Baby Boomers In Senior Centers

This is an interesting article about baby boomers and senior centers. It is the first time I am hearing about the "salad bar generation."  Have you heard the term before and are you ready for this new generation?

 

Here is another article about baby boomers wanting "cruise ship lifestyle" in the retirement. The article is based out of Canada, but I'm sure that this is valid in the US also! Are  you getting ready for the baby boomers in your CCRC?

Computers & Booking Entertainment

Every Tuesday night the auditorium becomes an opportunity for the residents to get their feet a tappin‘, sing their favorite songs, learn an interesting fact or two, or simply to be with their friends after dinner. And believe me, if the show is not up to their standards, I’ll know about it! I reduce the odds of having a bad show by using technology to schedule the entertainers each week.
First, let me remind you that technology is only as good as the information that you provide. If poor information is put into the system, then you will get an inaccurate end result from what ever program you are using. The information that I put into my computer comes from a human factor, my Activities Committee. They are selected by the Resident Board based on their interest. Each month, the committee and I meet and discuss the past entertainers as well as other topics. The committee rates each performer on a scale of 1 - 5 and it is recorded on my calendar. The members know that they are the “ears and eyes of the community” and that this should not just be based on their opinion. Since I will only bring back shows that earn a 4 or a 5, the group is conscientious about the ratings and sometime there is a lot of discussion around the table before a final number is given. As appose to my opinion or the random people who tell me about a show, I feel these ratings are more accurate and suitable information to put into my computer. Each of the performer’s names, date of the show and score is put into a simple WordPerfect table document. (In the future, I will be adding their fee.) I selected this format because I’m most familiar with it, but you might select another that works best for you.

When I am ready to hire an entertainer, I open the document and search through it to find when he or she was with us last and what their rating was. In a Word Perfect document, a quick way to find a certain word is by using Control F and then typing in the search criteria. It will take you to the first occurrence of the word(s) and then you can go to the next. In my search, for the Harmonicats, if they had a 4 or a 5, I would book them. If they did not, then I’d say, “my calendar is full right now” and I don’t try too hard to reconnect with them for a future date. (and YES, caller ID on our phones is a bit of technology that I am thankful for.) Since I only hire a performer once a year, this system works for determining when they were with us last and it makes it easier to keep a handle on that also.

Another way that I use the computer to hire entertainers is when I am searching for new acts. I receive recommendations from many sources, including residents, staff, phone calls and e-mails. When I get an email, I save it. When it comes time to look for the e-mail, I use the search feature in my e-mail software to help me located it faster. You might even consider creating a sub-folder in your email that is just for emails from entertainers. I am not going into details about how to do those things because each software is different. Look into how yours works. Don’t be afraid to search around. It is the best way to learn about your computer’s software.

I also use the computer to learn more about the recommendations from my friends and from the persistent “new to the area” performer who wants a job by checking out their websites. Many acts now have sites that list referrals, as well as provide sound clips to hear. I also find information on their sites that help me to promote the show in the community such as photos for the poster I’ll make to promote their show, or verbiage that the Master of Ceremonies uses to introduce the show. If the performer does have a website, I save it under my favorites, in a file that I’ve created called Entertainers. That way, I have it for the future and I can see what’s new on their site when I book them for the future. This is a great help for me.

If a performer does not have a website, most of them use email at this point. I ask them to email me a few things; a contract so they can get paid, a W9 form if they are new to our system, a picture if they have one and any information that they want us to use in publicizing their show. Most of this information is saved on my computer in a file called Entertainers Information. I save it with the act’s name in that folder and I can easily access it in the future.

The key ways that I’ve use technology to assist me are first, to understand the importance of creating a good beginning point with clearly accessible facts (performers name, date, rating), being able to use the internet to learn about the subject and lastly to file the items that you get on your computer (documents, websites, photos, etc) in such a way that you will be able to retrieve them easily. I hope that you can see how technology can be used to make one of the elements of being an Activities director easier and more productive.

