I am located in the United States, in Chicago, IL, and am a consultant to nursing home activity departments. I was talking to the administrator in one of my communities and we were discussing the idea of a "pen pal" opportunity for the residents. I immediately thought of golden carers and how cool it would be to develop a relationship with a community in another country.
i suppose the first question would be ... is there any interest? is there a community out there outside of the United States that might be interested in making a connection with a long term care community in the United States?
I look forward to hearing from any of you who might want to discuss what i am hoping could develop into something really cool.
Looking forward to a reply...Courtney Castillo, CTRS
Hi Courtney, while I'm not currently in a Care Home to share, the interest in Pen Pal's always seems to be very popular and fun way to connect here on Golden Carers, and love that you reached out!
Hi Courtney, I am interested in assisting you to organise pen pals with our community palliative care Hospice guests. I am the activities coordinator for Anam Cara Geelong (Australia) and currently run Day Hospice respite activities 3 days per week with 8 attendees per day. Have also had an idea for those people who find hand written letters too difficult. Corresponding by email could work within a group environment, if we linked participants to a buddy. We would happily share photos of our guests and activities so it would be more visual and interesting to all participants. Would love to hear back from you
Hi, That sounds like a great idea. In the mean time, we use a great website called postcrossing that is all about postcards. I shared the idea on here so you should be able to search it. Since we started in March/April we have recieved and sent over 35 postcards all over the world!
Golden Carers is a wonderful resource. I really like the idea that more of it is going to be in video format as this grabs my participant's attention! Even after 20 years in the activity director role, the ideas in Golden Carers are often refreshingly innovative and really useful, even on the fly. Your help is invaluable! Many thanks!
June Spry Leverton Activity Director United States
I am located in the United States, in Chicago, IL, and am a consultant to nursing home activity departments. I was talking to the administrator in one of my communities and we were discussing the idea of a "pen pal" opportunity for the residents. I immediately thought of golden carers and how cool it would be to develop a relationship with a community in another country.
i suppose the first question would be ... is there any interest? is there a community out there outside of the United States that might be interested in making a connection with a long term care community in the United States?
I look forward to hearing from any of you who might want to discuss what i am hoping could develop into something really cool.
Looking forward to a reply...Courtney Castillo, CTRS