For most of us, daily life is full of activity. We work, we care for our families and we pursue our interests. In some ways, we think how great it would be if life would just slow down and give us a break. For many seniors, circumstances can suddenly halt their ability to do anything they enjoy, and more importantly, it can isolate them from having relationships with other people.
While accidents or medical conditions can lead people to a Senior Living Community, the services offered go beyond caring for their physical needs. In most communities, activities staff, like myself, work to bring a bit of fun, recreation and fellowship into the lives of those they help care for.
Senior activities are a crucial part of senior care. In fact, conducting activities to address the interests and social needs of residents is a legal requirement in Skilled Nursing and a draw for new residents moving into Personal Care. You won’t be surprised that typical activities include bingo, birthday parties, religious services and crafts, but you may not realize that they also address interests like books, music, exercise and pet therapy. More importantly, all of these activities serve the important need for seniors to continue socializing and feel they are part of a community.
Providing a daily, varied schedule of activities for residents is crucial to the care they receive. The engagement and socialization they experience helps fulfill their psychological and psychosocial needs. These needs are recognized in research theory, including the well-known Hierarchy of Needs Theory of psychologist A. H. Maslow. He recognized that we all have key needs that must be met on the path to achieving self-esteem and continuing to live a life of purpose. Activities are a keystone of meeting the need to belong, which serves as a bridge between an individual’s basic and higher level needs.
Despite our best efforts, there are also challenging moments, which is when we set aside all the theories and fall back on compassion and understanding. Sometimes that just means spending one-on-one time with them or working with their family and friends to address what might be bothering them. Keeping in mind how important it is for people to stay connected to each other, we do our best to get those residents back in a group activity as soon as we can; hopefully, we’ll be able to get them involved in something they genuinely enjoy.
Those of us who work in activity departments never tire of the fun moments we spend with our residents—seeing them enjoy an activity, laughing together, chatting with them about family and experiencing the warmth of relationships. No matter what the situation is, we are part of a larger team that works hard each day to make the lives of our residents better—together.
