There is joy in these hallways

“Please don’t ever put me in a nursing home.”

It’s something many of us have said or thought. But when was the last time you stepped inside one?

We invite you to read our latest blog by Bethel’s Director of Development Jona Schmidt and see Bethel through a different lens—one filled with care, connection, laughter and a surprising amount of joy. 💙

There is joy in these hallways

Spend a little time on social media and eventually you’ll see it.

A post about getting older. A joke about children being warned, “Don’t you dare put me in a nursing home.” A meme that basically says, Anything but that.

I understand the sentiment.

Most of us don’t look forward to the possibility of needing help someday. We don’t want to imagine a time when our bodies may not cooperate the way they once did, when our memories might fail us, or when living completely independently may no longer be possible.

Those are very real fears.

But whenever I see those posts, I find myself wondering something else:

When was the last time you actually visited a nursing home?

And more specifically, when was the last time you walked through the doors of Bethel?

Because if your picture of a nursing home is a quiet, dreary place where people simply sit and watch the days go by, you might be surprised by what you find here.

There is joy in these hallways.

There is laughter coming from an activity room. There are residents teasing staff members and staff members teasing them right back. There are card games and bingo games that become far more competitive than anyone would probably like to admit.

There is music. Worship. Birthday cake. Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

There are friendships formed between people who might never have met otherwise. There are residents who look forward to seeing one another every morning and staff members who know who likes an extra cup of coffee, who prefers to sleep late, who loves country music and who needs a little encouragement on a difficult day.

There are also families.

Families who visit often and families who visit when they can. Families juggling jobs, children, grandchildren, appointments, distance and all the other demands of everyday life.

One of the things we sometimes forget when we talk about nursing homes is that caring for someone around the clock is an enormous responsibility. Love doesn't automatically give a family the time, physical ability, medical knowledge or resources to provide every bit of care an aging parent or grandparent may eventually need.

That is where people like the staff at Bethel step in.

They don't replace families. They become part of the circle of people caring for someone.

They help with the things that have become difficult. They notice the little changes. They provide meals, medications, personal care and nursing support. But they also sit beside someone who needs company. They share a joke. They listen to the same story again. They celebrate a good day and help someone through a hard one.

Is life in a nursing home the same as living independently in your own home?

Of course not.

There are losses that can come with aging, and pretending otherwise doesn't do anyone any favors.

But needing care does not mean that life stops being meaningful.

It doesn't mean the laughter stops.

It doesn't mean friendships stop forming, birthdays stop mattering, music stops sounding good or a beautiful afternoon stops being worth enjoying.

And it certainly doesn't mean a person stops being a person.

Maybe that's what gets lost in those social media posts.

We spend so much time saying where we don't want to end up that we sometimes forget to look at the lives of the people who are already there.

Come walk through our hallways sometime.

You may see walkers and wheelchairs. You may see people who need help doing things they once did for themselves.

But keep looking.

You'll also see friendships. You'll see kindness. You'll hear laughter.

You'll see people caring for people.

And you'll find something that doesn't always make it into the jokes and memes about nursing homes.

You'll find joy.