Care coming home to roost

By arhospice on May 30th, 2024

Some fine-feathered residents at Southridge Village Nursing and Rehab in Heber Springs have a new place to roost, thanks to help from Arkansas Hospice and the Arkansas Hospice Foundation.

Having chickens at the facility was an idea first hatched when the director of nurses brought an incubator and eggs to the facility, said Shana Rodgers, LNHA, administrator for Southridge Village.

“We never realized how excited the residents would get,” she said.

Being near the birds brought back old memories for many of those occupants, explained Ashley Toney, activities director for Southridge Village.

“Their generation is used to raising chickens and farming,” she said. “Staff, residents, everybody would just kind of meet up together and just ooh and ahh and observe the chickens as they were hatching. It allowed the staff to have more one-on-one time with the residents. “

For some, it has been an emotional experience.

“There was a lot of cheering,” Toney said. “We have one resident that just started crying with tears of happiness.”

When it was clear that a chicken coop was needed after the eggs hatched, the Arkansas Hospice care team from the organization’s Conway Area Office responded with help from the Arkansas Hospice Foundation.

“They mentioned they would love to have a chicken coop, and I was like, “I think we can make that happen,’” said Sheila Bell, an Arkansas Hospice provider relations representative,

Trisha Burroughs, a licensed social worker for Arkansas Hospice, said they contacted the Foundation for assistance.

“They approved it. We called Tractor Supply. They gave us one on sale and delivered it for free,” she said. “We know it brought so much joy to the residents.”

One resident, a woman wearing a red cap adorned with feathers, was happy to serve as a substitute mother hen for the new chicks.

“They’re my babies,” she said. “I love them, and I’m going to take care of them from now on.”

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