National Activity Professionals Day was late last month, a time to acknowledge the great work these professionals perform every day in our Saint Therese senior communities. Perhaps overlooked at times, these staff members are the lifeblood of the community by organizing and running leisure and wellness programming to enhance residents well-being.
You can see all they do by checking out the monthly activity calendars they create that are chock-full of programming to help residents stay active, expand their minds, learn new things, and have fun.
“They are truly integral to our residents’ lives,” said Lisa Kalla, chief operating officer for Saint Therese. “Their goal is to bring joy and purpose to our residents and get to know their interests and abilities in all levels of living.”
Across our Saint Therese communities, the Community Life Team (also called Life Enrichment) brings over 72 years of combined experience in creating engaging and meaningful activities.
We asked the team what they enjoy about their job, and their responses made one thing clear: while they work to enhance their residents’ lives, they enrich their own in equal measure. Following is some of what they told us:
(Cassie is second from the right)
Cassie Dillon with Saint Therese IHM Senior Living in Monroe, Mich., is the veteran of the bunch with 26 years in activities. She oversees a team of six. She said she likes to make people laugh and smile. “I love interacting with everyone, residents and staff. I push my staff to try new things that they don’t think will work and to see the success and accomplishments of the residents and the delight on their faces when they complete something they thought they wouldn’t be able to do.” The rest of team shared that they like spending time with the residents, helping them and bringing them joy.
Hannah Mallow, Saint Therese of Woodbury, has been in activities for nearly four years. She heads up a team of three. “It makes my day simply to be able to talk with them every day and ask them how they’ve been. I feel like they are genuinely happy to see me and I’m happy to see them!” Hannah’s favorite activity was last year when Tiptoe, the donkey, visited Woodbury and went around to the different areas to give hugs to the residents. Hannah gets involved herself as she is a part of the Woodbury choir, which is made up mainly of residents.
Zaynab Elshershaby, Saint Therese of Corcoran, is flying solo on the activity front for this new community, but she has relied on her five years of activity experience and 12 years in senior living to quickly ramp up life enrichment efforts. “I enjoy being creative, coming up with ideas for new programs and activities. I also enjoy being able to really get to know the residents and I love when they feel comfortable inviting their family members to our events which helps me to get to know them as well.” She said her favorite activity so far has been happy hour with bingo – the residents loved it and she continues to hear positive comments.
Leah Fricke, Saint Therese of Oxbow Lake, has a team of four, and says her favorite part of her job is building relationships with the residents and having the opportunity to hear about life stories, experiences or little anecdotes. “One of the biggest day-makers for me is when a resident tells me about their favorite book, song or something that makes their day. Sometimes it’s the littlest things that make the biggest impact!”
Samantha Behnke, Saint Therese – St. Mary of the Woods, leads a team of six, and shares many of the feelings of her activity compatriots. “It makes me feel good connecting fellow residents in ways they wouldn’t usually connect. For example, when you encourage residents with similar interests to attend an activity and those two end up making an acquaintance or an unlikely friendship.” One of her team members, Kristen Walter, has created a TV-like talk show where every month she interviews a resident and a staff member. “We learn about each other…it is humbling when the ‘guests’ get personal and share some deep emotions.”
Suzanne summed up her thoughts, which have an echo of our mission. She said, “Going into the medical field I always thought activities were a little part of it, but as the years went on, I have come to realize that the little things are what means the most to people.”