St. Joseph’s Villa Creates Eclipse Viewing Experiences for Residents, Families & Staff
Apr 8, 2024When the St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas team learned that Dundas was located inside the solar eclipse path of totality on April 8, they wanted to make sure everyone had a front-row seat for this rare celestial event, which meant 425 residents, and more than 700 staff.
Marlena Jakob, Mieke Ewen, and Cameron Quach.
“It was important for us to create safe and accessible viewing experiences for our residents, families, clients and staff during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Mieke Ewen, the Villa’s Chief Operating Officer.
Typically, a total solar eclipse is a once in a lifetime experience, occurring once every 100 years, but St. Joseph’s Villa is home to 15 Century Club members who caught Hamilton’s last visible solar eclipse on January 24, 1925.
To celebrate this once – and for some twice – in a lifetime event, the Villa team secured 800 pairs of safe-viewing glasses for residents, families, clients and staff to watch in monitored outdoor viewing areas. Many Villa residents preferred a shadier view so the Therapeutic Recreation Team organized a livestream throughout the Villa’s 18 resident home areas and facilitated eclipse trivia to complete the experience.
“The goal of Therapeutic Recreation here at the Villa is to help restore resident’s confidence, improve quality of life, and show they have purpose and worth through meaningful participation in programs,” said Adam Buys, Therapeutic Recreation Lead at St. Joe’s Villa 4th Floor North Tower. “Residents have an opportunity to feel involved and connected with the world around them by experiencing this rare event in history and it provides meaningful education and enrichment in the process as well.”
Therapeutic Recreation offers purposeful daily programming for Villa residents, matching programming to resident abilities. Activities like trivia, pattern matching and pottery can have cognitive benefits, improve memory and enhance social connection.
Glenn Lloyd, the Villa’s unofficial Poet-in-Residence, was inspired to write a poem capturing the excitement. In his prose he jokes that tickets to the eclipse are free, unlike a Taylor Swift concert. Read Glenn’s poem Eclipse, below.
ECLIPSE
IT’S COMING RIGHT HERE FOR YOU AND ME
IT’S NOT LIKE A SWIFTIES TICKET THIS ONE IS FREE
IT’S COMING AND WE’RE RIGHT IN IT’S PATH
AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY DO THE MATH
IT’S 4000 MILES LONG AND 100 MILES WIDE
AND FOR 2 MINUTES THE SUN IT WILL HIDE
THE MOON AND THE SUN HAVE TO BE JUST RIGHT
FOR ONE TO BLOCK THE OTHER OUT OF SIGHT
EVERY 21 YEARS IT REAPPEARS
AND THIS TIME TO 30 PLUS MILLION EARTHLY SEERS
FROM MAZATLAN MEXICO AND OVER 13 STATES
SPEEDING TOWARDS WHERE NEWFOUNDLAND WAITS
SO YOU BETTER GET A GOOD SEAT
CAUSE THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN EVERY WEEK
AND GET SOME GOGGLES AND PUT THEM ON
CAUSE IN ABOUT 2 MINUTES IT WILL BE GONE
TRAIN, PLANES AND CRUISE SHIPS TOO
ARE PLACES SOME WILL PAY 8000 TO VIEW
YOU MAY EVEN SEE THE “DEVILS COMET” SO IT’S SAID
AND IN NIAGARA FALLS THE RAINBOW WILL TURN RED
GLENN
MAR 8/24
GOOGLE—GLENN LLOYD