Re-creating Recreation

Bob loved golf and played at least once a week until he was 94! Charlie was a pretty decent curler until he was side-lined by a stroke in his 80's.  Agathe had been a good swimmer until her health took a turn for the worse in her mid-seventies.  Eleanor loved skating and was nearing 100 when I had the pleasure of her company.

When I met these people, they were a little discouraged by their lack of exercise and had turned into arm-chair athletes.  It didn't dampen their joy of sport though, they were enthusiastic cheerers whether it was watching their favorite game on t.v. or hearing scores on the radio.

I looked for ways that I could keep recreation in their life on some level.  While many care homes have activity aids who provide carpet bowling, Wii sports, balloon toss, pretend polo, and the like,  it still can be difficult to meet the needs of some residents.  It just required some thought on my part as to what was realistic given eyesight and mobility issues of my clients.

I got Bob's niece to get his golf bag out of storage and dust off his putter. We set up a little practise area in the hall of his suite at the retirement home.  It consisted of a device that spat his golf ball back at him after he got it in the centre.  That kept him happy for a little while but sadly he fell in his bathroom one day and broke his arm, so golf was definitely out. He was content after that to have the golf channel on his television and watch the pros. As well, I took him for car rides past the golf course and once I asked him if would just like to rent a cart and go around the course, to which he declined. It was a part of his life that he had been ready to let go of.

Charlie set out on his own one day driving his electric scooter and heading straight for the World Championship of Curling being held at our local arena. The head nurse at the care home was not pleased. She had passed him in her car and had pulled over and demanded that he go back to the home because she didn't think he had the eyesight to be out maneuvering along busy city sidewalks. Charlie was irate and defied her concern over liability issues and kept right on going.  She relayed all this to me upon returning to the care home where I was visiting his wife and I offered to go out and look for him. I ran along the streets and found him just a block away from the event.  He was still annoyed but happy to have some company and I led him into the venue and found him a rink-side place to park his scooter in the wheelchair section. He was happy to see a good game or two that day and enjoyed yelling "Sweep" at his favorite team members.  I walked beside his scooter on the way back and made sure he got to the home in one piece.

One of my fondest memories of Agathe was taking her on a hot, summer day to a local lake for a swim.  She had many health issues but I felt she could manage once she got in the water. We walked in up to our waists and then she dove in with me swimming close beside her. She was so graceful and her joy was obvious. The image, even now, is easy to recall in my mind. I can see her with the sun beaming warmly upon her and the water droplets shining like diamonds on her face.

She had a fall a few weeks later and broke her hip.  Never again could we go swimming as her health deteriorated but I know that weightless freedom, that care free hour we spent doing something she loved and was good at and required no memory recall was a special time for her.

Eleanor, another dear friend of mine, seemed to exist on dark chocolate, vanilla yogurt, and the occasional sandwich! Her eyesight was good at nearly 100, her hearing terrible, and her sense of humour well intact.  Once I caught her throwing back Cadbury's candy coated eggs into her mouth looking quite pleased with herself.  I knew that besides chocolate and good jokes she loved watching figure skating. I kept an eye out for competitions while perusing the television guide.  If I saw that a competition or championship figure skating event was coming on I would get her comfy and then tune her in with either her headset turned up loud or text scrolling at the bottom so as not to disturb the others in her room. When figure skating would be on, she was fully entertained and in her element. If I wasn't going to be around, I would put a sign up at her bedside table notifying the care aids of the event.  The sticky note would have day, time, and channel as a reminder so that all they had to do was turn on the t.v. for her.

If you know someone who seems to be a little down because of their inactivity, find out what they did for recreation and then re-create it.