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Omg... This made me tear up. That's so sweet. I'm a grown woman and I love cuddling my squishmallows! Stuffed toys are so good for the soul.

Man, when I read this the first time I imagined a DIFFERENT kind of stuffed animals. Thankfully this is sweet as hell instead of a cruel joke!

The elderly wants drugs not beanie babies

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Worked several years in a nursing home and can confirm how much some of the long term residents were attached to their stuffed animals, it was both sweet and kind of sad to be honest.

One elderly woman had a white stuffed poodle she always had with her in her wheelchair. We also happened to have a gentleman who'd bring in a white poodle service dog that the residents could pet and interact with, they loved it--especially some if the really older folks who had some memory or cognative issues. It brought them to life and put smiles in their faces. The dog eventually got old/sick and the owner couldn't bring him in anymore. One day I went into the cafeteria where he'd normally have the dog, and there was the lady with her white stuffed poodle animal with about three other residents around her and she was sharing it so they could pet it. One of the ladies who had dementia was holding it like a baby and petting it so sweetly and sincerely while the others looked on I just started crying. They just needed that connection so bad it broke my heart.

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Holy crap. I can do this. I can make this happen within my society, and I think I'm going to try to. By next christmas, I'm going to make this happen, or partner with people in my area that are already doing it. This is such an amazing idea. It's so simple and sweet, and we should all be supportive of it.

This post hit me right where it hurts. My mom worked at nursing homes when I was growing up, and and got a job at the one my great grandma was at, on a different Wing because I don't think she was allowed to be on my g-grandmother's. I didn't live with her, but when she would come and spend time with me at my grandparents house, she was always so hurt by how lonely everyone was. Sometimes she would pick me up and bring me to work with her for 3 or 4 hours and just have me go say "hi". Of all the issues that our seniors have in care homes, loneliness should never be one of them. It is, in my opinion, the greatest of their concerns.

The way elderly can be treated is so heartbreaking.

Another victim of car dependant America. Once a senior becomes too out of it to drive anymore, it's basically over for them. So they either gotta be discovered rotting in their home, or give up their freedom in trade for having people around. Sensibly designed cities have a variety of continuous transit options and plazas everywhere for people to just chill and chat casually. And crossing paths with cars isn't a life threatening endeavor because they're made to crawl through the wisely designed street that naturally encourages slower driving. That's true freedom. Such a beautiful infrastructure setup

What are you on about!? I would say it has a lot more to do with people that are not able to leave the home because of medical issues. This issue is firmly in the hands of a community that doesn't value our older generations. They may not think the way that we do, and they may be kind of hard to deal with sometimes, with issues like dementia, Alzheimer's and generalized anxiety that comes from pain and aging. Those people can't get out by themselves, even if you put them on a bus. People need to VISIT those lonely people. They are people. They are lonely, but they're also confused and require medical attention almost all the time. Putting them on the goddamn bus wouldn't help.

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Found the fellow Not Just Bikes watcher. Based and bikepilled!

You're exactly right, in my experience lonliness in the nursing home was probably the most common "ailment" among long term residents. I honestly think some died of lonliness, they just sort of gave up.

The saddest were parents who's kids would literally just drop them off and never be seen again, even if they lived in the area. It's one thing and bad enough to not have any family, but another to have family and they won't even visit you--I mean not even during the holidays. Most of them use the excuse that its too hard/depressing on them (the family) to visit a nursing home. Well what do they think its like being there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without even having the choice to leave?

I remember walking around and just popping into rooms and saying hi. Some patients were more ornery than others, so I knew where to actually come in and spend time. Coming in to just let them be. I was a kid. It's not my place. But oh my gosh the time I would spend with the average patient was weird for me, and amazing for them. Old people smell will be smashed into my brain until I am an old person (willing that I get there!). People forget that elderly people are just humans who lived longer than they used to. They're special and important and have lots of things to tell us if we listen.

You were doing God's work as a child, haha, that's great.

So my general thought or understanding is in the US, nursing homes are basically a drop off building for the old because the majority of residents have family that could actually take care of them if they wanted or were determined to. Most of the care they need most of the time isn't acute, and its very manageable.

Outside the US, or at least the West, as far as I know nursing homes aren't really even a thing. That is, the elderly are respected and valued and cared for by their entire family, they just make it work. Thats why most of the direct caregivers, at least in my area, are Asian and Hispanic. Generally their culture wouldn't even allow you to put an elder in a home, As a Filipina nurse told me, it would be "shameful" to do where she came from, the community would look down on you.

If you've never worked in a nursing home, you can imagine, but don't know the half if it. It's heartbreaking they're put in that general situation in the first place, then downright criminal how theyre neglected and sometimes abused by the corporate operators of those places who put profits above everything. Its pretty horrifying.

My mom said that her best nurses were from cultures that genuinely do respect older generations. Male or female, they seem to offer the a level of empathy, care and understanding the patients deserve.

Treatment of bed sores? It was a slap on the ass with medicine for some people, but some nurses understood that they were caring for an actual individual lives that a long, full life and this is where they were? Being abused by 25-year-olds with little patience? I loved those people. I was allowed to sit on the side of a man's bed and read him basically all of one of the Peanuts comics anthology books for no reason. I thought he might like it, I'm sure he didn't but he sure loved having me there.

