ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a simple gesture, inspired by a personal experience.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Years ago, a personal experience inspired Vaido Jagmohan to make seniors\u2019 milestones
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Jagmohan called the initiative \u201cCelebration Impact\u201d
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She brings birthday cards, balloons, and flowers to seniors in nursing homes who do not have frequent visitors<\/p>\n
But for many, what Vaido Jagmohan chooses to do for strangers has a profound impact on their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like this is my way to give back to them and thank them for what they\u2019ve contributed in this world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On a regular basis, before or after work, Jagmohan delivers flowers, balloons, and cards to a nursing home in Winter Garden, celebrating residents\u2019 birthdays.<\/p>\n
Though the facility, Orlando Health – Health Central Park, marks residents\u2019 birthdays as well, as the facility\u2019s Activities Director Ed Bohannon-Dobski explained, not everyone has family visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe comes in on their birthday, sings happy birthday to them \u2026 We hear about it for the next week, on how special that moment was that a lady came in and celebrated their birthday even though they may never have seen her before,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cA stranger, an angel, truly an angel that has descended into their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jagmohan got the idea for her \u201cCelebration Impact\u201d initiative in 2018, when she and her sister went to New York state to visit another sister \u2014 and stopped by a nursing home. The woman said they came to see their uncle, who was having several serious health issues, and sang a birthday tune to cheer him up.<\/p>\n
Weeks later, after Jagmohan\u2019s uncle passed, she listened faithfully at the funeral and was touched by the poem \u201cThe Dash,\u201d written by Linda Ellis. The poem speaks of the moments between one\u2019s birth and death \u2014 the \u201cdash\u201d \u2014 displayed on every tombstone.<\/p>\n
Jagmohan said that the poem led her to think about her own \u201cdash,\u201d and the legacy she might leave behind for her two daughters. Once back in Florida, the idea for \u201cCelebration Impact\u201d took shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking to a coworker and I said, \u2018I should do this.\u2019 And they\u2019re like, \u2018Do what?\u2019 I said, \u2018I should celebrate these birthdays!\u2019\u201d she recalled, continuing, \u201cBecause, like my uncle, if we didn\u2019t show up that day, that day would have gone unnoticed.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is when Jagmohan called Bohannon-Dobski to compile a list of residents who do not have regular visitors.<\/p>\n
And since those first visits years ago, Bohannon-Dobski has been furnishing the lists as Jagmohan spends her own time and money on the visits, meeting with residents like Nancy Vendur, who said the woman\u2019s cheery visits have made her feel \u201cvery special.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was 11 years ago that Vendur, a lifelong Winter Garden resident, moved to Orlando Health – Health Central Park following a stroke.<\/p>\n
But the woman with the coiffed hair and glittery slippers, known by many around the nursing home as \u201cFancy Nancy,\u201d does not have regular visitors, apart from occasional visits from her son.<\/p>\n
Jagmohan has now visited the woman on her birthday four times, often with her two teenage daughters in tow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s a loving person, a giving person. And she enjoys it,\u201d said Vendur. \u201cShe was the first person who came and talked to me like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt says there\u2019s humanity in the world still, there\u2019s love in the world still, and there\u2019s people out there that just want to make strangers happy,\u201d added Bohannon-Dobski.<\/p>\n
For Jagnohan, it\u2019s about instilling in her children the importance of giving back to their community by listening to senior stories, valuing their contributions, and marking their milestones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe we\u2019re all here for a reason, and I think this is mine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s a simple gesture, inspired by a personal experience. What You Need To Know Years ago,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3076,274,28,15464,1548,15465,115,139,141,140,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-235578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-good-news","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-inspires","12":"tag-good-news","13":"tag-julie-gargotta","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-orlando-headlines","17":"tag-orlando-news","18":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}