Natalie

Hi

I was wondering how many Activities Coordinators there are in an Independent living extra care scheme that are in the UK. I have been asked to do some research and see how they conduct activities at their site , as I feel like I am researching my self out of a job. A lot of independent living schemes I have looked at do not have an activities coordinator but the residents themselves sort out the activities with support with staff on site.
When I do activities I have a core number who attend which is only about 12 out of 84 residents my manager wants over half to start to attend at least one activity a week. I have tried different groups but they are so independent that at this moment in time they do not need the activities.
Some information on what you do and how many attend would be much appreciated and if you do have a set person running them.
(example of a few of the popular activities we have, chit chat, music appreciation, arm chair travel, brain training, mindfulness, dance and creative expression but like i said it is only about 12 different people that attend at the moment)

Many thanks
Natalie

As Bingo prizes at my work place we have for one line, individual biscuit packs, tea or coffee sachets, and sweet treats like a few chocolates or individual haribo sweets. For a full house I have got posh adult squash, Packs of biscuits, non alcoholic beverages, toiletry packs, and word search or puzzle books.
They love it, they usually get three games in so a few people get to win a prize and bless some of them if they have already won they let the next person win (not all residents do this but its all down to the individual)

We also do a fortnightly quiz and the team or individual get a choice of the same prizes as in a full house of Bingo but may have a box of biscuits or sweets for a team to share. I have them in a bag and only show it if a team has won as some individuals would choose a box of chocolates for themselves LOL.

Hello I am looking to set up a pen pal service for my residents, I am an activities coordinator at a retirement extra care facility in the UK. I have residents aged 50-87. At Huntley Place we have residents that are very independent and some that need a lot of care needs. I think starting this now with the pandemic happening will bring back the community spirit and join different parts of the world together. I have some residents that would like individual pen pals and some of the residents that would be happy to send a group letter. If you are interested please contact me on [email protected]. We are happy for anywhere in the world or even in the UK.

As the original post said It was for the carers I think a lovely relaxing activity for them is to maybe do half an hour or an hour of listening to relaxing pan pipe or piano music while doing some adult coloring sheets. the music can relax and soothe you can do some deep breathing techniques to start the session off and its up to the individual when they want to colour or just sit and relax for the session.

A brilliant idea, lovely topics, the post office one will be particularly good for my residents as two uses to work for the post office and have had some chats about how it all changed while working there, for instance when postcodes got introduced and from manually sorting to machine sorting.
I am very lucky that my local museum have a reminiscence scheme and have artifacts that we can hold and talk about before lockdown we did one around the 1950s and got them to guess what the items where and some items have a local connection too which is amazing. When I am back at work I will try and get a photo of the box, not sure if you have a museum local to you but they might have an educational program that can add to your group.