‘Pizza parade’ raises spirits

WINTERSVILLE -- The staff at Sienna Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation knows the importance of putting a smile on the faces of residents.

Wednesday, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, they did just that with a pizza parade, with family members decorating their cars, driving by and waving at their loved ones.

The facility has not allowed visitors since restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 went into effect in March.

"Our residents have been unable to see their families for a few months now," Michelle Howard, Sienna director of admissions and marketing, said. "We have all been learning new things each day. Our biggest focus is to make sure that our residents are happy and safe. We try our best to keep their spirits up.

"It's our main priority every day that we walk into this building. This is their home, they need to feel comfortable and happy. We do our absolute best to make sure that happens every day."

Howard said the event had been planned for about three weeks and was thrown a curveball by the weather -- which it adapted to. The event was originally supposed to happen on Friday, but was moved due to the forecast.

While Sienna offers ways for family members to keep in touch virtually, Howard knows its not the same, making a safe way for residents to see family members such as the parade all the more important.

"We do offer Facebook, photographs, phone conversations, FaceTime, but this is just really something that we wanted to do for our residents and our families," she said. "We wanted our residents to actually be able to see their family face-to-face, be able to wave to them, blow kisses to them. Same for the families.

"They can't touch them, of course, but they could have some interaction."

Howard, who has been with the facility for 12 years, said making the event happen required a lot of people coming together.

"It's definitely a team effort," she said. "All the way from our administrator, our housekeeping department, our nursing staff, our department managers, our therapists, everybody is involved in making the parade happen and keeping the residents happy."

She said the facility consulted the health department to make sure it followed the proper guidelines and was assisted by the Wintersville Police Department in getting the families into the parking lot safely.

Around 20 vehicles were involved and those who participated met at Blessed Sacred Church and paraded through the Sienna lot where residents, wearing masks and spaced out, waited to see them.

At the end, participants were treated with pizza and soft drinks.