the hallways and common areas, members of the Board of Managers – the unique, volunteer board charged with helping maintain Homeland’s renowned homelike atmosphere – brought a festive feeling by hanging greenery and wreaths. Residents were glad to see them (all were COVID-tested before entering). In the Main Dining Room, they decorated a culinary-themed tree, complete with cooking-utensil ornaments and a red chef’s hat tree topper.

“The decorations add a bit of color,” says Board of Managers President Joyce Thomas. “This way, they know it’s Christmas. It’s nice that residents can see those icons that are specific to the holiday.”

As the holidays were underway, Homeland‘s activities included:

• Christmas Sweater Day: Staff usually have an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest, but this year, they’re encouraged to wear their sweaters on one day. They’ll then go to the rooms delivering holiday cookies and hot chocolate so that residents can see their funny attire.

• Individual gingerbread houses: Staff will help residents make gingerbread houses or gingerbread cookies in their rooms. Before COVID-19, everyone gathered in the Homeland Diner.

• Door decorating contest: Every Homeland Center department was invited to decorate their doors for residents to see and vote on a winner. “That’ll be a fun thing for residents and staff and, hopefully, lift some spirits,” says Connors.

Greetings from our home to yours!

• Photo greeting cards to family: Residents don their favorite holiday apparel and sit for a photoshoot in front of a cheery Christmas display. Each resident gets a copy of the photo, which also gets turned into a personalized card sent to family.

• Christmas cards for soldiers: Director of Personal Care Jennifer Murray suggested that residents send cards to troopmates on active duty with her son, and the residents loved it. Murray shared a photo of her son and his unit so that residents could see the faces of the heroes receiving their cards.

• Holiday coloring contest: Residents color holiday-themed images printed on card stock, and a panel of employees picks a winner for each unit. The winners get a lunch of their choice from a favorite restaurant.

• Caroling in the hallways: The festive mood also includes halls decked with greenery by the Homeland Board of Managers.

• Entertainment: With creativity and planning, residents have enjoyed some of their favorite musical entertainers via Zoom and a young dance troupe performed outside in multiple locations so residents from around the building could enjoy their presentation.

Susquehanna Dance Academy entertaining our residents in very unusual conditions

In November, residents made Thanksgiving cards to send to loved ones, similar to the Christmas cards sent in December. Kristee Myers, the daughter of Homeland resident Maxine Myers, called Aleisha to say that the Thanksgiving card brought tears to her eyes, and she looked forward to holiday greetings.

Opening her mail to find a construction-paper card from Homeland, depicting a turkey in Pilgrim garb and decorated with feathers, “really warmed my heart, and it helped during difficult times,” says Kristee of Susquehanna Township.

“Even during these times, the residents still need to be mobile and active,’’ Myers says. My mother’s always been a helper. It’s wonderful that Homeland helps my mom be the best she can be, especially under the circumstances. It means a lot to my family and me.”

Homeland resident Pat Cameron: A life of firsts

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Harrisburg and Homeland resident Patricia Cameron

Patricia Cameron woke up around 7 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 to the sound of her mother’s call from the front lawn of their home, about 12 miles from the naval base.

“They’re attacking Pearl Harbor,’’ yelled her mom, as across the street a naval officer ran from his house and jumped into his car.

“We went from an idyllic experience to a rather terrifying one,” Pat says of the morning that President Franklin D. Roosevelt later called, “a day that will live in infamy.’’

Pat, her mother, and a little cairn terrier were in Honolulu while Pat’s father served as executive officer on a U.S. Navy cruiser at sea.

That day marked one memorable moment in a life full of highlights and firsts for the Homeland resident — daughter and sister of Navy admirals, a pioneering woman in the Episcopal church, and a co-founder of the Historic Harrisburg Association.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Pat’s mother decided to relocate to the U.S. mainland, so they boarded the SS President Coolidge liner, which later became a troopship. The normal five-day trip took 10 days as the Coolidge joined a convoy zigzagging across the Pacific to elude any Japanese submarine attacks.

On the mainland, Pat and her mother made their way back to Philadelphia to be closer to Pat’s brother, a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. Pat enrolled in Friends Select School and was preparing to graduate when Punahou School in Hawaii sent a letter informing her that if she completed her senior year in another accredited school, they would send her a diploma.

“I graduated from two schools, 7,000 miles apart,” says Pat, who went on to study history at Bryn Mawr College.

After the war, her father – who won a Navy Cross and eventually retired as an admiral – commanded the Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, MD.

During a visit to Bainbridge, she met Duryea Cameron. They married at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral in Harrisburg, where her father settled near family after retiring. Duryea was an architecture student at Princeton University when a professor suggested that he study in Paris, so the young couple lived on the GI Bill for two Parisian summers. During their stay, they acquired bicycles and pedaled across France and neighboring Italy.

Returning to the U.S., Duryea earned a technical degree from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University. He took an architect position with a firm in Harrisburg, and that’s where they stayed, raising their three sons and one daughter.

As the kids grew up, Pat was blazing new trails. At St. Stephen’s, she was the first female senior warden in a cathedral church in the nation. When the cathedral opened a school, she served as its head.

“I loved being around everyone at the school,” she says. “There were some very talented young teachers just out of college.”

Following Tropical Storm Agnes, which devastated Harrisburg in 1972, an architect friend suggested that they help save historic structures facing demolition.

“We took that seriously,” Pat says. When a group met to form the Historic Harrisburg Association, the first two membership checks written were from Mr. and Mrs. Duryea Cameron and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral.

Even after retiring at age 72, Pat helped present story times at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School’s after-school program. Her husband died in 2013, and five months ago, Pat moved to Homeland. At Homeland, Pat reconnected with Pastor Dann Caldwell, who sang in the St. Stephen’s choir with her son when they were children and now provides spiritual counseling to the residents.

“There are a lot of nice people who work here,” she says. “I think that’s the best part.”

As she looks back, Pat says it’s important to express gratitude.

“I’m very grateful to God for many things that happened in my life,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of good friends over the years, and I was fortunate in my marriage and then my family. I’m grateful for all that goodness.”