Signs of the Times: Country Care Manor Gets Inspired

“It was such an amazing thing to do.”

Donna Walpole — an employee of Country Care Manor in La Vernia — referred to the yard signs that Shelly Halsey placed last week around the nursing home. Shelly, who owns Sign Gypsies, delivers and installs messaging signs — such as “Happy Birthday” and “Congratulations.” But the signs placed March 18 at the nursing home were out of her own pocket — a little cheer for the residents.

The residents at Country Care Manor can now look out the doors and windows on each side of the building and read inspirational messages, such as “You are loved” and “This too shall pass.”

The gesture was intended to give the residents hope while they are isolated as a protection from contracting the coronavirus. The residents — and all elderly persons and people with certain medical conditions — are at a higher risk of contracting, and even succumbing to, the virus. Until further notice, no visitors — not even family members — are allowed at nursing homes or long-term care facilities in Texas.

While there has only been one case of coronavirus confirmed in Wilson County as of press time March 24, there have been some deaths from the illness in Texas, several of them elderly.