Recharging Retirees in Retirement Communities

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?

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 “

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

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.

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 .

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

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.)