Activities Assistant

About the role

The primary purpose of the Activity Assistant is to assist the Activity Director in running a creative and interactive activities program. This must be done in accordance with current federal, state, local and corporate standards, regulations, and guidelines to ensure an ongoing program of activities is designed to meet, in accordance with the comprehensive assessment, the interests and physical, mental, and psychosocial needs of each resident.

Responsibilities

• Participate in planning and conducting individual, small and large group activities.
• Assist in providing good communication between employees of all levels, residents, their families, support personnel, government agencies/personnel, and the public to ensure the needs and best interests of the residents, community and facility are met to the extent possible.
• Participate in community planning related to the interests of the facility and the services and needs of the resident and family.
• Assist in development of monthly activity calendar and maintaining attendance records.
• Assist the Quality Assurance and Assessment Committee in developing and implementing appropriate plans of action to correct identified quality deficiencies as requested by Activities Director.
• Participate in discharge planning, development and implementation of activity care plans and resident assessments.
• Assist in arranging transportation for residents when necessary including, but not limited to, resident outings, to/from appointments, or for discharge.
• Assist in developing a monthly activity schedule for residents, which includes resident outings, regularly scheduled group activities, and in-room activities for bed-bound or isolated residents.
• Encourage residents to participate in self-initiated activities including hobbies, crafts, and reading.
• Provide materials as necessary including reading materials in Braille or audio books as appropriate.
• Assist with assessment documentation, quarterly progress notes as assigned by the Activity Director.
• Keep Activity Department clean, orderly and secured.

Qualifications

Education and/or Experience

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Preferable one-year experience in a long term care facility.

Language Skills

• Ability to read technical procedures.
• Ability to read and comprehend policy and procedure manuals.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from managers and employees.

Mathematical Skills

• Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios and proportions to practical situations.

Reasoning Ability

• Ability to solve practical problems.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

Physical Demands

The essential functions of this position require the following physical abilities:

• Standing and/or walking very frequently.
• Sitting occasionally.
• Reaching with hands and arms frequently; pushing/pulling very frequently.
• Talking and/or hearing very frequently.
• Tasting and/or smelling very frequently.
• Lifting up to 50 pounds frequently.
• Climbing, balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling occasionally.
• Close, distance, color, peripheral, and depth perception in vision: ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate.