Men's Connection with Activities

Yes, males are the minority in my retirement community and they probably are in yours too. Let's face it, as Activity Directors, they are a segment of the population that is easy to ignore when planning your monthly calendar each month. I find that the men who are part of a couple, usually are active with their spouse but I don't see them really get involved independently. And then the men who are single, be them widowers, forever bachelors, straight or guy, seldom want to participate in an activity that is marketed to men only.

I feel like there are men in my community that I really never have gotten to know very well because they are not involved in activities. This article says that men are happy when they go to programs that are cultural in nature, if they feel there is a health benefit for themselves and when they can volunteer to help others.  I don't know about you, but I do not see the men in our community signing up to go to the museum, or other programs that I thing are "cultural," very often.

I have tried men's only lunch trips to sports bars and even to Hooters! No takers. I've tried hosting a men's dinner at the community, where they could come and have an alcoholic beverage (which is something special in my community)..... and that was a flop also. Next we are going to try going to the theater for something that we know most women will not be interested in.... and sell it to the men. We will see what happens!

I know that the idea is to offer something for everyone and let the residents select what they want to do. I just continue to struggle with programming for men! Any ideas for programs for men living in the INDEPENDENT LIVING side of a continuing care community would be greatly appreciated.

Game Night

Every so often I put on my calendar a program that I simply call Game Night. I advertise it as a night that the residents can come to the auditorium and play whatever game they want to. It is a place where they can find people who might be interested in learning their favorite game, so that in the future they can get together and play.

I ask the residents to sign up for the evening and list what game(s) they are interested in playing. This helps me because I know how many tables to set up and also which games I need to bring to the event. I invite the residents to bring their game and supplies also. I also made name tags for everyone on my list, and had blanks for those "last minute Marys" that like to show up.

I had about 30 people sign up and about 30 people attend..... but not the same people that signed up showed up.... but that is typical in my community. I provide a 6ft table full of games - some that the community owns and some that I personally own.  The games included Life, Clue, Monopoly, Rummikub, Backgammon, Chess, Checkers, Cards, Phase 10 Twist, Dominoes, Yahtzee, Othello, Scrabble and others. 

  

The residents played bridge, Rummikub, Mexican Train Dominoes, Backgammon and a card game called PIT. What was fun was to see the residents who were prepared to learn something new, I had a table that was teaching Rummikub, one that was teaching the Mexican Train Dominoes game and another that was teaching the PIT game.  I also had a lady that took the Phase 10 Twist game home so that she could learn it. She has since come to me and told me that she is going to have a few game playing ladies over to her apartment and they are going to learn it together!

I had a resident who really wanted to play Backgammon and there was no one else interested, so I volunteered to play with him. I thought that I knew how to play the game, but it has been awhile since I played, and if I recall, was beaten by my teenage son!  Thankfully the resident was willing to teach me as we went along and as we played, I learned that he was a tournament Backgammon player! YIKES! All I can say was that if I embarrassed myself by the way I played, I was to dumb about it to even realize it! Guess that is one of the best part about the job.... being the young one in the room most of the time with lots of good senior knowledge to share with the youngster!

It was an easy night to put together and the response was very positive. I might do it more often, and I don't think that I need to be there to make it work! That is even better.

In-House TV Channel

At my retirement community we went from having a daily flip-chart pad in the lobby to an in-house TV channel about 14 years ago. We have updated twice and we are getting ready to update it again in the next month.
Currently we use a system called DSI. It works very well for our community and I would encourage you to look into it as an option if you are looking for a system.  Click on the link to go to Display System Internationals website.
On the current channel, we run pages that show the daily activities, the menu in our casual dining area for breakfast, lunch and dinner, special activities, reoccurring activities such as monthly lectures or services, etc. We also live broadcast of our Town Hall and Ask the Director meetings when they take place.

I have two wonderful volunteers who work on this project with me. One lady only wants to add the calendar to the system. That means that she types a page per square of the calendar onto the system. Most of the time, as you can imagine, that means editing the existing information to make it current. The other volunteer is more creative. She enjoys going onto the Internet and finding graphics that will enhance the special pages. Her husband enjoys photography, so that is a plus. He takes pictures of items in the community that she uses and it personalizes the channel even more!

I am very fortunate to have these two volunteers because it does not leave me a lot to do with the program. I have learned how to take the posters that I use in the community to sell my programs and use them on the system. That helps alot.

