Gifts program lights up the life of seniors in nursing homes.
For more than 10 years, Mandy Merkel of Sandy Springs has been on the board of Second Wind Dreams, an international nonprofit dedicated to changing the perception of aging. Its Gifts of Light holiday program, now in its fourteenth year, provides 1,400 elders with gifts during the month of December.
“The staffs of 25 nursing homes, including Signature Healthcare of Buckhead, provide us with a list of residents who rarely receive visitors or gifts,” Merkel says. “More than 400 volunteers participate each year.”
The selected residents provide a wish list of simple items such as warm throws and socks, candy, toiletries and old movies. Volunteers shop, package the items in festive gift bags and personally deliver the presents on Christmas Eve or Hanukkah, when they may be a resident’s only holiday visitor.
“This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done,” says Merkel, a geriatric care manager familiar with aging issues. “I usually request ‘the poorest of the poor’ nursing homes with the greatest need.”
The Gifts of Light Program is only one arm of Second Wind Dreams, says Amy Safran, director of community relations. “While Gifts of Light occurs only during December, Second Wind Dreams (similar to Make- A-Wish), grants last wishes year round to patients living in registered eldercare communities. Wishes may be as simple as a final fishing trip or visiting a long lost loved one.”
Second Wind Dreams also offers a sensitivity training program, the Virtual Reality Tour, that provides coaching for caregivers and involves walking in the shoes of patients by wearing garments that mimic the patient’s illnesses: heavy gloves to resemble arthritis, clouded eyeglasses similar to macular degeneration, and more.
For more information, visit secondwind.org.
