The Activity Professional's Notebook
Tips and articles relevant for today's Activity Professional
National Activity Professionals Week – 2023 Adventure Awaits
National Activity Professional Week – 2023 Adventure Awaits By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS Another year has passed. It seems like infection control outbreaks are part of our day-to-day experiences, but the activity professional keeps looking forward. This...
Knowledge + Power = Activity Professional
Knowledge + Power = Activity Professional By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS As a paid profession, the world of therapeutic activities is a relatively new one, having been in existence approximately forty-eight years. The term “activities” was introduced in the 1974...
Give Yourself the Gift of Presence
Give yourself the Gift of Presence By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS December can be one of the busiest months for the activity professional and an emotionally stressful one for many of our residents. The activity department goes into high gear decorating,...
That’s Not Appropriate
That’s Not Appropriate By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS One of the programs I led every day, as a new activity assistant, was morning exercise. I was given a Polka-Robics record to use for the program. (For those of you not born in archaic times - records or...
October is Resident Rights Month: Inspiring Unity within our Community
October is Resident Rights Month: Inspiring Unity within our Community by Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS October is Resident Rights Month which is an annual event introduced by the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care or the Consumer Voice...
Know Dementia – Know Alzheimer’s : World Alzheimer’s Month
By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS As care providers in the long-term care continuum, we often see and hear about statistics related to the rising numbers of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). One common statistic states that someone in the United States...
It Takes a Village – Community Resources
It takes a Village: Community Resources by Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS A good activity department works within a defined budget. Some budgets are ample, and some are less than ample. However, there are some things money cannot buy. A good activity department...
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors by Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS Things we take for granted: ~Feeling the warmth of the sun on our face on a spring day. ~The smell of the wet earth after a rainstorm in summer. ~The crispness to the air after a snowstorm. Regardless of where you...
Can Someone Lend Me a Hand?
By Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU, CTRS One of the casualties of the Covid Pandemic was the volunteer program in our care community. No visitors, no families and no volunteers for well over a year became the norm. To this day, some communities still prohibit volunteers...
The Green Thumb Club
The Green Thumb Club by Debbie Hommel, ACC/MC/EDU. CTRS As a new activity assistant, I was lucky enough to work in a nursing home that had a greenhouse. The greenhouse was adjacent to the dining room which gave the residents a direct view into the greenhouse. It...