 This year we really worked hard on putting together a lot of patriotic activities for our program. Yesterday we had a group of folk singers come by and sing patriotic songs, and we wrote letters to soldiers last week as well.
We also have a few ladies who really enjoy making crafts, no matter how big or small. We’ve found that one of the crafting activities that seems to work well for a variety of independence levels is crunching up little squares of colored tissue paper and pasting them to an object or a drawing.
To get an activity like this ready all you really need are some sheets of colored tissue paper and scissors, or actually, I prefer using one of those long blades with a grid base (I forget what to call it) so you can cut up one inch squares quicker. We put these flat squares of tissue paper into small cups, like old margarine containers, and put them around the table for our members to choose from. They can then scrunch the paper into whatever shape they’d like and then dip it in some glue to paste it to their shape. Also, for those who have trouble with individually dipping each piece, you can spread glue onto the shape first and then scrunch the paper up and drop them on.
 There are times when we are unsure if one of our residents needs to change their clothes because they had an accident. A few months ago, I had quite the perplexing situation with one of our men, whom I’ll call Dr. Singer.
During our mornings, we hold our Sit and Be Fit exercise activity around 11am, just before lunch. As we began, I noticed a very small puddle underneath Dr. Singer’s wheelchair. I wasn’t quite sure how it got there, was it from him, or did someone spill a little water? I decided to go over and whisper in his ear that I could escort him to the restroom if he needed to use it. He quietly obliged and nodded his head towards the door, not wanting to make a big scene.
I walk him through the door and about twenty feet to the nearest restroom. He can walk short distances, so I locked his chair and helped him stand up. I then held the restroom door open and told him I’d wait outside. He’s always very jovial, and started to sing to himself as he walked inside. As the door closed, I turned around and couldn’t believe what I saw in the hall.
Monday morning. Its usually fairly quiet, with not a whole lot of chatter going on in our program. Our members have been at home all weekend and they’re usually a little disoriented being back at the day center. Well, in walks Mrs. Hair Lady…
One of our sweeter ladies, Mrs. Hair Lady is very sociable although her hearing is not the best. And by not the best, I mean that one time I popped a balloon by accident when we were taking down some decorations and she told me that was the first thing she heard all day.
Well, Mrs. Hair Lady begun this habit of bringing photos in from her family album so she could better share with everyone about her life. The first couple times she brought in pictures of her daughters’ pets and then she shared pictures of her grandchildren. A few weeks after that she brought in some photos of herself in her 30’s and 40’s (she was quite a head-turner!) where she looked as young as her teenage daughter.
During the MEPAP course I’m currently taking (MEPAP stands for Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals, and is part of the requirements to become a certified activity director) we occasionally have a chance to share experiences and stories from our facilities. One of our classmates shared this true gem.
At her facility, they have a resident to believes that he is Jesus Christ. One day, another person who was admitted to the facility also began claiming that he was Jesus Christ. Fearful of the outcome if Jesus ever met Jesus, they made sure their two rooms were in far apart units.
At the end of a long day, some of our members will get tired and yesterday a woman who has been with us for many years turned to me and said, “Oh, I could just take a nap right now.” I’ll call her Ms. Montana.
So I told her she looked sleepy, but sitting next to me was another member, let’s call him Dr. Singer, and he said, “You know, if you come visit me in my office, we could diagnose the problem and help you to not be so sleepy.” Of course, Dr. Singer no longer practices, but often he talks as if he’s still in the prime of his career. Somtimes he can be a little rude about diagnosing people (”You may have sephilus.”), but today he was very respectable, like an earnest physician that I hope he once was.
“You see, we can do the blood work, and find out what is making you sleepy. There may be some obesity in the blood.” I love hearing him talk because he has a Count Dracula type accent.
Ms. Montana was a little astonished. “Are you saying I’m fat?!!”
There are many moments the past few years I’ve spent as an activity director that jump out as surprising or unpredictable, but what happened this afternoon just may take the cake for a while.
I was playing a dice game with five of our members and every so often one of them will rub the dice on the back of her head for good luck before she rolls. She rubbed the dice on the back of her head every turn this afternoon, and the lady sitting next to her, let’s just call her “Ms. Smiley,” wanted to try it out too. Her next turn she rubbed the dice on her head but alas, no luck. The next time it became her turn Ms. Smiley took the dice to her head again, but there was no luck on that roll either. So the next time around, and believe me, I was totally unprepared for this, she takes the dice and rubs them on her chest! And by golly she rolled the biggest roll of the day!
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This year we really worked hard on putting together a lot of patriotic activities for our program. Yesterday we had a group of folk singers come by and sing patriotic songs, and we wrote letters to soldiers last week as well.