High School Students Volunteer at Retirement Community

As I continue to search the web for interesting information for you, I found this. This is about high school students volunteering in retirement communities. Check out the tasks that they are sharing with each other. http://coloradocommunitynewspapers.com/articles/2011/04/11/highlands_ranch_herald/news/doc4da35d50319e0881501627.txt

Seniors Using Computers

At my retirement community, there are lots of independent living residents who have their own personal computers. We also have a media center in each community that has computers and printers in it for residents without a computer at home, or family members to use. They are connected to the internet. I love watching family members come for a visit and take a resident who is computer challenged into the center to view their FaceBook page or teach them how to e-mail so that they can stay in touch with one another better!

We have a wonderful, resident run computer club where the club members teach one another, and sometimes have guest instructors come in to give a lesson or two. Our information technology man has been very involved with getting them set up and giving classes to them also.

We have also had special guest lectures come to the community and offer talks about FaceBook, Twitter, and Skype. They are very well attended.

AAA Car-fit for seniors

In an effort to bring you some of the cool stuff on the web about seniors to you, I found this from AAA (also known as Triple A.) I know that in the past that our physical therapy department at work did a car-fit afternoon with the residents and it was well received - but a lot of work for the therapy department. Take a look and see if there is a venue by your retirement community that maybe you can promote to your independent living seniors who still drive.

Also, you may want to check out my blog about senior adult driving courses in your retirement community. The blog is called Defensive Driving.

Tax-time Blues Theme Party

We had a great night last night with our first ever Tax-time Blues theme party. Let me share with you what we did, so that if you'd like, you can add it to your calendar. First of all, it was important to plan it during tax season.
My retirement community's lobby is current under renovations, so it is a bit of a mess..... and it actually worked out fine for me with decorations. (I will post pictures ASAP.) Because of the construction, we have a temporary wall in the lobby. I told the residents that I was broke from paying taxes and that I need them to help provide art for the wall. I used the term graffiti because they wanted to "tag" the wall when it first went up. I gave them flip-chart paper and they brought back some interesting work relative to the theme. I also printed some famous quotes and printed one per page to add around as well. Sayings like "I'm to broke to pay attention" or "I'd have all the money I need it I died at 4:00 p.m. today" by Henny Goodman. I used soda cans as a garland. I used blue balloons with blue crape paper hanging from it in a small section right before my Auditorium. I added copies of the 1040 form to some of the balloons and floated them along with the ones with crape paper. Then inside the auditorium, I used white bed sheets with holes in it to cover up the stage curtain. I covered the organ and piano that sit on stage too with tarps and sheets. I made it look like a work area with a few paint cans and a paint roller. I added a couple of large "hobo bags" there also. And lastly, I made Uncle Sam's arm coming out from behind the holey curtain, grabbing a handful of money.

The evening started at 4:30 p.m. when residents came down to have "simple snacks." Snacks were onion rings, corn fritters, cheese spread and crackers and a punch. Then they went into the dining room for dinner. The table cloths were exchanged for butcher paper, the place settings were scaled back to the minimum required items, and the silverwear was placed into the water goblet with a paper blue napkin. It looked nice when they walked in. We also added crayons to the tables so that they could "tag" the tables if they wanted to. And they did!

Dinner offered "Ketchup Soup" which was tomato soup, Macaroni salad, American cheese omelet, Poor Man's Lobster (Baked Monk Fish), Beanie Weenies, Hobo Stew (beef stew), tater tots, spinach, and corn on the cob.

After dinner I had a jug band perform. It was the perfect show for the night. Let's just say that I ended the show with "you get what you pay for (laughter from the audience).... and tonight we got more than we bargained for!

The residents dressed as bag ladies, bums, pan-handlers, and much more. They loved it. And those who said "I was raised poor, and didn't want to dress like that again" still found the event fun because others were dressed up....or should I say down.

ps. Take a look at my other theme ideas listed in the category listed on the left or start at Thinking About Themes.

IPad and Seniors

This is from a cool blog called The Creative Greenhouse.  Check it out.  And take a look at this book I found on Amazon. There are other books about seniors and the computer on the blog called Seniors Using Computers.

 Please look under my technology link for more articles (they are better than this one.)