’Twas the afternoon before Christmas, and all through the facility, Westview Health Care Center patients, residents, volunteers, and staff displayed marvelous festive ability. Specifically, the afternoon of December 24th is always a cheerful time at the skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Dayville, Connecticut.
An annually-evolving collection of decorations run up and down the hallways, and the staff becomes part of the ornamentation as well. Mistletoe-dangling headbands, candy-striped socks, and Christmas-themed scrubs are as prevalent as lab coats during the holiday week at Westview. The patients and residents are given opportunities to wear their jolliest attire, and it’s always a surprise to see how many of them have perfect Christmas party outfits in their wardrobe. The loyal volunteers who help to facilitate with events like this throughout the year additionally don their most merry apparel for this Christmas party, and all of this festive fashion is for a good reason: everyone wants to look their best when the VIP arrives. Everyone—no matter how old or young—wants to look their Christmas best for Santa.
The party begins with the assembly of guests—the aforementioned patients and residents in their Christmas splendor gathering in the formal dining room. In the corner, a 14-foot Christmas tree covered in multicolor lights illuminates the activity. At its base sits a large stack of presents, each wrapped in varying patterns of paper and ribbon. These gifts are sought out by Westview’s Therapeutic Recreation Department as a Secret Santa drive among the facility’s employees. Therapeutic Recreation Director Louise Taylor, and her associates Vicki Ericson and Genevieve Dubois fine-tune the list for gifts dedicated to each and every patient and resident. As the authentically-costumed Santa Claus enters the extravaganza, Louise and her band of elves begin to assist this jolly fellow in distributing each thoughtfully considered present to its respective recipient.
The programming and pageantry of this yuletide celebration always requires a bit of work from everyone at Westview. Nevertheless, this is one of the easiest efforts for all of the facility’s staff to get behind because of the obvious joy that it creates. There’s a bit of perfect nostalgia bestowed along with each present as Santa makes his way to each patient and resident to hand-deliver a gift with their name on it. At such moments, any of us—regardless of our age—can feel the whimsy of childhood once again. Resident Lorraine Salvas stated, “I just love this place! They are all so wonderful and really make a loving home for all of us here at Westview. We are all one big family.”
Westview Health Care Center is a 103-bed inpatient skilled nursing facility, which includes a distinct and self-contained 28-bed sub acute short term rehabilitation unit and outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapies including: Sports Medicine, Adolescent/Pediatric, Adult, and Aquatic Outpatient Centers, all dedicated to providing outstanding quality health care services. The Dayville, Connecticut facility is consistently ranked among the top nursing facilities in the nation, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as U.S. News and World Report, for the past 11 consecutive years.
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If you or your loved one would like more information or to take a tour of the facility, we invite you to a closer look at Westview Health Care Center.
Please contact our Resident Services office at 860-774-8574
© Westview Health Care Center
Westview Health Care Center