Meeting Oprah would be a dream come true
Grace Patterson feels special affinity with “down to earth” celebrity
By Bill Freeman, Norwood Register
ASPHODEL-NORWOOD ON—Everything is possible and the dreams and wishes that resonate in our hearts often have a wonderful way of surprising even the staunchest of optimists.

For Grace Patterson, a Pleasant Meadow Manor Nursing Home resident and well-known member of the Asphodel-Norwood community, meeting celebrated American talk show host and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey is something she has often dreamed about and is the latest “Wish Upon a Star” wish that has been drawn from the special wooden well that Pleasant Meadow has used since launching its inspiring program last spring.

This is the first time that a resident has wished to meet someone in the rarefied world of show business and staff and friends at Pleasant Meadow and across the Omni Healthcare network are going to make every effort to help Grace fulfill her desire to meet Oprah.

“She is quite down to earth,” Grace says of Chicago’s most famous citizen. It is a characteristic that Grace herself shares with Oprah.

“I watch it (the TV show) as much as I can. She would be a very nice person to meet. She is so natural and talks about things that most people understand..”

Even with her position at the very top of the show business ladder, Grace doesn’t think Oprah would be a “pushy kind of a person.

“I think I would get along quite nicely with her,” says Grace.

It is a very large wish, admits Pleasant Meadow administrator Connie Garden, but that certainly will not deter the Pleasant Meadow family from trying to make it come true.

Chris Charlebois, Life Enrichment Supervisor at the nursing home, has already e-mailed officials with the Oprah show explaining the program and has received an initial reply.

“ We’re going to do our best to get you there,” Connie says. “Everybody is pulling together.”

Beyond the first contact with the show, Connie says they hope to rally support in the community, encouraging people to write to Oprah about Grace’s wish. Pleasant Meadow has prepared a special form letter that outlines the purpose of the program and the fact that Grace, touched by Oprah’s genuine goodness, is the latest person to have her wish pulled from the well.

And at the corporate level, Connie says OMNI Healthcare is prepared to use its contacts across the continent to further the campaign.

Connie is hopeful that Oprah can do something for Grace.

“No wish is too big or too small. It will be a challenge for us but we knew we had to do something.”

Pleasant Meadow is the only Omni nursing home that has The Wish Upon a Star” program and it has been an unqualified success with seven wishes granted so far -- everything from becoming a nurse for a day, teaching, family reunions and even a chance to spend time with the Peterborough Petes and share coaching tips.

Residents can place their wishes in the special wooden well. Staff and family members can also suggest a special wish that could be dropped into the well.
Connie says it will be okay if Grace doesn’t get a chance to fly to Chicago to meet Oprah.

She can still get it in a “simulated fun way” right at Pleasant Meadow complete with someone playing Oprah with Grace as the special guest and the Pleasant Meadow family as the audience.

“If nothing else we’ll have fun with each other.”

But they are aware of Oprah’s unique ability to connect with people and are hopeful that she will respond personally to Grace’s wish.

“ It would be something that’s for sure,” Grace says. “I’d go if I were asked. I’d be excited if I got on the plane.

“I’m beginning to feel like the Queen of Great Britain,” she says of her own -new-found celebrity.

Grace and her family have a long association with Asphodel and Norwood. She and her husband lived on a farm near Westwood for 51 years and when her husband Alex passed away she moved to the village.

A recent OMNIway.com editorial talked about Grace’s Oprah wish.

“Wishes are important indeed,” it said.

“Perhaps they are a quite affirmation of our faith, a small sign that, should they come true, the way we think the world works might just be right after all.

“IF you are reading this, Oprah, we ask you to consider the faith Grace Patterson has, both in you, and the community around her. If you can create the conditions in which Grace could simply meet you, your outreach to one woman would really be an outreach to thousands who are anticipating your kindness.”

“Oprah chose the way of the communicator to find hope and purpose both for her and for others with an unrelenting motivation to express humanitarian ideals to as many people as possible in the world.

“OMNI has chosen the way of the caregiver with an unyielding focus to care for residents and provide for them a sense of inner peace and contentment.”

“Long ago, Oprah realized she had a destiny inextricably linked with healing others. She refocused her show to be consistently about meaningful subjects and has always demonstrated an unerring capacity for goodness.

“Grace Patterson muse sense this.”

Indeed, she has and her joyful appreciation of the Oprah Winfrey show has infected the close-knit Pleasant Meadow family.

This article was originally published in the Norwood Register and is reprinted here with permission.