Home tying news events into programming
Activity connecting Winter Olympics and G8 summit engaging residents
Wednesday February 24, 2010 -- Deron Hamel
Residents and activation staff at Muskoka Landing in Huntsville have folded two major news events into programming, which is proving to be successful at engaging everyone at the home, says interim programs manager Wendy Ivanov.

At the moment, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games are making headlines across the world and the event has been a major source of interest for residents at the home, says Ivanov. Coupled with this, residents have been learning about the upcoming 36th G8 summit being held at nearby Deerhurst Resort June 25-27.

With these two major events piquing residents’ interest, the Jarlette Health Services-owned home has come up with a program that sees residents keeping track of medals won by the G8 countries — Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan and the United States.

“We had a group discussion about the Olympics and we watched it on TV and it raised conversation in the room,” says Ivanov, explaining how the group came up with the idea.

“Some people had been to the Olympics before, so it was a really interesting discussion.”

From there, residents created bristol board charts detailing each of the G8 nations and their medal count. The engagement value has been priceless, says Ivanov.

“It’s causing a lot of excitement for residents and it gets residents socializing and talking about the Olympics,” says Ivanov, adding residents are also keeping staff members up to date on the latest Olympic results.

“They keep us on our toes,” she says.

Ivanov says she recommends other long-term care homes consider similar activities for engaging residents, noting that all you need is bristol board and residents and staff members willing to do some research.

The activation department is also tying the Games into its monthly travel program. This week, the home is focusing on Vancouver as the destination. One of the home’s activity aides will be dressing up as an Olympic athlete to lead the program, says Ivanov.

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