This past week was National Nursing Home Week. It is a week of celebrating all the great things that happen in this setting.
A week full of fun and activity
Every year this week serves as one of the biggest showcases for the activity department. Many hours of planning are involved in making this signature event go off without a hitch.
A celebration of life
The whole week is a celebration of life. Over the years I have seen plenty of themed parties including different focuses over the years. I have seen everything from Hawaiian luaus to petting zoos and BBQ.
There are usually plenty of fun and entertaining daily activities planned. These can be karaoke days, dunk tanks, music bingo, pies in the face, and everything else you can imagine.
It is a great way to infuse some positive energy into the facility and bring the community together.
Community involvement
I have been lucky enough for 8 years now to be part of an amazing facility that truely gets involved in the community.
The facility annually includes a community BBQ and invites family members, town employees, township police, and township fire department to come and have a free lunch as a thank you for all they do.
Sometimes it can mean so much more
Last year there was a severe storm that came through town just days before the annual BBQ leaving most of the town without power for days. Suddenly there was a drive through set up outside the Therapy department using one of the traffic circles as a pick up spot for to go containers of a BBQ plate to go.
Even that was not enough so some volunteers from the facility started driving through town delivering to go plates of BBQ to those that were working hard trying to clean up and recover.
How can Therapy help out
Well the Therapy team can be advocates for getting the short term residents involved and encouraging them to participate. It can be a huge mood elevator to get them involved in such a big celebration. It might be just what is needed to re-invigorate a resident and help to motivate them.
We can also use our skills to help with mobility by using part of our treatment time to get them involved. This can be by walking to the event, helping with self feeding, getting dressed and ready to go, or self propelling their wheelchair.
So thank your activities department
Take the time to thank the activity department for all the hard work and planning. Without them this week would not be possible. The memories and impacts they make not only through this week, but all year long are priceless. I can’t wait to see what happens next year.
