Celebrating Activity Professionals Week 2021!

What is an Activity Professional?

Job Hero says “An Activity Director oversees the therapeutic and recreational activities for geriatric groups. They may work in a retirement home, nursing home, senior center or healthcare setting, but their job remains essentially the same. They coordinate staff schedules, manage and create activities and events, and maintain equipment and rooms for their activities.”

If you have the distinction of calling yourself an Activity Professional, then you’ve probably heard a co-worker, friend, or family member say, “Oh, you have the fun job!”, “You hang out with old people all day”….

LORD HELP US!

Activity Professionals are selfless, creative, hardworking, and more. They put everyone else before themselves. Weekend trips to the dollar store (because you really know how to stretch that budget😉), midnight program planning when you dream about an awesome activity and you need to write it down before it’s gone, coming in for the special holiday and not taking the extra day off because if you do then that means your residents will have to go without, covering reception, temp checks, fixing remotes, mending hearts, the list goes on!

All the while you do it in an office (**cough**closet**) that looks like this!

Dealing with this!

All for the love of this!

Whether you are a volunteer, assistant, coordinator, manager, or director – this week is for YOU! A chance for us to say thank you to you! To tell you what a difference you make in the lives you touch every day. To tell you that you are amazing!

“You’re the engine that makes all things go…”

“Know that you matter…”

“The world needs you now…”

“All day on your feet, hard to keep that energy, I know…”

There is a quote by an unknown author – “If you can’t say it, you sing it…”. Words cannot do justice the gratitude that is owed to an Activity Professional, so I’ll share this beautiful song by Alicia Keys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ighFo0i0nrA

Happy Activity Professionals Week! You are incredible!

This week we encourage you to share you story (or the story of your favorite Activity Professional) with us and the world. Let's fill up social media with the awesomeness of this profession!