Bright colors, fragrant blooms, and the warmth of community spirit filled the air at the Ashern personal care home last week. Thanks to the dedicated members of the Lakeshore Hospital Guild, residents were treated to a delightful surprise: vases brimming with flowers grown right from their own gardens
For the past few years, the Lakeshore Hospital Guild has been bringing vases of fresh flowers to the Ashern PCH residents each August. Each flower is grown and cut from Guild members’ gardens, all raised with love and care.
“We all garden and we all have flowers,” said Shelley Bjornson of the Lakeshore Hospital Guild. “We thought we’d take the opportunity to share them with the personal care home.”
So, earlier this month, Guild members took a morning to get together and fill 20 vases with flowers they’d grown. There were pink levators, yellow sunflowers, hydrangeas, marigolds, annuals, and greenery from perennial gardens. Then, the Guild members went to the PCH as the residents went for lunch, greeting them with a cart full of all their flowers.
Bjornson said the residents were thrilled with the delivery, some noting the beauty of the flowers and the brightness they bring to the PCH. After the delivery, Guild members stayed to visit with the residents, too.
“It makes us feel good and it makes them feel good,” she said.
Darlene Hargot, recreation coordinator for the Ashern PCH, said the annual flower delivery is received extremely well every year, the small gesture making residents’ days. Hargot noted most residents don’t have family visiting that often, so getting a visit of any kind brightens their days.
“It cheers them up,” she said. “Seeing flowers on their table…it’s a nice way to have a table setting while they’re eating their meals like they did back then in their homes.”
Each vase of flowers was put in an Ashern PCH resident’s room. A couple of non-scented flower vases are in the PCH dining room as well.
“It’s nice that [the Guild] started this,” said Hargot. “I hope they keep it up.”
Bjornson said the idea to make bouquets and drop them off initially came from another community that did it. 2024 marks the Lakeshore Hospital Guild’s third year of doing this, and Bjornson said the Guild has no plans to stop.
On Sept. 4, the Lakeshore Hospital Guild hosts an appreciation barbecue for all medical staff and the construction crews working on the hospital expansion. The Guild will provide hot dogs, cookies, drinks, and more for more than 100 people working on-site.
