Residents at Morningside Assisted Living were paid a special visit on Monday afternoon, as Western Kentucky University graduate and Powell County native Haley B. Wheeler — recently crowned Miss Kentucky 2021 — began the roll-out on her social impact initiative.
A strong vocalist, yodeler and soon-to-be speech pathologist, Wheeler has recently pivoted from a domestic violence platform — something of which she still remains passionate — to a focus on geriatrics and, specifically, Alzheimer’s.
Both are issues particularly close to her heart, but Alzheimer’s disease — which steals thousands of the healthiest elderly minds each year across the U.S. — resonates deep, due to family ties.
Wheeler’s visit served as a partnership with Lifeline Home Health of Western Kentucky, in which account executive Stacy Blakeley noticed the future Miss America contestant was making an all-call on Facebook to start visits across the Commonwealth.
A few email exchanges, text messages and phone calls later, and Wheeler was wheelin’ to west Kentucky.
Her year-end goal is to visit 50 nursing homes and/or assisted living facilities before her time with the crown is up, and on Monday, she was able to make six stops in the area — in what she says is “a real calling.”
Early signs of Alzheimer’s, and other mental maladies such as dementia, can often be hard to catch. But Wheeler has a few tips to catch something that might be amiss.
It’s Wheeler’s hope that she’s crowned Miss USA, which will will be held on November 29 at the Paradise Cove Theater of River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Should she win, Wheeler would be the first Kentucky woman to win the crown in 21 years, and just the second ever. Heather French Henry, of Maysville, earned the coveted honor in 2000.
Wheeler sang several songs for the residents, including “Harper Valley PTA,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
But she got some crowd participation with a couple of hits, including “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Amazing Grace.”
My Old Kentucky Home:
Amazing Grace:
In order to book Miss Kentucky, visit misskentucky.org.
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