Nurse On Call Easter Basket Bounty Welcomed at A Kid's Place in Brandon

Representatives from Nurse On Call were on hand at A Kid’s Place in Brandon to deliver Easter baskets stuffed with treats prepared by partners of the Medicare-certified home healthcare provider.

Standing beside a conference table filled with baskets, Mary Berg, resource manager at A Kid’s Place, talked about how much those baskets would mean to the residents of the shelter, which serves as a safe, stable and nurturing environment for abused, abandoned and neglected children who have been removed from their homes by the courts.

“One of the kids told me he never had an Easter bag before, and he’s seven,” Dozier said. "So, he’s going to get an Easter basked for the first time in his life.”

How those baskets came to be is the brainchild of Nurse On Call workers, who bought for each participating healthcare partner a basket, decorative grass and four unfilled plastic eggs.

How the partners used these pieces, and what elements they added, including candy, toys, treats and decorative elements, was left to choice and creativity.

Once finished, the baskets were entered into a contest. The winners received a $50 gift certificate, donated for an Easter dinner, that in turn the winners were asked to give to a family of their choosing in the community.

“I love it because it’s giving back to the community, and at the end of the day, I was one of those kids,” said Monquiz Wedlow, home health coordinator. “We didn’t have a lot when I was growing up. Now that I have the opportunity to give back I want to be involved in as many things as I can.”

Ramonita Soto, who also works at Nurse On Call, said her childhood was of a different bent.

“I was brought up where I didn’t need anything,” Soto said. “I’m trying to teach my daughter that there are other kids who are not as fortunate as we are.”

The baskets will be distributed Easter morning.

Nurse On Call is a statewide Medicare-certified homecare company that provides basic services, including nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy, health aides and social workers for elderly people.

Winners of the Easter basket decorating contest were the following Nurse On Call partners:

• Accentia Health Care
• Family Medical Care of Riverview
• Health Center of Plant City
• University Village

Also providing baskets were the following Nurse On Call partners:

• Bayshore Pointe Rehabilitation Center
• Brandon Health and Rehabiliation
• Central Park Healthcare and Rehabiliation of Brandon
• Consulate Healthcare of Brandon
• Cypress Creek Assisted Living
• Delaney Creek Lodge
• Elmcroft Senior Living
• Emeritus at Brandon
• Habana Healthcare
• Hawthorne Village Retirement Community
• Home Instead Senior Care
• Manor Care
• Palm Gardens of Plant City
• Plant City Community Health Center
• Pulmonary Sleep of Tampa Bay
• South Bay Hospital
• Sun Hill Medical Center