ASVH-NLR residents remembered at Easter
Mary Ellen and Glenn Laursen delivered 93 Easter baskets for the residents at the Arkansas State Veterans Home at North Little Rock just in time for Easter.
Since they were not allowed to personally deliver due to pandemic precautions, Mary Ellen Laursen, Baseline-Meridian Chapter president of the United States Daughters of 1812, arranged with Monica Oates, recreational activities coordinator at the home, to meet her outside the compound and deliver the baskets.
ASVH-NLR is a “small home” design with eight individual homes that serve 12 residents each. The residents have their own private room and private bathroom. Less than 1% of longterm care facilities across the nation are built and operated as small homes. The small home concept seeks to deinstitutionalize care and provide a warm, homelike environment in a setting that encourages social activity. As a result of the design, the operating model differs substantially from that of a traditional skilled nursing facility, U.S.D. 1812 said in a news release.
ASVH-NLR was built to support the state’s population of aging veterans and Gold Star families. The households are designed to accommodate a variety of populations, including long-term care, dementia, respite, and rehabilitation. It is situated on a former golf course adjacent to an expansive park overlooking the Arkansas River and within the historic Fort Logan H. Roots military base campus in North Little Rock, which includes the VA Hospital of North Little Rock and the University of Arkansas’ Pulaski Technical College. Porches on each home provide immediate connections to the outdoors, with a front porch providing an informal gathering place while a rear screened-in-porch offers a quieter, more intimate setting, the release said.
U.S.D. 1812 has supported the facility from the beginning, giving birthday parties, delivering Christmas stockings, Valentine’s and Easter baskets, it said.
Call Mary Ellen Laursen at 501922-4802 for more information.