Residents at North Pointe Terrace received extra dose of Christmas cheer in 2020

By Marianne Mueller

Reporter

North Pointe Terrace Activities Coordinator Dawn Clifton wanted to find a unique way to create an extra dose of Christmas cheer for residents this year. She presented an idea to have trees supplied and to have families decorate outside each residence.

The facility at North Pointe supported the idea by jumping into action and bought each resident a tree. Families bought items needed to decorate the trees. “Some of resident’s families got very creative and decorated above the residents windows and added extra touches of spirit such as light up presents to the trees. There were a couple of families who were unable to decorate so the facility staff made sure those was decorated,” Clifton said. ”

She adds, “This year has been very difficult on our residents. They are not allowed visitors so I thought that by having families do this it would be a way for them to have some Christmas cheer. It allowed them to see their families decorate the trees through their windows. Now for the rest of the season the residents will have that memory.”

Clifton has been in serving in her position for 10 years and has a true passion for all of the residents.

\“Every day I see the decline due to not being able to spend time with family members. By making sure their Christmas was brighter through these actions it was a way to bring a little happiness to their lives.”

“We are an assisted living; we have residents who are independent and still drive to residents who are at the end of life. Residents look forward to activities and events and many times this year those have been canceled because of COVID.  This was one way to safely bring another doable option to them.”

“The trees outside are something new we did this year.  I heard some family members making plans for next year’s trees, “Clifton said.  

“In years past and during pre-COVID times families were allowed in the building many would help their family members decorate their apartment during the holiday season. This year many of the staff helped residents with those tasks. “In the past we have done a “Christmas Walk” where we invited our families and the public to see our building decorations,” Clifton said.

“This year I had one of my more independent residents help build a village tree. It is a wooden tree that we set up a huge village complete with a train.  It is now gracing the main entrance.  He is so proud of what he did.  He cut out the circles, painted, and helped me assemble the 8′ tall “tree.”

Christmas was made merrier through the love and actions of Clifton and the resident’s families at North Pointe Terrace.