In a long- or short-term care facility, a nursing home activity director works with the elderly population. A long-term nursing home provides permanent or full-time supervised care for senior citizens who don’t have another option due to health issues or simply the demands of growing older. A short-term nursing home is a facility that cares for elderly people who have other places to live but are recovering from surgery and don’t have enough help at home. Activity directors are professionals in charge of providing activities for elderly nursing home residents such as crafts, puzzles, exercise, and games.
In today’s world, becoming a nursing home activity director usually necessitates formal education or certification. This wasn’t always the case; as the demand for the position grew, so did the competition for jobs, so did the educational requirements. Because the requirements were different when they were hired, many activity directors who have worked in the field for a long time do not have degrees. Another reason that certification has become desirable for people who want to work with seniors is that it helps to set industry standards for preventing elder abuse. Elder abuse is the mistreatment of elderly people in any way, including neglecting to care for them or acting violently against them.
In certification programs such as those regulated the National Certification Council for Activity Professionals in the United States, aspirant nursing home activity directors are taught that, first and foremost, elderly people, regardless of their condition, must always be treated with respect. Aside from a high level of respect, leadership, patience, and the ability to both generate and implement good ideas are expected of a nursing home activity director. Activity directors must have ready-to-use ideas at all times.
When a nursing home activity director plans his or her ideas, he or she must consider the preferences of nursing home residents as well as any medical limitations. This isn’t always an easy task, because different people enjoy different activities. Just as not all children enjoy the same games or crafts, not all seniors will enjoy the same activities. The activity director usually takes care of this providing a variety of activities for everyone, such as large print puzzles and games. He or she provides self-help books, magazines, and puzzles, as well as games and movie nights for seniors to enjoy together.