National Activity Professional Week – 2021
10,000 Possibilities
By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS
Boy-o-boy, what a year it has been since we celebrated National Activity Professional’s Week in 2020. The Covid pandemic is a historic event which has changed the face of daily life, health care and the activity profession. This year’s theme for National Activity Professionals Week certainly says it all – “10,000 Possibilities”. The activity profession has faced this pandemic with bravery, compassion, creativity – easily creating at least 10,000 possible ways to continue meeting our resident’s needs in spite of the limitations imposed by this pandemic.
National Activity Professionals Week, which is January 24th-30th this year, has always been a week of celebration and acknowledgement of the hard working activity profession. This year, more than ever, we salute the tireless efforts of the activity professional. The value of social connections has been proven time and again, as residents have been confined to their rooms for weeks on end. Clients, who enjoy daily visits to the adult day health centers, have not been able to visit their day programs for almost a year. Sadly, we are witnessing the negative impact of reduced social engagement amongst our residents as well as ourselves.
The National Association for Activity Professionals has defined this year’s theme as “10,000 Possibilities.” Visit the NAAP site to check out the NAPW Packet with ideas and resources as to how to celebrate our week.
There are numerous virtual events scheduled that can be accessed via Facebook. Check out the NAAP, NCCAP and your state association’s Facebook pages for programs and schedules of “Live” events, educational programs and celebrations. Facebook has been a huge support to the profession, sharing countless ways to meet our resident’s needs in spite of the Pandemic.
Here are some ideas to celebrate and communicate the value of what we do during NAPW. These ideas have been adapted to a 1-1 approach as most communities are still limiting residents to their rooms or small social groups.
- Create a virtual photo album of activities and outline their benefits. This photo album can be utilized during a room visit on an IPad or portable computer screen. With in-house television stations, it can be broadcasted at certain times of the day. With permission, include photos of current residents attending programs and reminisce about programs they have attended. Keep the conversation positive, looking forward to group gatherings soon.
- Introduce a collaborative poem activity. This can be done room to room. You can start the poem with a starter statement such as “Activities are…” or “It happened on my way to activities…” Share the final results on the next day’s visit.
- Create a video emphasizing the benefits of each activity. Utilize one of the more popular songs of the day. Film the residents holding a sign stating what their favorite activity is or why they think activities are important.
- Offer an activity word game or crossword puzzle. These can be made quickly on free puzzle creating sites using activities and staff in your building.
- Create an “Activity Trivia Game” which is similar to the crossword puzzle or word find. Trivia questions can be related to your activity program, staff or the benefits of activities. The game sheets can be distributed at the start of the week. All staff can be encouraged to assist the residents in completing the sheets which are submitted by the end of the week for prizes.
- Plan an “Activity Olympics” which can be introduced on a 1-1 basis, in room. Each day of the week can offer various activities related to a particular activity domain. For example, Monday may be “Mental Aerobics Day”; while Tuesday may be “Let’s Get Physical Day”. Each day can offer an activity within the defined domain.
- Celebrate as a department. Have a luncheon or private celebration for your department. Even with Covid, the activity staff can gather and celebrate each other.
- Give yourself the gift of professional membership and affiliation. If you are not a member of NAAP(national association) or your local or state activity association – treat yourself to a membership in honor of our week. Membership in professional organizations provides the Activity Professional with education, support, state of the art resources and validation for the work that we do. Standing together as a profession has always been important and more so now as we go through this historical event.