One minute to a better mind

Check out this very short video and see if you can include the idea into your programming with your independent living residents. It might make a difference to one senior's brain!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4pfqf2sG-0&feature=player_embedded  Also, please read the post on this blog entitled Brain Fitness Training for Seniors.

Stop and Say Hi

You get what you give! Don’t you find that when you smile while walking through the lobby in your retirement community that most of the time someone will smile back at you? How about when you say, “have a nice day”?  Most people respond with thanks, some to you, or something like that.  I know that it makes me feel good if someone wishes me a good day, just as I’m sure that it makes them feel good when I say it to them.  A simple hi or “hello ladies” goes a long way when you are passing a group of residents. To acknowledge their presence for some gives them a lot of pleasure, which as active, productive adults, we can not fully understand.  Yes, it might seem like a standard line to say, but I really believe that taking a few minutes  to greet a resident is a win, win situation for you and the residents in your community. Of course, if time allows stop and talk! That is usually another win, win situation. The things that I have learned from residents over the past 24  years is priceless. I think that I am a better person because of the residents who have shared with me. Also, what you can learn that benefits you in your position of activities director is enormous. How else can you learn that a person might be interested in volunteering, have a talent to share, know of others that are to shy to share about themselves, but would get involved if you asked them, or so many more good things. Yes, we are all busy, but trust me, it is worth it to stop and say hello!

Office Organization

How do you keep all the little details of your job in order so that you can be successful? If I heard it once, I heard it a million times. Our job as Activities Director is so diverse and has so many details that you must be well organized. I’d like to think that I have a good system,  and I’m sure that what works for me, may not work for you. Below is the outline of how I handle my office. If you have a successful method, I’d love to hear from you. Take what does work for you from this article and and make your life at work easier. That is what this blog is all about!

I use a four part system to schedule my work life and to keep track of everything. The first and most important item is my calendar book. Up until this year, I’ve used a Daytimer calendar, but this year, I’m using Franklin Covey. I don’t see much difference at all. I have a section for the months that is spread over two pages per month, and then the weekly calendar, which does the same.  I use the monthly calendar to put all my special  and reoccurring events on it.  Here is also where I schedule my entertainers. I use a system of colored check marks to show if they are confirmed or not and when  I’ve requested their payment. I also make notes of any food requested for a program here too.

I use the weekly calendar to make notes of what I need to do at a certain time of the day, or on a special program. I also add my phone calls to be returned in the Saturday and Sunday boxes. I like to highlight the items as I get them completed. I don’t cross them out because I might need to refer back to it for some reason and this way I can still see it. I use a light yellow for this and it works well. I can also see what still needs to be done from the past when I flip back to see what I’ve missed. I use the daily pages to plan when I’m going to start promoting an activity, and when the deadlines are for it as well.

The second part of my system is a grid that I made that shows the different kinds of programs that I want to include on my monthly calendar.  The categories are Daytrip, Fitness, Community Event, Lunch/Dinner Outing, and Free trip (which lately has meant cheaper trip).  These categories are at the top of the page and then along the side are the months of the year.  This helps me see the big picture and to coordinate with fellow activities directors who work in our company's other communities in the area.

The third part is the “tickler system.” It is a file system that is the drawer of my desk that is most convenient for me. It has a monthly file section and a numbered section for each day of the month. I file everything that I need for each month in the folders for the month. At the beginning of the month, I bring out the papers, tickets, lists, contracts, etc. from the monthly file and put it into the daily file for each event. This helps a lot because I can get my hands on items quickly and saves time.

The last item is more about my processes. First, I don’t try to remember anything when I’m out of my office. I learned a long time ago, that I don’t do well with recalling facts that residents ask or tell me unless they are written down and I’ve referred to it. The next thing that I do is to respond quickly to what is being asked of me. If someone wants me to pass information out to the community, I try to add it to the next announcements page that will be going out to the community, or add it to my in-house TV channel. If time does not allow for immediate action, I write it down on my calendar as a task to be done on the date that it needs to be taken care of.

If I were to lose my calendar book, I’d be lost!  I’d love to integrate it onto the computer, but at this point I don’t think my company has a program that would allow me to have all of it at my fingertips when I’m not at my desk. I get a lot of work completed on  a bus ride or while at the casino waiting to escort the group home.

