In the late summer 2022, staff at Rainbow Adult Day Centre in Prince George received incredible feedback about the programing they provide their clients. The feedback was from a community member whose family member had just started attending day programming at Rainbow Adult Day Centre.
“Long story short, this program is phenomental! I appreciate you so much for organizing this and working along side HandyDart so that they don’t need bus tickets or coins!” The email went on to say that the family had not heard their family member, who has dementia, “speak with any excitement, enthusiasm, or any glimmer of positivity in the last four years. The dementia has stolen this from them.”
The family was able to have a conversation with their family member after they attended programming at Rainbow Adult Day Centre, and their family member asked, multiple times, when they could go back! “Just a tiny taste of fun and they are elated. They said all the staff were so nice and treated the group so well (multiple times). Of course, with the dementia they can’t remember what activities you guys did or what was served for lunch, but the thrill and euphoria of the day was bursting out of them.”
Keeping it fun, while offering families support
Nicole Smith, clinical care coordinator, and the team at the Rainbow Adult Day Centre are enthusiastic about the programming they create and lead. They excitedly describe the events that they can plan for their clients. Regularly, they offer “name that tune” afternoons (with music from the likes of KISS, Judas Priest, ABBA, and Elvis, to name a few), music trivia, lawn darts, board and card games, movie screenings, and chicken toss!
Chicken toss is a favourite, and one that gets everyone giggling. The staff provides rubber chickens and donated fried chicken take-out buckets, and the client participants cluck and squawk and toss the chickens into buckets for points. There isn’t a frown on the playing field when chicken toss is planned!
The staff were able to organize that the clients got to take a field trip the 2022 BC Summer Games to watch horse jumping! Community events like this are organized as often as the staff is able to accommodate.
The clients that the staff work with are seniors (their youngest participant is 55 years old) who often have traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or mental illness. While there, clients have access to a nurse for complex medical care. The events at Rainbow Adult Day Centre offer respite care for the client’s caregivers, giving them time to catch up on other aspects of their lives or rest while their family member or person they care for is attending a Rainbow event.
Phenomenal program, indeed. Thank you so much to the staff and volunteers at Rainbow Adult Day Centre for all that they do!
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