Inside Athena: Lanessa’s Dir. of Recreation Puts the Fun in Functionality
WEBSTER, M.A. — Erin Price knows that what she does at Lanessa Extended Care is much more than games, events, and other activities that residents do on a daily basis.
She is the director of the recreation department, tasked with making fun activities and events for residents at the Webster center.
Lanessa resident, Karen, alongside Erin
“We utilize recreation-based interventions for functioning such as physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual functioning. We try to use recreation to help people recover from basic motor functioning problems, reasoning abilities, we help to try to build confidence and help them socialize effectively by using arts and crafts, animals, games, dance, movement, music,” Price said.
Every day, she and her team put on all sorts of things for people to do from arts and crafts to animal visits to movie nights. It’s not only to make them smile and laugh, but to boost their spirits and create new friendships.
“It’s a good way to get them engaged because, if you sit in your room, you are more likely to have depression, some stress, maybe people that have anxiety can alleviate some of that if they find a friend with common interests,” she said.
They use games as a tool to help people improve or maintain their current brain function. For example, if a resident played games at home with their family but is experiencing cognitive difficulties, board games can be a way to bring problem-solving, logical thinking, planning, and cooperation into the equation.
She recalls the time a non-verbal resident on the dementia unit couldn’t stop talking about cars. The center holds a car show in the fall and, one year, the resident who barely spoke continued to share stories about her past cars. Price said that’s the power recreation can have on someone in a nursing home.
When a new person comes to the center, the team tries to learn about their interests. They continually do surveys throughout the year to understand what people want to do. She finds music is very popular among all residents.
A big part of the recreation department is helping their residents stay engaged in the community they live in. Lanessa has done all sorts of things to stay connected with their neighbors. From the car show open to the public to helping out local humane societies to welcoming the door to town leaders, Price and her team are always finding new ways to bridge the two together.
In September, the town’s first selectman, fire chief, police chief, and EMS chief visited the center to celebrate centenarians at the center. They read proclamations to the three ladies as they all passed 100 years old.
“The best thing that I like is helping people feel better. Providing them a little comfort, a listening ear, maybe a smile, just spending some time with them I think makes them feel a little better and you can tell,” Price said.
Kathy L., Karen D., Erin P., Lexi T. in Lanessa’s recreation department
Price was introduced to recreational therapy when a good friend of hers became injured. She started to get involved with physical therapy, but found recreational therapy was better suited for her. She has been at Lanessa since May of 2022.
“I have a great team,” she said, adding a good team is created by a good environment.
In addition to her team, she said each department at the center really wants the best for their residents. From nursing to therapy to recreation, the Lanessa team puts their residents first.
Follow Athena Health Care Systems on Twitter and Facebook & Lanessa Extended Care on Facebook. Interested in a career with Athena? Click here!