Residents and staff enjoy their new toy

Staff and residents at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge had an opportunity to play with their new Nintendo Wii at the first staff appreciation day to be held at any Evergreens Foundation institution, after the CUPE local donated the video game system last week. 

Heather Beaudette, assistant manager and activity coordinator at the lodge, said the staff chose to involve the residents in their staff appreciation day that aimed to ensure they were appreciated by the management team.

“We hired such amazing staff. They’re so focused on making sure that the seniors are having a high quality of life that we just wanted to make sure that they knew that the management could see that and we appreciated everything that they can do,” said Beaudette.

“The things that we did were very minimal for our staff but just having a day where they get to hear [appreciation], but they were excited about an opportunity to play some games,” she said.

While the Wii proves to be a new point of interaction for residents and staff, Beaudette has an array of activities for the seniors to take part in that allows them to keep active and moving through the more confining winter months.

“For the safety of the seniors all my activities have been geared indoors for the independent side,” said Beaudette adding that she looks forward to the warmer days when their plans to have raised flower boxes for the residents to plant and even a vegetable garden on the roof top patio.

“They do a type of exercise every morning, either stretches or weights, or step class and right now we have yoga going on for them as well,” she said. “It’s for about 45 minutes that they do exercise.”

As the activity coordinator, Beaudette aims to offer a range of activities as well as exercise, such as sing-a-longs and baking.

“There is always a sing-a-long and prayer service,” she said, “but I [also] work in craft, baking, card games, board games and when we actually get to go outside it’s going to be small hikes and doing the same things outside, like gardening.”

She said that by offering a range of activities it helps not only their social lives and physical health, but their mental health as well.

“If they move everyday it’ll keep them out of depression, so it’s a mental health thing, but also the more resistance training they can do the stronger their bones are going to be,” she said.

“So maybe we can turn around or slow down the osteoporosis affects, the more resistance training they can do with me the stronger their bones are going to be... we want them to keep moving so they can stay independent,” she said. 

For residents of the lodge who are in the assisted daily living section and unable to transport themselves, there is an opportunity each Monday to get outdoors on the local seniors’ bus.