Aiming to break up the doldrums of winter, one provider is bringing the snow inside its facility for fun and battles.
Urbana, IL-based Clark-Lindsey hosted its third annual Indoor Snowball Fight in December. The continuing care retirement community, however, doesn’t use the real white stuff in this battle, but rather synthetic material from fabric.
Life enrichment counselor Nancy Vinson says they wanted a way to get residents up and moving during months when going outside isn’t really an option.
“We’re trying to connect to the outdoors, and in the wintertime, it’s not as easy,” she said. It helps get the residents involved with the season and brings the staff together, too.”
The “fight” occurred Dec. 4 in Clark-Lindsey’s dining hall. Staffers and about 60 of 250 residents took part, from both skilled nursing and independent living. Participants just sort of started chucking.
“We welcome chaos,” says Karen Blatzer, director of marketing. “Happy chaos,” she quickly clarified.
There aren’t any liability issues because the snowballs are soft as a teddy bear, but Clark-Lindsey asks participants to sign waivers since the event often becomes a media frenzy. This year, two TV stations showed up to film the hijinks. As Vinson notes, “Who doesn’t love a snowball fight?”
From the January 01, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
