With essential workers being a hot topic throughout our community, we want to congratulate all the essential staff here at Liberty Nursing of Mansfield. Every department goes above and beyond to keep our residents safe and happy. We are doing a lot of room visits at this time. While visiting with one of our dear ladies we noticed that she was down in the dumps. She had one question she wanted to ask me. . . .

I would like to start this blog to say at this time of social distancing our residents have had many window visits celebrating birthdays and families just stopping by to wave but a daily visit from the husband of our sweet Mildred Davis has touched all of our hearts and made us proud to be a part of their lives. I will start with the first letter we received from Mr. Davis . . . .

We found a way for our most loved social activity bingo to continue! Because of the new social distancing requirements, one of the first questions was; "Can we still play bingo?" Of course we will still play bingo! After working out a few kinks, we are enjoying doorway bingo. When things are back to normal, we just might continue doorway bingo from time to time. Participation has actually increased and we are seeing a lot of smiles because the residents like the change! Changing the way we do things is good once in awhile.

At Liberty Nursing Center of Mansfield, one of the most attended activity involves music. We are blessed to be a certified music and memory program community. Our music therapist visits weekly. We normally also have sisters Patti and Cindy that come every week and perform beautiful gospel music.

One of our community’s favorite STNAs is moving positions. After 33 years with us, Sandra Bentley has decided to join the activity department—and we couldn’t be happier. Loved by our residents, Sandra is always cheerful and upbeat. She’s eager to start calling for our Saturday afternoon Bingo games which are an all-time favorite activity here.

Our Liberty Mansfield family loves to celebrate birthdays, and this month we had an exceptional one. Long-time memory care resident, Beulah, turned 98 on Valentine’s Day. Our director of nursing and our social services director, along with Beulah’s favorite nurse, escorted her throughout the facility for a meet and greet so she could receive birthday wishes and delicious chocolates. Beulah is well-known here and seldom misses an opportunity to sing hymns and play the tambourine when we hold Bible studies. She loves music, so the perfect complement to her special day was a Motown music party, complete with homemade cupcakes baked by her daughter. Congrats Beulah!

Our Liberty Mansfield community is a place where friendships easily grow. One example is the strong bond that developed between current resident council president, Jeffrey Whitmeyer (shown), and previous president, John Henney. Unfortunately, we recently lost Mr. Henney and he'll be greatly missed by everyone. John not only mentored Jeffrey in this role, but the two shared a mutual interest in the history of Mansfield. They were fond of discussing and researching the topic and started a small resident group that meets two evenings a week to reminisce about our city. Jeffrey enjoys demonstrating how to use technology to do historical research and John's rich family heritage in Mansfield gave him many interesting stories to share. Since his family visited regularly, they are like family to our little community. So it was wonderful that Liberty bused many of our residents and staff to his funeral so we could celebrate his rich life with such a wonderful family.

The Leadership Team from Woodland and Prospect elementary schools recently dropped by to share some Christmas cheer with our residents. With joyful hearts they caroled, passed out candy treats and played Bingo with us. The group in this photo decorated a wall in our Memory Care unit with gingerbread men and a felt Christmas tree. The colorful velcro ornaments allowed residents to decorate the tree themselves. The students brightened our day and promised to return with more fun on Valentine's Day.

We hosted our first large event for the holiday season this past Saturday. It took a healthy dose of wonderful volunteers and staff to pull off a beautiful family Thanksgiving Feast. Nurse assistant Michelle Cook and a resident are seen here making last minute decisions on seating arrangements for 50+ guests. It was a wonderful afternoon of delicious food and Ohio State football. Thanks to all who helped to make this a success and we're grateful for all the families and friends who took time to join us.

We love visitors—and aren’t picky about shape or size. In fact, some of the most entertaining are four-legged. Recently, residents enjoyed a wonderful visit from the Columbus Zoo. Besides learning interesting animal facts, residents who were curious enough, had the opportunity to handle some of the unusual guests. Betty, a Liberty resident, got up close and personal with this little alligator. We’re all in agreement that we're looking forward to another visit very soon!