OAHSA Annual Meeting March,2010 Midwest City, OK

 Scheduled Activities + Unscheduled Activities Create “THE GROWING ENVIRONMENT”

 An Interactive Social Environment +  An Interactive Physical Environment

CREATE MEANINGFUL ACTIVITY OPPORTUNITIES THAT TRULY ENGAGE RESIDENTS

Depends on Both WHAT YOU PLAN and HOW YOU PRESENT IT APPROACH IS ALMOST EVERYTHING

Baker’s Dozen

“ Let us entertain you”  Musicians  Educators  Professionals  Humorists  Drama Players  Activity Directors  Others

“Everybody needs somebody, sometime”  Theme Parties  Daily Socials  Something at mealtimes  Teams  Spiritual  Discussions

“Sportsmanship can be everywhere”  Theme Bingos  Group Crosswords  Jeopardy  Star Toss  Dice Games  Words

 “Everybody can Participate”  “Short Skits”  Music  Dance  Painting

“Use it or lose it”  Movement / Exercise  Music with Movement  Trivia with Exercise  Walking & Wheeling Club  Use Props  Others

 “Looking for Inner Peace”  Diverse religious services  Poems  Articles  Book club  Discussions  Others

“You’re Never Too Old To Learn” & “Remember When”  Who AM I?  Group Crosswords  Daily Chronicles  Matching  Jeopardy  Others

“It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”  High School “Senior to Senior”  Arts Groups  Fraternal Organizations  Non-Profits  Lunch Bunch  WC Lounge  Others

“Some People are Born Leaders”  Resident Councils ◦ Self-Government ◦ “Every Vote Counts”  Activity Advisory Committee  Table Captains  Others

“By Benefiting Others We Benefit Ourselves”  Resident Buddy System  Stapling, Sorting, and delivering  Clean up  Mini-assistants ◦ Bells ◦ Flowers, etc. ◦ Others

“Just Hanging Out With the Guys/Gals  Just Picture It ◦ Tools ◦ Cars  Wedding Dresses  Miss Manners  “Differences between the Sexes”  Others

 Art to Art  Grade School Class  Boy & Girls Scouts  Parties ◦ Tailgating ◦ Brain Games ◦ Worm Race

“Day by Day”  Impromptu Visits  Invite, Encourage, and Assist  All Staff involvement  Visits while eating  Break Routines  Others

 Memory  Movement  Helping  Humor  Interest (Curiosity)  Seeing & Touching (Props)  Smell & Taste  Sound & Talking

 Approach-Approach-Approach  Preparation ◦ Activityconnection.com ◦ Internet  Groups of 15 or less  Use Humor in every activity  Adult-Adult-Adult  Exaggeration but respectful

“It’s Their World, We’re In It”  Work in teams of 4 or less  Put a higher functioning with Lower Levels  Be very careful with questions directed toward one person  Keep possible resident problem behaviors away from each other  Challenging but not too difficult

 “Boring Activities (Same old Bingo)  Juvenile Approach (Children)  Lack of Staff enthusiasm (Bad Attitude)  No flexibility (Rules)  Severe Problem Behaviors (Virginia)  Non interest residents coming (Nida)  Other (Discussion)

 Smiles and Laughter  Truly Engaging Residents  Interactions between residents  Foster Friendships  Giving warm fuzzies to each other  Learning and growing  Compliments to staff

 Scheduled & Unscheduled Activities can Create a Growing Environment  Our Job is to Offer Meaningful Activity Opportunities  Success depends on What You Plan and How you Present it.  A “Bakers Dozen” should be a part of your Activity Categories  DDozen

 Use the “MMHHISSSTTT” approach to grow your activities  Evaluate your programs by looking at “Program Killers”  Consider your “Signs of Success”  Use Activityconnection.com  Look to always Improve  Work hard but have lots of fun

 VP of Rowlett & Laker  Activities Assistant at Brookdale  Coordinator of the 90 Hour Activity Course  Activitydirectorcourse.com  Presenter for In-services and Conferences 