Every bunny loves Easter fun at Life Care

Surrounded by the beauty of spring, residents and associates had a great time for Easter 2022! Here are a few of the fun activities they did to celebrate.

Leading up to Easter, Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, residents colored eggs, crafted Easter hats and created bunny wreaths for their doors. On Easter, the facility had a full-on dessert bar and gave the colored eggs to associates. Church service in the morning was followed by an egg hunt in the hallways.

At The Gardens Court in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, residents took part in an Easter egg hunt. Instead of the traditional “golden eggs” for prizes, residents who found carrots could turn them in for prizes. At the facility’s Easter party, residents enjoyed live entertainment and received teddy bears donated by local high school students. Members of the East Coast Rabbit Rescue brought real rabbits in for the residents to see, hold and pet. But the highlight for several residents was an outing to The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach. The residents, and several of their family members, rode a trolley to the church and got to enjoy an Easter service and lunch generously provided by the church members. The church even donated some bouquets of flowers to residents who attended. “The residents are still talking about the outing and the rabbit visits to this day,” said Adrianna Marshall-Rivera, activity director.

At Life Care Center of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, leading up to Easter, residents made crafts, including Easter stencil paintings, lollipop Easter bunnies and tie-dye Easter eggs. The facility hosted a huge Easter egg hunt with close to 1,000 candy-filled eggs hidden in the facility, and the Easter Bunny hopped by for a visit as well. On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny came to visit on horseback! Residents took photos and were able to pet the horses and a puppy.

Residents at Life Care Center of Merrimack Valley in North Billerica, Massachusetts, participated in a lot of fun activities, but the Bunny Bowl was by far the most popular! Residents were “hopping” out of their seats to get a chance to bowl in the cute Easter egg lanes. The Easter Bunny also stopped in to participate and bring smiles to everyone’s faces.

Life Care Center of Federal Way, Washington, sits on a small body of water called Easter Lake. Because of the pandemic, for the last two years, the facility was unable to host Easter worship services. This year, the residents were so happy to have their first in-person Easter Sunday service in the dining room again, overlooking Easter Lake.

Life Care Center of Burlington, Kansas, started their Easter weekend on Saturday with a community Easter egg hunt. Associates and residents had helped hide the eggs for area kiddos to find. Local businesses provided some pretty amazing gifts for prizes. The facility kept a few eggs reserved for Sunday and set up a new egg hunt for the residents. “They went around the facility to find the eggs and a prize egg,” Elizabeth Harris, activities director, explained. “This year’s resident prize egg winner actually shared the basket with the rest of the residents.”

Life Care Center of Bountiful, Utah, kept things simple this year because of the ongoing pandemic. Unit Manager Travis Worthen dressed up as the Easter Bunny and delivered ice cream bars to all the residents. “I was truly amazed at the reaction from our residents,” said Robyn Manning, recreation director. “They loved it!”

Life Care Center of South Hill in Puyallup, Washington, offered residents and associates a variety of Easter treats and activities, but the star of the show was Ozzy. Ozzy is a 140-pound English mastiff that belongs to Activity Assistant Kimberly Orr. Ozzy greeted patients and family members, proudly playing the part of the Easter Bunny!

At Life Care Center of Sierra Vista, Arizona, residents enjoyed Easter-themed bingo, sweet treats and coffee. Residents really loved using Peeps to make paintings, and the facility had an Easter egg hunt with treat bags for each resident. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars ladies brought special Easter baskets for the veterans as well.

At Life Care Center of Attleboro, Massachusetts, the Easter Bunny hopped by for a visit on Easter Sunday and took pictures with the residents. Residents received Easter baskets and played games as well. But perhaps the favorite Easter week activity was the drive-through parade! Families decorated their cars and drove by the facility to wave at their loved ones.

At Rivergate Health Care Center in Riverview, Michigan, residents enjoyed creating some Peeps kabobs on skewers. They also tried dyeing eggs using tissue paper and coffee filters.

At Life Care Center of Seneca, Kansas, residents started out painting Easter eggs and making door decorations! A bunny-ear ring toss game involved associates putting long bunny ears on their heads and residents throwing little rings on them. Residents also made fairy gardens on Thursday for National Gardening Day and topped the day off with some fresh peach smoothies. Friday was the Easter Week finale – an egg relay race! Residents and associates teamed up (one of each per duo) and lined up on one end of the hall. The resident held a spoon with an egg on it, while the associate pushed them down to the other end of the hall and circled a set of bunny ears. Then, the associate had to toss a ring on a bunny ear, hoop it, and then wheel the resident back without dropping the egg. Then the pair tagged another team, and on it went. On Easter Sunday, Brandi Lybarger, activity director, came in and delivered Easter baskets to the residents that were donated by a few associates.

The residents at Life Care Center of Osawatomie, Kansas, enjoyed helping out with the community Easter egg hunt, but the highlight of their week was going outside and hunting for their own eggs. Each resident was paired with an associate as they were taken around outside to spy the Easter eggs. Eggs were stuffed with chocolate and other fun candies!

Cañon Lodge Care Center in Cañon City, Colorado, hosted an egg hunt on Good Friday for associates’ children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, ages 6 months to 10 years. The weather made for a perfect day for the Easter egg hunt as children scrambled for 400 plastic eggs filled with hard candy and chocolate. Many residents came outside to watch the festivities. They had their backs to the sun and sipped on lemonade while laughing, socializing and cheering on the children. Associates from all departments passed out drinks and made sure everyone was enjoying themselves, and the certified nursing assistants played a huge role in getting the residents ready to spend some nice time outside. Krystal Lee, director of nursing, shared, “I loved all the joy today.”

I believe all our associates can say they loved all the joy this Easter holiday brought at our facilities.