Volunteer Appreciation Party Ideas

Each year we have a volunteer appreciation program to thank the residents who have served the community within the past year. I try to change it each time so that it is interesting to those who have attend year after year. I have created a slide show of all the volunteers doing their job, had the residents stand up at their table and say their name and their volunteer duty, and had many different themes for the event. I think that sharing the different volunteer areas is a good idea because some people in the room are looking around at the fellow guests and thinking to themselves, "What is she doing here? She doesn't volunteer!" Funny, and most likely true in your community also.

Since I am working on the details of this year's appreciation lunch, I thought that I'd share it with you and also share what other fun ideas we've done in the past. Hopefully the ideas will help you and that you will share your thoughts with us on this blog so that we can all learn from one another.

This year I'm doing "We're NUTS for our volunteers." We are giving them a coffee mug with our company's logo and the theme saying on it. It will contain an assortment of nuts wrapped inside. The food will have a nut theme also (with an option for the person who is allergic available.) Decorations are still being worked on. I think I found someone who will make me peanut shaped balloons.  The gifts will be set at each place setting so the tables will look nice.

In the past, I've done other neat themes. Here is a quick list, although the wording is probably not exact since I am trying to remember them....  "Volunteers are our good fortune" Decorations: Oriental. Food: Asian, Gift: Notebook with Asian theme. I created personalized fortune cookies for the "Good Fortune" theme. Here is the site that I used http://fancyfortunecookies.com/ ; "Spotlight on You" Decorations: Stars  Gift: Mini Flashlight; "Volunteers make our Community Blossom" Decorations: Flowers, Food: I jsut remember had an edible orchid on the plate,  Gift: Tote bag (I think).   We have also given back-packs, desk clocks, pen/pencil sets, paper cubes with a clip on pen, and night lights away as gifts in recent years.

You might want to read the National Volunteer's website for 2012 information. It is updated yearly.... so go ahead and click on the link each year.

Please see the other goodies that Amazon offers to make your volunteer appreciation event the best by going to my suggestions for volunteer parties.  FOOTNOTE: I finally made my decision for this year's gift. I ordered angel pins and will use "heavenly" as my theme! Here is the article with everything you will need for a successful Heavenly volunteer theme event.   UPDATE FOR 2013: I am doing a mint theme. Take a look at my Pinterest site and you will see some of the cool gift ideas for this theme.

Puzzels Population Popping

Seems like there is always someone at our puzzle table. Right now in my community there are about half a dozen people who like to work on them on a regular basis. The puzzle table sits in my main lobby, off to the side. I think there are people who enjoy seeing their progress and the final product, so it brings joy to more than those few residents who work on it.

I leave the puzzles in a closet in one of our activity rooms so that they can go in and get what they want. At one point they were organized by size. A while ago, I had a puzzle-maker who was making a note on the box when they were completed, so that they would not bring that box to the lobby to work on. But now, I have no idea how they determine what they've finished already and what they want to work on next.

Our retirement community gets donations of puzzles from our residents, their families and from the outside community. With two "sister-communities" in the area, we swap puzzles too. But still..... I have way to many to house! They are now popping out of the closet and I'm finding them tucked away in cabinets that they really shouldn't be in. (Maybe I need to keep the female puzzles on one shelf and the males on the other....just kidding.)

Does your community work on puzzles in the common areas? Do you have a system that works for you to get puzzles and to find new homes for your puzzles? If so please click the link below that says comment and enter it there. We'd all love to learn from you. Thanks.

Party on our Side of the Pond

You can not turn on the t.v. or pick up a magazine without seeing a story about Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding. If it is anything like Charles and Diana's wedding, it will be a fairytale and will be a sight to see. I know that the residents in my community are looking forward to watching it.

I am planning to have an event around this special day. We will have special brunch in our Auditorium where the residents will be able to watch the broadcast. It will be a fancy event. Residents will be invited to come wearing their best hat and attire. The menu will include favorites from across the pond and U.S. favorites too.

I will have the computer set up so that those who want to sign into the official guest book for the wedding can do so, and feel a part of the really big viewing guest list that will be watching from around the world.

Are you hosting a party at our place? If so, please take a moment to share your ideas. In case you don't know, the wedding will take place on April 29. You still have time to make a plan and celebrate this memorable event in your community.

Here is a new link that tells you the schedule of the day. Don't forget there is a time change! (5 hrs ahead of us here in FL)