Dear Editor, I am no George Bailey, but… “This is a Wonderful Place!”
I’m a temporary visitor to this community, brought here to bridge the time between a retiring administrator at Rainbow Health Care and the new administrator, yet to be hired. The residents and staff at Rainbow are a community within your community. They have been so warm and welcoming. Staff was just kicking off the post-Thanksgiving Day holiday calendar of events when I started.
The Bristow Cowboy Christmas Parade was one of the first items on the list! Staff and volunteers divvied up a list of the needed items and a work schedule and, poof, they had a themed float! (A special thank you for community and resident families, who went above and beyond, in providing time, decorations, a trailer and pick-up and drivers, and several bales of hay). Candy, enough to fill two very large totes, was donated by staff and their families, as well as resident family members, to give to the children along the parade route. It was a group effort and came together to the great joy of the residents!
Here at Rainbow the parade was all the talk the day of, and even more so, the day after the parade.
Kudos to whomever scheduled a perfect evening, weather-wise! The residents were ready early, anxious to claim their seat on the two vanloads riding with the float. Staff, many in costumes, made sure the residents were safe, warm and entertained while waiting for the parade to start. It was all smiles and laughter!
I took the opportunity to watch from the sidewalk and take it all in. I come from a small town in Kansas.
We never had that many people at one of our parades! Everyone was friendly happy and helpful as I navigated the streets. I visited with several people, finding only open, helpful people each time. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to a long horn! The Clydesdale’s were huge! The floats were fun! The food (a late lunch for me) was delicious. After living in larger cities, I had forgotten what it is like to live and be in a smaller town!
I left with a renewed joy and happiness that usually comes with the Christmas season, but I had not felt yet this season. Thank you to the City of Bristow, the staff and residents of Rainbow Health Care and the kind and generosity of your community for sharing with me this year! It is a wonderful life!
Billie Upshaw, Interim Administrator Rainbow Health Care
p.s. An idea for next year: Anyway the parade route could be extended to circle by Rainbow Health Care? There were a number of our residents that voiced that they wished they could have watched from the windows at Rainbow, without having to venture out into the cooler air.