It's Lights, Camera, Action At Edmond Senior Living Center

It's the golden age of television at Touchmark.  

The mics are as hot as the coffee every weekday at 9:30 a.m.

Rise and Shine is the Edmond senior community's very own morning show.

"It's just sitting down, and talking, and having a great time," said Shannon Rich-Castillo, Life Enrichment Director at Touchmark at Coffee Creek.

Rich-Castillo and Jeannie Endres co-host the show in front of a live hallway audience.

They're kept in check by the show's no-nonsense director Roger Nichols.

His main qualification? He lives next door.

"I get the ol' hook a lot of times. He's like, 'Shannon, knock it off,'" she said.

The show's guests are residents, and it features regular segments like this day in history.

The show is broadcast on a closed-circuit channel, a channel that Touchmark didn't even realize they had until they started the show. Now, not only is Rise and Shine broadcast every morning, but things like Bingo as well."

And while the show is all fun and games, it was created out of necessity during the pandemic, trying to bring isolated residents together.

"Through people being in their apartments and alone, that was hard. Having this as an outlet for people to communicate has really been life-changing," Shannon said.

"I think it's keeping people alive. Very important," Touchmark resident Dougles Boggie said.

Something the show will continue to do long after this pandemic is off the air.

"It enlivens and brightens our days," Nichols said.

"That's what we're here to do, is to overcome and bring joy. And so today, we choose joy. Every day, we choose joy," Shannon said.