Inside Athena: Parsons Hill Therapeutic Recreation Director Celebrates 40 Years in the Profession
Cindy Christian, alongside Matt Parker, Maintenance Director. Cindy creates the maintenance department at Parsons Hill for always assisting in recreational events.
Cindy Christian has been in the field of Therapeutic Recreation for 40 years, which was notably recognized by the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation with a 40 Years of Service pin. Upon receiving her pin, she had a moment of reflection looking back at her career and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
For the past 15 years she has been working at Parsons Hill Rehabilitation & Health Care Center in Worcester as the Therapeutic Recreation Director. She’s always worked in Therapeutic Recreation within a hospital or long-term care setting. Her affinity for working with older adults grew during her tenure at a hospital where she engaged with both adolescents and geriatrics.
“As a recreational therapist, my job is to improve our resident’s quality of life through cognitive, emotional, spiritual, social, and physical activities,” she said.
Upon meeting a new resident at the center, Cindy said an evaluation is always done to get more information about the resident. This helps her, along with the recreational team of four, to understand what the resident likes, dislikes, what hobbies they may have, and to learn their story.
From collecting the information, she encourages the residents to attend programming based on their interests and in some cases develops new activities to try out.
“Sometimes it takes a bit to find what may work [and what interests our residents],” Cindy said. “Everyone is an independent person and I have to figure out what I can do to provide meaning to this person.”
Parsons Hill Rehabilitation & Health Care Center serves a population unlike a traditional nursing home. Parsons Hill has supportive services in place for people diagnosed with substance use disorder and who require skilled nursing care.
Cindy said she finds ways to “give them purpose” when creating social and recreational programming. For example, Parsons Hill offers a Resident Store and often it is resident run.
“It’s important to get them involved and give them jobs to do,” she said.
In doing this, it helps the residents develop their life skills to give them more tools to be successful following a discharge.
“We have a pretty good team here,” she said. “Many of us have been together for a long time. There is a sense of trust, comfort and we tackle everything together. It’s a good team here.”