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Burns Nursing Home partners with 'Wish' program

As the administrator of Burns Nursing home in Russellville, Mark DeArman is always looking for ways to improve the lives of the residents at the nursing home. He was searching for a program to partner with that would help provide entertainment services as well as help increase safety measures for the residents.

DeArman found exactly what he was looking for in the “Wish Comes True” program sponsored by CB&S Bank. The “Wish Comes True” Program is meant to provide means of entertainment for nursing homes in the surrounding area.

Burns Nursing home was able to partner with the “Wish Comes True” program because the facility is also involved with “Senior Crimestoppers,” a program focused on reducing theft, abuse and neglect against senior citizens.

DeArman said the nursing home is very grateful for everything the program has done for them.

“I think it’s a great thing for CB&S to want to give back to the community, and they’ve found a phenomenal way of doing that by supporting senior citizens,” DeArman said. “They’ve already provided us with a few things entertainment-wise that have made our residents’ lives better.”

The program has provided Burns Nursing home with iPads for the residents to use as well as a Wii gaming system for the residents to stay in shape. Some of the things the program hopes to include in the coming months are bingo machines for afternoon entertainment, themed parties such as luaus, and TVs and jukeboxes for general entertainment.

Chris Latham, marketing manager for the local CB&S branches, said the Senior Crimestoppers program plays a large part in the overall goal of the program.

“We did a lot of research when we were coming up with ways to give back to the community, because that’s what CB&S is all about--giving back to our community,” Latham said. “And our research showed us that senior citizen abuse and neglect was unfortunately a large problem. With the Crimestoppers program, we hope to reduce the number of senior citizens affected by abuse and neglect while also providing them with means of entertainment as well.”

In addition to providing entertainment systems for the residents, CB&S bank has also helped fulfill lifelong dreams in the process.

“Last year we had a resident whose lifelong dream was to attend a pumpkin patch, and she had never had the opportunity to until we got involved,” Latham said. “So we completely funded the trip for her to go to a pumpkin patch. We funded transportation, along with nurses to accommodate her as well as any other fees. It’s a truly rewarding program, and it’s something we can do to give back to the community.”

DeArman hopes the program will continue to grow and include more things for future residents, as well as branching out to other nursing homes.

“It’s been really great to incorporate these things into our nursing home,” DeArman said. “But I would really like to see all nursing homes be a part of some kind of program. It benefits everyone involved with the nursing home, from the residents to the staff to the visitors. Everyone benefits from it, and it’s just a great program to be a part of.” 

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