By Alesha Capone
The lifestyle co-ordinator of a Werribee aged care facility donned both an Elvis Presley costume and PPE to entertain residents last week.
Tim Whitmore from Mercy Place Wyndham said he regularly dressed up as “The King” to entertain residents, playing the guitar and singing Elvis hits.
However, due to the pandemic lockdown regulations, last week’s show was a little different to usual.
Mr Whitmore spent three days putting on a series of “corridor concerts” as residents watched, while wearing masks and observing social distancing.
Mr Whitmore said he performed about 30 Elvis songs for each set, with the residents’ favourites including ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ and ‘Return to Sender’.
“For me personally, I get a lot out of it, I get to play and sing for an hour or two, it doesn’t feel like work, it’s just something I enjoy,” Mr Whitmore said.
“It’s a very inclusive thing, music brings people together.”
Mr Whitmore said that wearing full PPE over the top of his Elvis outfits – including a white jumpsuit, a Blue Hawaii look and army-themed apparel – meant he became quite warm while performing.
But Mr Whitmore said that he and the other staff at Mercy Place Wyndham wanted to keep things as normal as possible for residents because the pandemic had restricted the types of activities they could participate in.
“It shows we’re not letting anything get in our way,” he said.
“For us, Elvis was going to enter the building and was going to exit the building, no matter what.”
