BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Battle Mountain General Hospital (BMGH) held its annual "Noon Year's Eve" celebration for the 12 residents currently housed in the Long Term Care Unit (LTCU) on Saturday, Dec. 31.
According to BMGH Activities Director Ruby Bryant, the "Noon Year's Eve" party is a tradition
that has been going on for at least the past 10 years. She originally started working at the hospital as a certified nursing assistant before taking on her current position. She said that coordinating the annual "Noon Year's Eve Party" is one of the most enjoyable parts of her job.
She went on to add how appreciative she was to have the additional help in setting up as well as the post-celebration clean-up from Sherri Paulsen from the Respiratory Department. Bryant's grandchildren, Brook Bryant, 9, and J.D. Bryant, 7, also helped out during the party.
Each year a different theme is selected, and the staff immediately begins making preparations for the celebration. "Italia" was chosen as the motif for this most recent "Noon Year's Eve Party."
The hospital averages between 10 - 14 residents in the Long-Term Care Unit, and has 11 men and women currently living there. In addition to Vicki Hinton, Kristi Drew, Terri Perone, Krista Secord and Mary Knight of the nursing staff, Dr. John Peters was also able to enjoy the feast.
The celebration was slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 31 so that the residents and their guests would have time to eat lunch before the noon hour. Nearly all the tables in the day room were full with residents and their guests. The BMGH day room was decorated beautifully to welcome the roughly 40 people that showed up to share the festivities with their loved ones that reside at the hospital.
Prior to lunch being served, the Battle Mountain Basque dancers performed several dances.
According to one of the dance teachers, Allison Itza, the kids routinely practice every Wednesday until January, when they are given a short break. Once they come back after
their brief break, they usually squeeze in a few more practices in order to get ready for their upcoming shows and presentations. They really look forward to performing at the Basque summer picnic, crab feeds and the many other events and festivals.
The dance members who performed during the Jan. 31 event included Hadlee Bauer, Kylee Anderson, Hailee Anderson and Hunter Anderson in the younger kids group. The middle group participants included Kira Smith, Kasia Nelson, Angelica Posadas and Destiny Villanueva. Jonni Davis, Kali Kester and Caitlin Book are in the older dancers group.
They danced to a number of Basque dance songs, including San Petrike, Irrturiak, San Sebastian,
Jota, Zazpi Juatzi (7 jumps), Makil Joko (sticks) and Agurra (hello/goodbye). They all did a truly amazing job of entertaining everyone that day.
The kitchen staff did a fantastic job of preparing a wonderful meal for all to enjoy. Kate Stevens, Audra Spalinger, Maria Ayala and Tonya Soto worked hard to ensure that the food was delicious as well as nutritious. They put together an Italian feast fit for royalty. They started out by serving hors d'oeuvres, followed by spaghetti, fettuccini Alfredo, a variety of pizzas, green beans and green salad. Attendees were also given fruit punch, apple cider and coffee to drink with their food. There was also a terrific variety of yummy pies available for those who still had room left, such as pumpkin, lemon, pecan, apple, peach and banana cream pie.
Bryant said that she felt it was important to express her sincere gratitude to the entire Battle Mountain community for their continuing support of the efforts of everyone at the hospital to
ensure that the residents of the Battle Mountain Hospital's Long Term Care Unit have a comfortable home away-from home.
She went on to add that it amazes her at the local peoples' generosity in providing gifts for the Angel Tree. The Angel Tree is set up at Mills Pharmacy each Christmas season decorated with name tags of the residents of the LTCU, so that anyone can take a tag and supply a gift for that person. This helps ensure that even those individuals without friends or family members close by will still receive a gift for Christmas.
Bryant explained that these random acts of kindness have helped to make some of our most important citizens feel loved and wanted, especially during the holiday season.
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