Young-at-heart hospice residents do ‘Macarena’ for Positive Ageing Week
Tens of thousands have already viewed the three-minute YouTube clip of residents doing the ‘Macarena’.
The video was shot at Our Lady’s Hospice in Harold’s Cross in Dublin, where unsuspecting diners in the canteen were surprised by the patient and staff flashmob.
Within moments of them starting the moves to the sound of the floor-filling Spanish dance song, others join in — some discarding their walking frames. Among them is a nun, while others can be seen doing the Nineties dance-craze moves from their wheelchairs.
Jeanne McDonagh, spokeswoman for the hospice, said 24 patients and 10 staff had been secretly practising the surprise as part of Positive Ageing Week.
“They were doing dance classes as part of an independent living programme to help them keep living well,” she said.
“They really enjoy it and the ‘Macarena’ is particularly popular, so they decided to do this for Positive Ageing Week.
“They just jumped up at lunchtime and started moving and then everyone started joining in. It was really wonderful and really typical of the hospice, it is such a warm, happy place — they really celebrate life here.”
