Engagements and Recreation Therapy at AlzCare

At AlzCare, we are committed to creating engagement and recreation therapy opportunities for our residents. This is different from simply conducting an activity or providing entertainment for them. Engagements allow staff (care givers, recreation & best friends) to connect with the residents on a personal level through many different avenues. This is done with every resident on a daily basis.

What is Therapeutic Recreation?

Therapeutic Recreation is the use of sports, games, arts & crafts, music, dance, drama, sightseeing excursions and non-traditional recreation activities to improve or maintain the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals with special needs.  The use of Therapeutic Recreation Strategies with an Alzheimer’s Population can yield improved quality of life, positive social interactions, and could possibly delay the progression of some Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.

We feel it is important to engage our residents in activities that are appropriate & attainable to their level of cognitive and physical functioning.  This is one reason why we offer different levels of care.  One way we are able to make this possible is by knowing our residents well and educating our staff on the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease. It is important to us that we understand each individual’s abilities so that we can utilize them and give the residents as much independence as possible.  We also use various adaptation techniques so that all the residents can participate, even at differing levels of ability.  For those in the latter stages, some of these techniques we use include hand-over-hand method, brining the activity to the resident, and prepping activities for the residents.

Our activities at AlzCare are designed to focus on five areas of engagement.

• Cognitive: It is important to stimulate the minds of our residents through engagements. The more you use your mind the slower it will decline!
• Behavioral: Engagements can be used as interventions with residents who may be experiencing some disease related behaviors.
• Physical: All residents need physical stimulation. We adapt methods of physical engagement to meet the needs of the residents.
• Emotional: Each resident has emotional needs that must be met with care and compassion. We use these times as an engagement opportunity.  We will talk it out with them and give them one-on-one attention.
• Social: Social engagements can create a fun and positive atmosphere for all involved.

By providing these recreational activities and engagements we are able to improve the quality of life of our residents.