Rocky View Lodge residents have been enjoying their fair share of international travel this year – virtually, that is.
Staff at the Rocky View Lodge (RVL) retirement home in Crossfield have been working tirelessly to keep their senior residents busy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and started a program that allows seniors to go on virtual trips.
“Normally, residents would be able to go out and about,” said Brenda Campbell, the activities co-ordinator with RVL. “Obviously with the pandemic, they couldn’t, so I came up with the idea to take them on a virtual trip every week.”
Campbell said she prepared passports, boarding passes, fun facts and presentations that give residents a fun activity to look forward to during what has been a difficult time.
Residents, according to Campbell, find out where they are going after a presentation, along with fun costumes she dresses up in to add to the theme.
“They aren’t just tripping around the world, we have also been taking them back in time,” she said. “We went back to the gold rush of the 1800s, Woodstock 1969 and the moon.”
Campbell said as the facility’s activities co-ordinator, when the pandemic hit, she was hard-pressed to find ways to keep residents busy during a time they were not allowed to go anywhere or have visitors.
“This has been a fun way to do that,” she said. “They never know what they are going to get or where they are going to go.”
When she first started the virtual trips, Campbell said she would do them weekly. As each one takes her about five hours to prepare, the trips have dialled back to once a month, with December’s theme being a visit to the North Pole.
Campbell also said the program has been helpful for her, as she gets to be creative on a constant basis. A graduate from the Alberta College of Art and Design, she said she used to teach art at Bert Church High School in Airdrie.
“I always have to come up with costumes and plan the whole thing, it has been great to use my creativity this way,” she said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on society and the Province implements new restrictions, the efforts of Campbell and other RVL staff is helping keep residents’ spirits high during a difficult year.
“Right now, things are good,” she said. “Residents know they are lucky because we have had no COVID-19 cases in the lodge. Christmas is really a bummer for everybody as nobody can really see their families, but I think right now things are good.”
She said when she and staff notice the mood in the lodge start to dip, that is when it is time to get creative and find ways to keep them happy and entertained.
In addition to the virtual trips, RVL recently released a calendar that featured residents as the models, led by 101-year-old Merle Lout as the cover model. Campbell said the calendar sold out in four days and raised $2,000 for the Crossfield Fire Department’s Christmas hamper program.
“We just want to keep them happy and keep them laughing,” she said.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
