Tonya Monte ask a resident to prom in April.
Monte asks a male resident to prom. They also will be looking for dresses and jewelry to be donated for the prom on May 29.
A resident smiles as she asked to prom by a caretaker in April. The prom will be held on May 29.
JANESVILLE 鈥 鈥淲ill you go to prom with me?鈥 are words often heard in high school hallways, but one senior living facility in 糖心Vlog传媒 is giving its residents a chance to relive the magic of prom night.
At the Memory Care House with Our House Senior Living, residents are preparing for their own prom complete with promposals, formalwear, dancing and even a prom king and queen.
In April, caregivers walked room-to-room surprising residents with handmade signs asking them to prom. One resident covered her mouth in shock before breaking into a smile. As staff members entered the common area holding colorful signs and flowers, residents lit up with excitement.
Tonya Monte, the Life Enrichment Coordinator at the facility, said the program has become a tradition over the years and is especially meaningful for residents living with dementia or Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
鈥淲ith dementia and Alzheimer鈥檚 patients they often revert back to their childhood,鈥 Monte said. 鈥淲hen we were teenagers, prom was huge. These people thrive just looking forward to prom.鈥
To help make the evening special, staff members ask residents to prom with handmade promposals and decorate the facility to recreate the feeling of a traditional dance.
鈥淭hey talk about it days before and days after, which is really neat, because a lot of the time they don鈥檛 remember what they did earlier that day,鈥 she said.
The facility is currently collecting donations of dresses for residents to wear to the event. Monte said they are especially looking for mother-of-the-bride style dresses in all sizes. While the facility currently only has male residents, local organization GIFT鈥檚 Men is helping provide suits for the occasion.
鈥淲e all have that dress sitting in the back of the closet that we bought and wore once, and it just stays there because we think maybe we鈥檒l use it again,鈥 Monte said. 鈥淚 think that if everybody kind of just looked in their closet and thought, hey, this would be something really great for either my mother to wear or my grandmother to wear.鈥
In addition to dresses, the facility is also accepting costume jewelry and accessories to add 鈥渟parkle鈥 to the residents鈥 special night.
Monte said staff members share many of the activities on the facility鈥檚 Facebook page and help residents get ready for the event by doing their hair and preparing them for prom night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my second event here and it鈥檚 just amazing to see their faces light up,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e have people who are in wheelchairs that will get up and dance.鈥
Monte said the facility is always looking for volunteers and community members interested in helping with future events and activities for residents.
Prom is May 29, anyone looking to donate dresses or jewelry can call Monte at 608-289-1439
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