Tuesday, August 02, 2011
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UHS employee plans a truly Ideal wedding
When Nancy DePue and James Hughes decided to get
married, they knew just where they wanted to have the ceremony: At UHS
Senior Living at Ideal. And they knew just who they wanted to invite: All the residents of the geriatric campus in Endicott.
“They’re
my big family,” said Ms. DePue, who has served as dining room
supervisor at Ideal for the past 10 years. “They’re a big part of my
life.”
The wedding will be held outdoors on the Ideal campus on Saturday, August 6. A
minister will officiate at the ceremony, which will take place at 1:00pm near the gazebo and pond, followed by a wedding-cake reception at 2:00pm in the campus’s two dining rooms.
For Ms. DePue, the
time she spends at Ideal is more than work. Her own parents,
grandparents, aunts and uncles are all deceased, she said, so she thinks
of the residents of Ideal as members of her family, and wants them to
share in the joy of her big day.
It’s not unusual, she said, for Ideal employees to think that way about the people they serve. “Our residents are a big part of our lives,” she said. “It’s not a normal job. We have a lot of fun here.”
The
future bridegroom is on board, too. He has played Santa and
dressed up as a clown to entertain at the center during holiday events.
When it came time to propose to Ms. DePue, he did so at Ideal on
Mother’s Day, in front of a roomful of residents.
Mr. Hughes’s
mother, Betty, will be attending from Florida, and Ms. DePue’s daughter,
Dee Hawley, of UHS Pediatrics Binghamton, is making a wedding cake
large enough to serve 300 people. Ms. DePue said she will be
returning to her job at Ideal after she’s married, but not before she
and her husband take a 10-day “traveling adventure” honeymoon. In
the meantime, the center’s residents are helping her prepare for the
nuptials. Planning for the matrimonial event has become an important
focus of activity.
“They’re very excited,” said Ms. DePue. “They’re making wedding favors and counting down the days.”
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UHS is a
locally owned, not-for-profit, 916-bed hospital and health care system
serving the Greater Binghamton region. Founded in 1981, UHS provides a
full range of medical, surgical, rehabilitative and long-term care
services from more than 40 locations around New York’s Southern Tier.
The organization consists of UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton
General Hospital, UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital, UHS Delaware Valley
Hospital, UHS Senior Living at Ideal and UHS Home Care, and is
affiliated with the UHS Medical Group and the UHS Foundation.
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