Poetry at Home

Frankly, I can’t believe I didn’t come up with this blog sooner. I’m smackin’ myself on the forehead. I’m always begging folks to share their stories with me so I can in turn share them with the readers of this blog and our newsletter (and because I personally really like reading them). Well, I just got a great story from Perham Memorial Hospital and Home in Perham, MN about a household that got together with their Household Coordinator, who writes poetry, to write a poem about home. What a great idea, I thought, and what a great poem! So, I decided I’d share the poem here and ask for others to send in their poems and stories about home collected from residents. Suddenly, my brain got a little tickle, you know like when you know you’ve forgotten something but don’t know what? As I was trying to figure out how to format the poem in HTML it dawned on me! There is already a site publishing short stories and poems about home – none other than the NPR radio show, Prairie Home Companion. For those of you not familiar with it, well, just put on your public radio station on Saturday evenings. I’m betting your residents will really enjoy it. It’s charming and nostalgic and completely relevant.

Anyway, on their website, PHC has a feature called First Person (not to be confused with our own, PersonFirst) where you can submit your stories and poems and read those other folks have sent in (including one from yours truly ). I think this is a great and entertaining way to underline the value of home in our nursing homes and to share the fruits of culture change movement outside of the “industry.”