Residents Of Nursing Home Given Toy Guns And Let Loose 'Deer Hunting' Indoors

Dec 08, 2020 by apost team

The past months have been undoubtedly challenging for nursing home residents across the United States. Because the elderly are one of the highest-risk groups for coronavirus, many nursing homes have been on lockdown for most of 2020. Lockdown has posed the challenge of how to keep residents lively and occupied during these unprecedented times, and in a video posted on November 30th, Ohio nursing home Continental Manor revealed that they had residents to go 'reindeer hunting' as a creative Christmas solution.

Continental Manor is a nursing home in Blanchester, Ohio, not far from the city of Cincinnati. The non-profit senior community provides both long and short term care to elderly residents, and offer a wide range of services — from rehabilitation, dementia services, to respite care, and private therapy suites.

According to its Facebook page, the facility is "high-quality skilled nursing, hospice, and therapy services but is small enough to provide a family atmosphere in a peaceful setting."

However, this year Continental Manor has decided to trade-in a bit of that peace for a little high-energy fun this Christmas with a hunting game just in time for deer season.

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In a video Continental Manor posted on their Facebook page on November 30th, residents were seen wielding toy guns from their wheelchairs. The 'hunters' blasted the nursing home staff — who were dressed up as deer — with foam darts as they darted in and out between trees. 

The hunt was made holiday festive with the staff clad in reindeer antlers, red noses on top of masks, and Christmas light necklaces as they darted through the Christmas tree forest. The residents — parked in their wheelchair hunting posts — gave it their all as they aimed shot at the staff with the nerf-style guns. The scene itself was one to spark joy, but the real Oscar-worthy acting came in when the residents succeeded in hitting the staff with the foam darts.

Along with the playful video, Continental Manor shared portrait-style photos of the residents who participated. The post read:

"Our "dear” deer hunters! Everyone had such a great time!"

The video surely had a heartwarming effect, as the residents and staff can be seen laughing and having quality time with one another through the ingenious hunting game. The hunting game itself surely embodied Continental Manor's promise to "providing quality care in a compassionate environment" and "to give the best care to the residents entrusted" to them.

Viewers of the video also expressed their love for the idea by leaving comments and sharing it on their own Facebook pages. However, it turns out that Continental Manor was not the first nursing home to come up with the game.

According to CBC News in Canada, the Wikwemikong Nursing Home was behind the initial idea. Miles away from Continental Manor in Ohio, Wikwemikong Nursing Home operates on similar values, as they are "dedicated to provid[ing] the highest standard of holistic quality care in a home-like atmosphere where each Elder is honored, respected and cared for in a compassionate loving environment that promotes dignity," according to their mission statement. 

The Wikwemikong staff devised the clever game after a resident talked about how much he missed hunting. Wikwemikong recreation manager Emily Barnes made it clear that it's important to listen to the individual interests of nursing home residents. She told CBC:

"He was saying how much he missed being an avid hunter every year, and this year was kind of hard because he felt like he was truly missing out on something important."

Barnes continued to explain the reason behind why she made the extra effort to fulfill this resident's wish:

"The community that they come from, hunting and providing for their families was such an important part of life. We just try to incorporate everything that was meaningful before they came here. It was so much fun. I’m sure a few might have enjoyed shooting me a little more than they should have. But, it was a really great time."

It's great that Continental Manor picked-up on Wikwemikong's idea, as it clearly provided lots of joy to the nursing home residents, along with everyone who watched, shared, and engaged with the video on Facebook.

Isn't this an ingenious way to engage nursing home residents during such tough times? Let us know what you think about this creative solution to a corona challenge, and be sure to pass this on to your loved ones to brighten their day!