cktbrooks

Hello, Fellow Activity Professionals, My name is Celeste. I am the Director of Activities in a 261 bed facility in DC. We are the magnificent 7 of the Activities Department. I have been in Activities for 20 years now. I love it!!! Its like a ministry to me. I have been a Director for 8 years. It been enjoyable showing folks what the Activity discipline is all about. But, we've got a long way to go. My favorite thing to see is a resident (61 -102 yrs old) acheive their goal. My pet peeve is when the other disciplines, mainly Nursing, treat us like we're supposed to be babysitters for the residents. Or that we are not skilled professionals. Anyway, we are blessed to have 2 wheelchair buses. They are 13 passenger so that a CDL license is not needed. We have an okay budget, but thank goodness for Donated Funds. We use that extra money for purchasing concert tickets, buying crabs, live entertainment and paying for party supplies. You know, the extra stuff that makes an event really nice. Though we have it pretty good. My goal is to have an Activity Specialist for each unit. My Specialists document, attend IDT meetings and implement activities. I would also like to have five assistants for the department. One Assistant for the Skilled Care unit, those residents need extra attention. Another assistant for the Special Care Unit. And the other three to set up for our regular events, bus rides, etc... I would like to see an Aroma therapy program on each unit on a regular basis and have professional drivers for the buses. Am I dreaming or what? I am currently taking the MEPAP 2 course. I want to go all the way to instructor. Celeste

Hi, We are a fairly large facility with at least 7 to 25 birthdays per month. Every month on the last Thursday, we use our Social Hour as the facility wide birthday. However, we also post individual birthdays on the facility calendar, (first initial and last name only). Then, each individual gets a cluster of four balloons on their birthday, weekends included. Our residents look forward to this. They know that someone is going to acknowledge their special day. Nursing has gotten involved when a birthday has been omitted. I usually get my birthdays from the program we use for the MDS. Celeste