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As we pack up the trees and put
away the holiday videos - let's not forget there is one more celebration.
The good news is - this one is for us: the activity professional.
January 16th through 21st is National Activity Professionals Week.
National recognition days serve many purposes - to educate, to
acknowledge, to draw attention to something and to celebrate.
National Activity Professionals Week can serve all these purposes,
depending on how your department approaches the week. Educating
staff, families and the community about the values and benefits
of therapeutic activities is a daily responsibility for every
activity department. As a profession, we are still "paying our
dues" because we are a rather new profession. People need to understand
there is a "method to our madness" and that all our programs and
approaches have a purpose. NAPW is a perfect time to conduct in-services,
offer to speak at family meetings or go out into the community
and conduct informative talks about the benefits of activity involvement.
Creating informative posters or tri-boards can be displayed during
this week as a means to communicate the benefits of each activity
offered in the long term care community.
While education is essential, acknowledging the work and the success
of the profession is also an important goal for the week. Many
an activity professional has heard the phrase "I wish I could
be paid to have fun all day". Yes, most of us do enjoy our work
and it is to our credit, we make it all look so easy. But, we
all know the hours of preparation and planning that go into our
daily, weekly and monthly programs. Acknowledging the activity
staff during this week provides an opportunity to thank the department
and individual staff for their hard work and efforts throughout
the year. Our National Activity Association (NAAP) offers recognition
gifts with this year's logo and there are a number of other "activity"
stores which offer activity clothing and gifts which could be
presented during this week as a form of recognition.
National recognition days can also be used to draw attention to
the profession or cause. As mentioned early, the therapeutic activity
profession is a new profession, having been a paid profession
in long term care since the late 1960's. The first individuals
who worked in the activity department were nice enough, but many
were initially untrained and unskilled. Today's activity professional
must have specific training and certain skills. We have national,
state and local professional organizations which represent us.
We have standards of practice, ethics and regulations which define
the scope and parameter of our work. As a new profession, we are
still gaining respect and earning our place at the "big table".
National Activity Professionals' Week would be an opportunity
to convey that this is an established profession which has professionals
who do professional work. Creating a bulletin board, a tri-fold
board or a simple brochure which outlines the history of therapeutic
activities and our growth as a profession would communicate this
well. Information which could be utilized for the board is available
to members of NAAP.
Finally, let's do what we are known best for - have a celebration.
Celebrate with your fellow activity professionals, celebrate with
facility staff and of course, celebrate with the residents. Getting
the department together for a celebratory meal, formally or informally
should be a part of the week for all activity departments. Whether
you are able to all go out to a local restaurant or order in pizza,
a shared meal creates a sense of community. Celebrate with your
facility staff. Bring donuts or Danish to the department head
meeting during the week. Give out the informative brochure that
you created for your department and involve the department heads
in our celebration. Schedule an "activities" open house, with
refreshments, balloons and games. Send out invitations to all
departmental staff and invite them to join the celebration. While
they are visiting your department and sharing in those refreshments,
there is opportunity for them to review the informative posters
or tri-fold boards you have created and displayed. Lastly, schedule
a party with your residents and their families. Give out "activity
awards" to the residents for highest attendance, earliest arriver,
or best bingo player. Give out "staff awards" for the best craft
leader, best bingo caller and the like. Like the theme for this
year says, make the week full of "heartfelt memories".
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