Question

Imagine you live in a newly created active living retirement community, and you have just been elected head of the social committee. What can you do to promote social connection, friendship and emotional well-being among residents? Detail answer please

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Residents in a retirement home are constantly in flux. In such circumstances, it becomes rather difficult to establish a sense of belonging amongst the residents. Furthermore, it is just as difficult to establish the “happy-go-lucky” milieu that should exist at a retirement home.

In order to establish an emotionally healthy environment, it is essential that the residents not only get familiarised with each other but, also maintain familial relationships. Therefore, it would best if social exercises that help the members to get to know about each other’s personal stories are practiced.

The first event to organise would probably be along the lines of a “Flashback Friday.” This is where every Friday, the residents would gather to talk about their fondest and funniest memories of the past. The residents with the funniest memory to share would win a prize.

Another even could be “wisdom Wednesday”, this would be where each resident shares a memory and the best advice they would give their younger self. The winner would get to pick a film that all the residents could watch together.

The lunchroom could have a slideshow running of all the people who celebrate their birthdays within that particular month. This is because old pictures would be a great conversation starter.

As a leader of the social committee, I would gather people with talents that could be taught. These people could start a few classes of their own of knitting, arts, yoga or other recreational activities. This way, everyone would have a sense of purpose.

There could be numerous clubs for chess, board games, card games, book clubs and other such recreational activities as well. There could also be a painting session once a month, a ball for the seniors to enjoy the popular music and dances of their time and even a beach day during the summer. Such events would give the residents something to look forward to every now-n-then.