VETERANS HOME GETS WATER GARDEN

Residents of the Missouri Veterans Home can rest or ride in comfort thanks to recent local, regional and state donations.

At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Veterans Home will dedicate a new $40,500 multiwheelchair bus and a $12,000 decorative water garden. The event is open to the public.

The bus was purchased with a $23,500 donation from the Lilbourn Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Unit 7183, a $15,000 donation from the Disabled Veterans Association of Lakewood, Ohio, and a $2,000 donation from the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary Department of Missouri.

"This will enable more wheelchair-bound residents to participate in shopping, fishing and other outings," said Ken Lipps of the Veterans Home.

Lipps said residents in wheelchairs often enjoy sitting in front of the building to relax and watch traffic pass on U.S. 61. However, the lack of sidewalks posed a possible safety hazard from residential traffic. More than half of the home's residents are confined to wheelchairs or geriatric chairs.

Planning began last year to develop a quiet and safe outdoor area for residents, and Jackson American Legion Post 158 approved a $12,000 proposal to develop a landscaped water garden in the fall.

"You can sit there and watch the waterfall and watch the fish and pretty much see the roadway for there," Lipps said. "It's someplace to give them a place to go and sit without worrying about safety."

The water garden was developed by Pam Klaus, head of therapeutic recreation at the home, and her husband, Paul, who is a licensed landscape architect. It includes a two-level, stone-lined, goldfish-stocked pond with a stream and waterfall surrounded with various plantings and a wheelchair-accessible sidewalk.

Recent warm weather and the blooming of garden foliage has enticed many residents out to enjoy the garden, said Lipps. Fund-raising plans are under way to finance construction of a gazebo in the water garden. The gazebo would provide a shaded area for residents to sit and watch passing traffic, he said.

"When they built this place they cut down just about every tree in sight, so we don't have much shade," Lipps said. "It would be wheelchair accessible and elevated some so they could easily watch the highway from there."