CARE home workers are struggling to decorate their premises for Halloween without reminding residents of their imminent demise, it has emerged.
Staff at the Shady Oaks Care Home in Taunton have realised that furnishing the premises with fake skeletons, ghosts and coffins may be a bit too close to reality for its elderly residents.
Carer Joanna Kramer said: “It dawned on me as I was putting up headstones in the garden: the afterlife is the one thing we’re all trying not to dwell on.
“Sure, Halloween makes death look like a fun, spooky adventure. But when your zombie makeup bears more than a passing resemblance to the people you’re caring for, you feel a bit tasteless.
“It’s not just insensitive, it’s bad for business. If we take the scares too far by jumping out and shouting ‘boo’ while dressed as a ghost, our entire income stream could perish in an instant.
“Maybe we should lean into their fears which don’t border on the supernatural. Dressing up as an illegal immigrant or trans person could be a more appropriate way to freak them out.”
Resident Margaret Gerving, 93, said: “The only thing I’m scared of is continuing to live in this underfunded shithole. Bring on the sweet release of death, I say.”