I remember when I was like 12, because I moved to South Carolina when I was around that age, a man whispered if it was okay for us to try to go to the bathroom alone. He just wanted to do it for himself but I knew that I wasn't allowed to let that happen. So I told my mom that I was going to pretend that he was going on his own but I wanted a nurse right outside the door. He did get to the toilet. He was so proud of himself! He yelled through the door that he was going to sit down to pee, and "that wasn't wrong". I yelled back that it wasn't wrong! It was safe and I was proud of him. Again my mom was a nurse, so I knew what to say. He did eventually end up needing help getting up off of the toilet that I couldn't offer, and he would never have asked me to give him. Before anyone makes any jokes about the infirm, consider how you would like to be treated, and viewed after a lifetime of sacrifice, hard-working, love. Would you like to be treated like a child because your body doesn't work the way that it should anymore?

Yeah same, then opened the article and felt dumb lol. “Stuffed animal” still sounds weird though. Maybe over here we’d call them “animal plushies” or some such.

Speak for your self downvoters. /s

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Seniors: Could you stuff a little weed in that monkey?

I imagined college seniors and I even got to think that yes, plushies help with exam stress.

That's a really sweet gesture. She must be a kind, caring person. I'm sure it takes a lot of time and labor to chase down hundreds of plush critters.

But, "collects? Used?

Is this for senile older people who are regressing back into chilhood? Otherwise, why would an adult want a stuffed animal? Just seems unusual.

God bless her, no matter what the case

A salon near me does “Santa for a Senior” every year. They partner with a local nursing home and have each resident fill out a paper ornament with their Christmas wish list and the salon hangs them on a tree in their lobby. People can then go in, grab an ornament, buy and wrap the gifts, and bring them back to the salon. Then the gifts are given to the people in the nursing home for Christmas.

I grabbed a couple ornaments this year. They were all things like comfy socks, blankets, crossword puzzles, Christmas decorations, etc.

Where can I donate in Canada?

I have a stuffed animal that I sleep with. I've been doing it for awhile. He has a name and an entire personality.

He is not really for me, he is for my daughter. I made up this entire backstory for him, and how he is very important to me, etc.

Normally I lay next to my daughter and read to her, or we play games and talk before she goes to sleep.

I'm getting chemotherapy, and my body fluids/sweat are toxic, especially the first few days after an infusion. So I sleep in the guest room, use a separate bathroom, and can't lay next to my daughter/ put her to bed.

So on days where I can't cuddle her, I give her my stuffed animal and ask her to take care of him, and then I FaceTime her from the other room before bed, and she has "my" stuffed animal to cuddle with in my place.

Is there an address to send stuffed animal donations???

Not to attack the person doing the gesture as it's awesome but no one "needs" a Christmas gift. When did Christmas become more of a "Can't wait to get my awesome gifts" vs the other aspect of spending time with friends and loved ones.

The elder generation don't need gifts. They would likely appreciate it more to be involved and to be thought of during the holidays and be able to spend it with their loved ones.

All too often the people in nursing homes gets a quick visit from their kids for maybe what 15-30 minutes and after that poof, all alone again watching reruns in your room alone.

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What a kind thing to do,I'm a senior i know how lonely it gets around the holidays.. great story

Keep an eye out for yard sales and check out places like good will. They usually have hordes of stuffed animals for very cheap.

I'm sure if you look up a nursing home in your area you could call about their policy for donations. That'd be a lovely thing to do

Hi jumping in late but if you have goodwills near you you probably also have a goodwill outlet- thrifters call it The Bins. It’s the last stop for all the stuff that hasn’t sold at the stores and prices there are crazy cheap. Like, a pound of clothing for 2$ cheap. I’ve seen plushies at mine for cheap too! Good luck!!

Things like this are like a bandaid to the heart - it reminds you that there will always be people out there making the world a better place.

Yeeeeeeeeee

Must've missed the part about the plaza and safe walkability for them to socialize and attend their own needs like getting food from one of the several small local shops lining the pedestrian covered streets. They don't even have to travel to do all that in a sensible city. If they have a medical issue, there's a lot of people around to immediately notice it and help or get help. Even in a nursing home there's only so many staff, and if a senior has an issue where nobody is watching at the moment, then they could die from something simple they easily could've been saved from. What I'm going on about is that a lot of what's wrong with America is rooted in how its infrastructure was designed. And that itself is rooted in the evil rich. All roads, ironically, lead to the rich. Solve these problems and this country will truly shine

I visited my grandparents today, they moved to memory care about a month ago. Today a woman came by with some stuffed squeaky animals from PetSmart, my grandma (with alzheimers) has been so excited by it. Every few minutes she gets to express joy about this cute present, she then relearn that it squeaks and refinds the squeaker. It's very neat to see her joy with it.

That's an excellent strategy. I'm very sorry to hear about your illness. I have a close family member who's also on chemo right now. It's especially difficult with a comprimised immune system and covid. It's extended our quarantine for a third year. I hope you have the support of friends and family. They can really be a source of strength.

That is such a good idea! I actually know a guy that supplies plushies for the little claw machines a lot of restaurants and bars local to me have. I thought I would reach out to him but this is also a good way to get that started! Thank you so much!! I know it sounds really dumb, but I'm really excited about this, and it's giving me something to focus on and care about outside of work in my own personal issues. A way to give back to people who have given so much to us.