‘This is Rogers City at its finest’; Medilodge residents enjoy holiday weekend parade

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

It’s been more than two months since the people who live at Medilodge of Rogers City have been able to receive visits from family and friends. 

Holidays such as Easter and Mother’s Day have been marked on the other side of glass windows on the grounds of the facility. 

Hardly a way to celebrate important family events during the year, but during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic Medilodge residents have been truly living the phrase, “shelter in place.” 

During the 2020 health crisis, it has been a matter of life and death that the facility remains in lockdown. So far, it has been working as measures have kept the disease away from the community’s most vulnerable.

To brighten up the lives of residents, the staff at Medilodge organized a honk-and-wave parade during a sun-filled, spring afternoon in the middle of the Memorial Day weekend. Residents of the facility sat in wheelchairs along the sidewalk, spaced out for safety for a front row seat.

“The COVID-19 concern has caused many to change our daily routines. We don’t get to see our friends or family members nearly as often,” said Rogers City mayor Scott McLennan, who drove himself in the parade. “Human interaction is so very limited, yet important to every human on the planet. This is why the honk-and-wave) parade was so well received by all – residents, staff, participants, the community.”

For more than 30 minutes, vehicles of all kinds kept coming around from the front of the former hospital building. 

There were convertibles, muscle cars and emergency vehicles (none blaring sirens or horns for obvious reasons).

Some family members got close enough to their loved ones to shout out special messages, all while keeping more than 6 feet away.