From dances to comic skits, here’s how senior living homes staff helped residents

Although COVID hit every part of life, one place where people really felt the punch was in senior living communities. As early epicenters for infections, independent and assisted living facilities had to shut down the normally communal living activities quickly in March 2020, while also trying to soften the impact for residents.

Balancing physical safety with the importance of keeping residents engaged in mental and physical activities brought out the creativity in those charged with running programming.

At Bickford Senior Living in Overland Park, activity coordinator Amy O’Brien knew that finding ways around the isolation of the pandemic was key in staving off depression.

“Their health deteriorates. It’s sad when they feel like they don’t have a reason to live any longer,” O’Brien said. “Keeping them active makes them happy, keeps them positive and hopeful, keeps them strong and keeps their immune system strong.

“Every day gets worse and worse the more they get away from their routine.”

To combat this, O’Brien did her best to work with the health guidelines but also add some cheer to everyone’s day.

Sometimes that meant going around to deliver drinks and snacks to residents’ rooms dressed as Rosie the Riveter while playing 1940s music. Other times, she wore a full-body unicorn costume and danced for everyone, made balloon animals or pushed an ice cream cart complete with ice cream truck music.

Whenever she could get a laugh, O’Brien went for it, including performing Lucille Ball’s famous Vitameatavegamin skit for residents.

For Easter last year, she picked up some eggs and an incubator and set them up in the building’s main lobby. There, residents could pay individual visits to check the progress of the impending baby chicks.

“I would catch them sitting and talking to the little chicks. Things like that helped,” she said.

She also added bird feeders outside the windows to attract more birds for residents to watch.

At Brookdale Senior Living in Overland Park, the staff took on a different project toward engaging residents. Dressed in 1950s gear, they stood outside each building, one at a time, and performed a choreographed dance to the music of “Grease” in the parking lot.

Getting around to each building took about two hours, but Jessica Arenholz, Brookdale’s executive director, said it was worth it.

“You could see not having activities they were used to really did affect them, so it was important, especially in the beginning when we did not know how to respond to COVID,” she said.

And it wasn’t just “Grease.” Every day at 3 p.m., there was something for them to see from their balconies. Tai chi and Zumba also became featured activities.

Like Bickford, Brookdale also took on the idea of themed food carts, one with baseball snacks and staff decked out in Royals gear. At the holidays, Brookdale distributed strings of lights for all 272 balconies in the facility.

When the weather was nice, they did have some non-balcony entertainment outdoor performances from musicians with socially distanced seating.

“We had so many beautiful experiences in the midst of a very hard time,” Arenholz said.

Although each senior living community has had its own twist on finding the bright side this year, the sentiments are similar all over the industry.

“We like to celebrate non-traditional holidays like National Popcorn Day or World Smile Day. Residents look forward to seeing what life enrichment teams have up their sleeve for them,” said Sarah Vinson, corporate director of life enrichment for Cedarhurst Senior Living, which operates Addington Place in Lee’s Summit.

Her staff took craft activities that used to happen in an activity room with everyone all together and made them into to-go bags that residents could do in their own living spaces.

“Teams have learned to make individual packets, have supplies in a bag with instructions and go in rooms and work with residents,” Vinson said.

With most residents vaccinated, activities are starting to return to normal, albeit with masks.

“We’re to the point where we feel like we made it,” Arenholz said.

This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "From dances to comic skits, here’s how senior living homes staff helped residents."