Lynn56

My state has no Activity Coordinator classes - anywhere! The only thing I am thinking is maybe they just want the Mepap 1 and a year of experience with a high school diploma or GED - because someone with the actual real certification couldn't afford to work there for those wages and no benefits. Even then the Mepap is over 600 bucks plus the transportation at long distance (not cheap when gas is 2 bucks a gallon). I have also been warned that many activity people end up doing nursing assistant duties and such. If your going to spend a ton of money on education - you have to expect to be paid enough to cover that and the continuing education as well. Other wise you should just call it volunteering (expensive volunteering).

This job I applied for makes no sense then - because they want a GED or High School Grad with Certification to be an Activity Director - and you can not be a director and have certification at that level of education according to what I am reading on the certification site. No wonder they can't find someone to work parttime as an Activity Director for 7 bucks an hour - the level of certification training required and practicum is more than a teacher or nurse needs to get a license! In order to renew a teaching license in my state you only need 6 college credits every 5 years and nurses don't have to take any renewal credits or CEU's. It would seem the places doing the hiring don't really understand what certification means either.

It has been a long time since I visited this board. Lots of new info here. I also live in Indiana. My background is a BS in Elementary Ed.(also 2 master classes to renew license, an AS in accounting, some Medical Assisting Classes. I have been interested in Activity Directing for quite some time. Recently I applied for a job as a parttime AD in a Nursing/Assisted living center - they wanted someone with a high school diploma or GED and the certification class. I said that I would like to begin working and take a certification class this summer - which costs 530 dollars (Plus lots of commuting a long distance for several weeks each day) then a practicum. They said I had too much education! The job paid only 7 something an hour for 24 hours a week - I was hoping considering my education they might be willing to hire me - then pay part of the cost (or all of it for the cert training). They are more interested in hiring a high school grad or GED with the cert training than me. They have had alot of turn over in this position. Can anyone in Indiana give me a run down of the best training programs - in person or online and costs. What can I expect on a job to be paid? 530 is a lot of money when you consider I already have tons of education and training - to then make 7 an hour. However most jobs in small town Indiana don't pay much. By the way - teaching jobs are non existent in Indiana and the midwest - so this is why I want to branch out to a different career path. I don't want to invest more money (besides still owing tons of student loans) on more education and still not get a job out of it.

How many activity directors work on weekends? I looked at a parttime position that was 2 weekdays and all weekends. The weekends are to be used for outings. Since most places are so crowded then - that didn't make sense to me. Also they wanted someone with a van of their own to transport people. That didn't seem safe to me. Salary offered was quite low as well. There is no Activity Director at all in the facility. Just didn't make alot of sense to me.

What about dietary restrictions? Diabetics, lactose intolerant, ect. Seems to me you would need written permission to do this.

Indiana here. Not much available and considering the low payscales (I am talking no benefits and about minimum wage) - the classes are overpriced for what you can make. Lets face it if you only make 200 a week you can't afford 3000 bucks for classes. You have to pay your rent and other stuff first. contact me at TriGra@hotmail.com

In my search for a job as an Activity Director - which books or textbooks would you recommend? Books could cover legal aspects or ideas of activities for residents or many other topics. Thanks for contributing ideas.

Sounds like alot of different routes to being an Activity Director. Just shows I do have a chance to enter this field.

I realize most of us come from different education levels and types of education. Share what your degree or education is before becoming an Activity assistant or director. For instance was your degree in nursing or social work or something else. What level do you have? An associate degree or bachelors or more? What type of work did you do before entering this field. It will be interesting to see what kind of background we all had before entering or trying to enter this field. Thanks. For instance I have an associate degree in accounting, a bachelor in elementary education and a couple of master degree classes to renew my teaching license, also some medical assisting courses and am planning to take a CNA class. I am trying to enter the field and then get the MEPAP class somewhere. I have worked several types of jobs including daycare, before and after school care, substitute teaching, migrant daycare, retail work, Title one educational assistant and a few other things. Can't wait to hear from all of you.

In my state it is unpaid - sometimes people can use vacation pay or sick day pay. They do not have to give you back the same job either here. But California is just getting ready for the day when they are a separate island nation and can have their own laws lol.

