Some of the members of Caring Cards for Seniors - Medicine Hat holding some of their handmade cards, which bring joy to residents in four separate senior homes each month. From left to right: Leanne Balfour, Amy Botta, Deb Wickman, Pat Noga, and Sherry Heinrich.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Caring Cards for Seniors in Medicine Hat provides birthday cards each month to South Country Village, Meadow Ridge, Chinook and Riverview. The homes provide a list of names to the group and the goal is for each resident to receive four handwritten birthday cards on their special day.
Deb Wickham is a dedicated scrapbooker and card maker and had the idea for the cards to help combat the isolation and loneliness of seniors, which only increased throughout the pandemic. Many seniors receive few visitors and sometimes not a single birthday card, so Wickman brought the idea to fellow scrapbookers and the group was born.
“What a way to contribute to the community and give seniors some joy. A lot of them were either forgotten, or feel lonely or isolated,” said Amy Botta. “I feel it’s a wonderful thing just to give back to the community in my little way.”
Each month, a list of residents with birthdays is received from the four homes and posted to the Caring Cards Facebook group. There is no set limit, members can make a couple of cards or as many as they want, which usually tops out around 40 per month. Each card is personally signed with the addition it is from Caring Cards.
“I’ve posted pictures of thank-you cards I’ve gotten from the homes,” said Sherry Heinrich. “Just so that everybody who does it sees they take the time out to write a card or letter because they are so overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness.”
Heinrich’s dad, who is 84, is a resident at Chinook and has a new girlfriend.
“She has no family in Medicine Hat whatsoever, so we are now adopting her and helping her out. He met her there, you should see them, it’s the cutest thing. They hold hands, he’s in his scooter and she still walks and people stop and honk and wave.”
The group is starting to branch out from only birthday cards as they’ve had requests for anniversary cards or a pick-me-up card for a parent. With December on the horizon, Christmas adds another dimension in addition to the monthly birthdays.
“I came and said, ‘What do you think if we did Christmas cards for everybody in our groups in the nursing homes,'” said Wickman. “This works out to over 430 cards in total.”
This plan is still in discussion, but some members already have stashes of unused Christmas cards so the task might not be as daunting as first thought.
Pat Noga explained it can take anywhere from five minutes to several hours to make a card, depending on how much detailed it is.
“Pacing myself and not leaving it to the last minute. I personally would love it if there was some way for us to be able to reach out to Girl Guides, going in the evening and having the girls make cards to take back to the seniors,” said Noga.
Wickman added a hockey team has made cards twice for the group and once a classroom in one of the schools did as well.
“It would be nice to get more members,” said Wickman. “Our goal would be to try and entice a few more people to make cards and maybe we could pick up another senior home.”
While their Facebook page has around 100 members, there are only about 20 who participate in creating the cards. The members pay for the cards out of their own pocket and are looking to grow their membership numbers to avoid burnout. Find the group on Facebook at Caring Cards for Seniors – Medicine Hat Alberta if you are interested in joining.
