By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
For many, the holidays are a time for families.
But for nursing home patients, it can be a different story, said P.J. Minton, administrator of the Brian Center Health and Rehabilitation.
“A lot of the patients don’t have families,” Minton said. “Even though we get them stuff for Christmas, it means a lot when someone else steps in.”
Employees of Food Lion’s information technology department did just that Thursday morning. They stepped in and presented Brian Center residents with gifts and holiday cheer.
This is the third year the department has bought gifts for patients at the nursing home.
More than 180 employees from the department contributed, said Deborah Scales and Pamela Jackson, who are project analysts at Food Lion and served as co-chairs for the 2008 IT Holiday Charity program.
Scales and Jackson, along with other employees, brought bags and bags of presents to the home Thursday.
The 100 or so patients had requested items such as clothes, bedding and baby dolls.
The sagging economy didn’t stop people from giving, Scales said.
“People are just generous, regardless,” she said.
Someone anonymously gave a Nintendo Wii video game system.
The Brian Center had been raising money for a Wii, Minton said.
“It gives the patients an opportunity to be interactive,” he said.
And some of the games can be used during physical therapy sessions to help patients develop better motor skills, he said.
Minton said one patient who used to play golf will likely enjoy a golf video game.
Food Lion brought the game “Cooking Mama: Cookoff,” which allows players to virtually prepare meals.
The nursing home has a cooking class, Scales said, but some patients aren’t allowed to use the stove.
“So now they can. They can’t get burned on (the game),” Scales joked.
Having a Wii does no good without a television to go with it.
So the group also brought two televisions ó one of which was donated anonymously.
The 32-inch television will stay in the rehabilitation room, Scales said. The 27-inch one can be wheeled into patients’ rooms.
Alease Hayes, 61, was excited to see her presents: a throw blanket, socks and a radio.
Hayes said her daughter and her sisters visit her at the nursing home.
But receiving the gifts from Food Lion showed “that somebody cares about me,” she said.
Ruth Petty, 87, said she couldn’t believe the amount of gifts piled up in the dining room of the nursing home.
Petty’s daughter, Susan Dekok, celebrated with her mother at the Brian Center on Thursday.
Dekok, who lives in the Woodleaf community, said she visits her mother almost every day. She will take Petty to her home on Christmas Day, she said.
Dekok said she knew the celebration and gifts meant a lot to the nursing home patients.
“This is a lot of stuff,” she said.
The day meant a lot to Ted Keziah, 63, who has lived at the Brian Center for almost a year.
After Keziah fell down a cement staircase in 1991 and damaged the speech center in his brain, doctors thought he would never talk again, said his sister, Doris Robinette.
He also had a stroke.
“Our mother waited on him hand and foot,” she said.
But their mother, 90-year-old Lucille Keziah, couldn’t do it anymore, Robinette said.
So mother and son both went to live at the Brian Center. They’ve been there since January.
Robinette said the activities at the nursing home, like the Christmas party, have been great for her brother.
“He smiles and everybody loves him,” she said. “Before, he was depressed.”
Ted Keziah has regained the ability to talk.
He enjoys taking part in gatherings at the nursing home. He likes to be out of his room, Robinette said.
“Mom says, ‘He never stays home anymore,’ ” she said, laughing.
As for the gifts, Robinette said she was grateful for the show of support for her family.
“I just think it’s wonderful,” she said.