I am taking a CNA class soon and have BS in education. I am very creative. I have taken alot of psychology and social science classes. This seems like an interesting job. Hope I get hired and they will pay for the Mepap or someone there will offer it.

Trying to enter the field and have no idea of the appropriate pay ranges. Anyone want to share? I live in Indiana so pay scales are quite different here than New York or California. I have no idea what to expect or ask for. Thank you.

Every job I have had in my life always has something to the effect that the employee may be asked to perform any other tasks the supervisor asks of them. I think this always covers the bosses you know whats. The only thing that saves people is if they have a union that backs them up. For instance in schools where I worked the teachers had union rules about doing nonteaching duties. The educational assistants could not be in the union and could be asked to perform any task. But I definitly will ask for a writtten job description anyway.

I am scheduled to take the Cna class in late August. Should I continue and spend money on this? I have a degree in Education and after meeting with Nursing homes I was told I would need Cna training to be an Activity Director first. The Mepap is not offered any where near here at this time. I think once I have the CNA that I will end up doing that type of work even if hired as an AA or AD. I know with my education degree I was an educational assistant for many years and I ended up doing non educational stuff rather than teaching students. My state has no teaching jobs now and has laid off the assistants. I don't want to be doing 2 jobs and be expected to volunteer an extra 30 hours a week like I did in my last job. Any thoughts? By the way I live in Indiana and jobs are scarce and pay very little.

Surprisingly I came to this site at nearly 3 am to find out the same thing- are AD or AA just being used as lowly paid Cna's? Basically you are being asked to do 2 jobs for less money than a Nursing Assistant. I am finding this out from job interviews. I see no point in paying for a Mepap course (not cheap in my area) just to be a CNA and be called an AD and make less money. I don't see how an AD or AA can do both job duties since CNA's must be on task with cleaning up patients and such (and you know how dirty that job is) to then going to an activity out in public with residents or such. It just won't work. What if the Director of the nursing home had to do 2 or 3 peoples jobs? They sure wouldn't.

I still have not found any programs near me. An online one costs 700 dollars which is what the ones 800 miles away cost. I know the payscales here are very low. I am not sure it is even affordable to pay this much for MEPAP when the cost of the training is so high. Here they only make maximum 7 an hour as an activity director. It would take a long time to save the 700 hundred on that payscale. Any other ideas?

What kind of education and experience do you have for this job? Also what kind of pay and benefits? Tell me what you do on your job. I am curious because I am looking into this career field and live in Indiana.

Yes I mentioned that site in my first post. Site is out of date. No one responds or anything. Looked at training area and no response from them either. I have a bachelors in education and also some medical training. I want to start working and don't know if I even need a class or certification. Can I begin working and get a temporary certificate or something like that?

The next class doesn't begin until October. I was looking for something sooner. Also Indianapolis is very far from me. The class is 600 dollars and I would have to stay in Indianapolis to take the class which is also expensive. The class is 2 modules a month apart and then a module you do at home. I am not sure if you already have to be employed in a nursing home or such to take the class. The registration form asks for the facility where you work so I am not sure. Are there scholarships available for a program such as this? I know government funds cannot be used because it is not for a degree and it does not have accretidation. Anyone else have any information?

Hi I am Lynn and live in Indiana and want to get licensed/certified/trained in my state. I have worn my fingers out trying to find info on this in my state. Maybe my only option is to take an online course? or does my state allow this? I am not rolling in money so can't travel out of state to learn. However I already have a Bachelors in Education (which I think would be quite helpful). My state is laying off teachers and I want to do something else with my education. Also I have taken Medical Terminology and some other types of medical classes. I think this is right up my alley. I see lots of ads looking for activity directors or assistants but can find no information on how to train for this. I am hoping you have the information I need.

I need some information on becoming an Activity Director in Indiana. I have searched the web for several days trying to find info on this. All I find is outdated websites and dead links. Even the Indiana Activity Director site provides no updated information. I have e-mailed colleges and contacted people by snail mail and can find no information on how to train and become licensed or certified in this career. Can anyone help me?