FLOWER POWER: Gurwin Healthcare System hosts campus-wide Woodstock celebration
Residents and staff of Gurwin Healthcare System in Commack commemorated the 54th anniversary of Woodstock with a campus-wide celebration filled with peace, love and music at the System’s nursing and rehabilitation center, adult day care program, and assisted living and independent living communities on August 17.
“Woodstock was more than just a musical festival, it was also a cultural movement,” said Kathleen Biggs, Assistant Director of Therapeutic Recreation at Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. “It was so wonderful to bring our residents back to that time and for them to share memories of the 60s and the significance of the festival.”
Created by Gurwin staff, the Woodstock celebrations transported residents back to the summer of 1969, dripping in bright 60s hues and tie-dye prints. Staff members throughout the System dressed their Woodstock best, donning tie-dye, fringe, headbands and peace signs.
At Gurwin Center, residents enjoyed Woodstock makeovers, complete with flower power crowns, peace sign medallions and teashade glasses. Throughout the celebration, Johanna Cutuolo, ATR-BC, CTRS , Gurwin’s multi-talented Recreation Therapist and music minstrel, strummed the guitar, singing folks songs and ballads performed at the iconic festival. Other Woodstock activities included a peace sign kaleidoscope craft, and a vintage Volkswagen “hippie van” photo booth for social media posting for friends and family. The celebration extended to Gurwin’s Adult Day Care Programs where an outdoor festival was held in the courtyard for day program participants, and included a live concert performance, henna tattoos, tie-dye activities and a hippie-style beaded jewelry craft.
In Gurwin’s senior living communities, staff at Gurwin’s Fay J. Lindner Residences helped residents get into the Woodstock spirit with a themed Glow Party, complete with a laser light show to groovy 60s music in the community’s movie theater. And at Fountaingate Gardens independent living community, members decked out in vintage denim and tie-dye enjoyed a Woodstock-themed happy hour filled with music, tasty treats and lively banter about the legendary festival.
“Growing up in California, I remember my friends and I desperately wanting to attend Woodstock,” said Fountaingate Gardens member Carol Sanderson. “Although I wasn’t able to make it to New York, I do have fond memories of our West Coast version of Woodstock at Stanford University in 1967. I remember seeing Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane. Woodstock was an opportunity for everyone to escape into music and to spread the message of unity and peace.”
All photos courtesy of Gurwin
