 Activities: 2003
Activities in St. Martin's Home benefited greatly from the assistance of community volunteers during the past year. Moving into the new building in St. John's Estate made the recruitment of these volunteers an easier task as the surroundings are more pleasant. As a result, a greater variety of social events were provided at St. Martin's Home, involving more clients. Attempts were made to involve every client in the home. The objective of Activities was to provide stimulation to the clients, mentally, physically, and spiritually, thus promoting better quality of life. The overall stimulation offered could be broken into the following groups.
Large group activities.
This would involve the participation of all clients in the home. Service clubs in the community often provided assistance financially and by arranging the events and volunteers.
The following were celebrated at the home with special food and musical entertainment. Many staff members also volunteered their time to assist.
- St. Martin's Day celebration.
- Senior Citizens Day.
- Carnival celebration.
- Christmas Party.
- New Years Eve celebration.
Other events included the Rotary Club lagoon cruise, at which over 30 persons were transported to Simpson Bay and were entertained with a 2-hour cruise around the lagoon, with music and food being provided by volunteers. Many wheel chair clients participated. The lions club provided a trip to a beach bar on Orient Bay; Boo Boo Jam. There for six hours, they were provided with breakfast, lunch and musical entertainment. Around 35 clients participated. Local entertainment groups or individuals came in on occasion to entertain. Examples are children from local schools, steel drum bands, church groups. They sing, play instruments. People from the Indian and Chinese community provided entertainment e.g., the Chinese New Year. Local dance and school groups invited the clients to watch the dress rehearsal of any musical, play or recital they were staging locally. A few of the more active clients were able to take advantage of these invitations. During Carnival in 2003, the parade started in St. Johns Estate three troupes visited the home prior to the parade. Following this they were able to watch the parade live on television.
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carnival 2003.
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Trip to the old mill.
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Medium group activities.
These were activities that involved smaller groups of people of between 10 to 20 clients. These were held on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Examples are;
- Church services run by religious organizations from the community, approximately five times per week. Ministers, pastors and lay preachers provided these services.
- Bingo games were run once per month with assistance from volunteers. Approximately 25 clients participated with assistance from volunteers.
- Trips in the community. Attempts were made to provide at least one trip each month. The following were visited: restaurants in Orient Bay, Simpson Bay, Dawn Beach, visit to the local zoo, butterfly farm, trip to view Christmas lights, drives around the island.
- Shopping trips to Marigot market were reintroduced later in the year and will continue every two weeks. Approximately eight to ten walking clients participated.
- Sing-a-long sessions: music and songs played on CD player. Clients sang or kept time to the music by clapping or using percussion instruments. This involved as many wheelchair clients as possible.
- Resident's Council. A group of around 10 to 12 clients met once per month, to discuss any issues that affected their lives in the home, for example, food, upcoming events, etc.
Small group and individual activities.
These are activities that benefited from volunteer assistance. Examples are;
- Reading the bible.
- Taking or accompanying clients for walks around the garden.
- Grooming such as hair braiding and nail manicures.
- Daily reading of the local newspaper.
- Visiting with, talking and reminiscing.
- Making of small crafts and decorations, using client participation as far as possible, for special events such as Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Carnival.
- Popular games were played once or twice per week including dominoes and puzzles. ffected their lives in the home, for example, food, upcoming events, etc.
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