Our biggest problem is getting people to tune in! We have music that some residents say they tune into just to listen to, and I hope they see what's on their TV.... but who knows. I know that people tune in for the soup specials also... but I really want them to use it as a source for their questions when it comes to activities, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In the next month, the volunteers and I will begin training on our new system. I am very excited about the new system for a few reasons. The first is that any trained person can access the system from their own personal computer. This is different from the old system, which you had to go onto the special computer located in my office. The next reason I am looking forward to the new product it because, it will allow me to type my calendar once and it will add it to the software that produces the daily pages. And the final reason that I think this will be great is that it will start and stop a scheduled video on its own! That for me is huge! I am the responsible one during the day that does this job or the one that has to make sure someone else does the job when I am busy or away. This new company is called TouchTown and I encourage you to check into their website also!

Photo Source: TouchTown

I would love to hear if you use an -in-house system in your retirement community and what your experiences are. Are you the one responsible for it? Do other staff members work on it or just send you what they want shown? Do volunteers work on the system?  I'll let you know how my new venture with TouchTown goes...... stay tuned.

Dog Days of Summer

One of our most popular events is our annual dog show! I schedule it in August because it is the "Dog Days of Summer." I tried to find pictures of the event to show you, but I can't find them. I promise to take them and post them after this year's program. (Funny how having this blog makes me more responsible for my pictures these days.) I did however, find the newspaper article that was written about it. Feel free to check out this link for the Sun Sentinel article.

This activity is simple and brings so much fun to everyone! First, I promote the day and time of the show and ask anyone interested in participating to sign up. Once they've signed up, I send them a bio sheet for their dog. It asks the pet's name, age, breed, length of time owned, how long they've been residents at the community, their favorite trick, a cute story about them, and anything else that I can think of.  The more you know, the better it is while you are on stage with them!

After I review the forms, I get the pet owners to come to the auditorium (without their pet) and go over the show. This rehearsals is very important to the success of the show. I show the resident where to take their dog before the show starts (usually out of the audiences view is best) so that the animals are ready to go and stay calm. You will probably learn from the owners which dog gets along with which, and will need to separate those that don't. I give the residents a chance to walk on the stage and learn how to exit as well.

Once the show starts, most residents simply walk their dog onto the stage and stand there while I share their bio information with the audience. It is very important that you have fun with this part of the show, or it will drag. If the dog does something cute, make a big deal out of it and highlight it to the audience. Some residents have trained their dogs to do tricks. That is great too!! Make sure the participants understand that this is not a contest, it is a show for fun.

In the past, I have invited the audience to be the judge, along with me, to determine the title each dog will earn. This is done by announcing the title and asking the audience to shout out who they thinks deserves the prize. If there is more than one name, I tell the audience the names, and go to each of the dogs to clarify who is in the running for the prize. Then we go to a round of applause to determine the winner. Titles can be as smallest, biggest, best barker, best tail wagger, the Dumbo award (best ears), best dressed, owner/dog look-a-like, and more. Each dog should win a prize. Don't forget to add something in the gift bag for the owners, like a note pad with dogs on it, maybe. Make sure that you have more titles to win then you have dogs! There are times when you will need it, trust me. 

I have a volunteer help me note who has won which title, because it goes so fast that I don't always have time to write it down. Prizes are all the same and usually includes a treat for the owner and for the dog. I post a list of the winners in the Lobby so that everyone can see the results after the show.

At the end of the show, I ask each resident to take his/her dog to a designated area in the room. (This should be discussed in the rehearsal.) Once the pets and the owners are stationed, I invite the audience to meet and greet our four-legged residents. This is a highlight for the audience because they get to pet the dogs and learn more about their friend's dog that they may have only heard about at the dinner table.

This year I'm working on giving the residents in the audience more information so that they can judge more accurately. They want to see what the categories are for the prizes so that they can put the right pooch on the right pedestal! I'm not sure how this will work since I do create more titles then there are dogs... so we will see.  I've also thought about bringing in local area judges who work with pets. Maybe this can even be a fund raiser for the shelter this time. We will see. I'm still working on it!

Have you had a dog show in your community? If so, please comment below! We'd all love to hear from you.

Laughing Yoga

Next month we will be introducing a new class called Laughing Yoga to the community. We found a nice woman who is offering a free introductory class to us. She came and discussed it with our Fitness Director and me, and it sounds very interesting. I thought that I'd share it with you now and share a few links to sites on the Internet that tell you about it. I also included one that is an article about seniors using laughing yoga. I'd love to hear from you if you have had such a class in your community and if the residents like it or not. I will post more after we've had the class.

• http://www.laughteryoga.org/
• http://www.laughteryogaamerica.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkisga824Nc
• http://romeoville.patch.com/articles/learn-the-benefits-of-laughter-yoga-at-senior-star-at-weber-place