The Westview News

Press Release
Mardi Gras at Westview
Date
February 28, 2020

     The Mardi Gras celebration at Westview regaled the health care center’s citizens with festivities and fanfare on Tuesday February 25th. This annual celebration is a marquee event at Westview, not just for the occasion itself but for the level of detail that the Therapeutic Recreation Department (plus staff and volunteers) place into this party. Musician Jim Harkins provided the live soundtrack for the event; the guitarist/singer playing a variety of American folk songs. Many of the patients and residents lip-synched along with these classic tunes. Other guests were quite happy to use plastic hand-clappers and kazoos to add to the music.

     Purple, gold, and green decorations adorned the walls, tabletops, and guests. Westview’s considerable collection of costumes was on display as each attendee modeled looks straight off of the Bourbon Street runway. Every patient and resident was able to select their own outfit consisting of various crowns, robes, masks, hats and beads. Lots and lots of beads. Recreation Director Louise Taylor and Assistant Recreation Director Vicki Ericson dressed as harlequins with supreme dedication—both in costume and in commitment to the celebration. They danced about the room providing punch as well as punchlines to the partygoers.

     One of the most important fixtures of Westview’s yearly Mardi Gras party is the distribution, devouring, and delight of the “King Cake.” Filled with apple and covered in the traditional tri-color sugar, this round pastry is divided up into slices—each resident and patient receiving a piece that they know will be delicious. What they don’t know is who will receive the two specially-selected slices containing a small baby figurine representing Baby Jesus. This is a longstanding New Orleans tradition of Christian symbolism marking the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent. Whoever finds the Christ figures earns the right to be dubbed the King and Queen of Westview Mardi Gras. Additionally, they should expect a year’s worth of good fortune and prosperity from this divine designation. The lucky royals at Westview this year is a married couple, doubling their luck as Mardi Gras King and Mardi Gras Queen in one 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 12 consecutive years.