St. Andrew's Terrace journeys around the world and through lives

Home continues tradition of celebrating anniversary
5/25/2015  - Lisa Bailey
Team members wear traditional African clothing provided by co-worker Lizzy Rogers.  

St. Andrew’s Terrace took “a trip around the world” and journeyed into the lives of residents and team members for its 11-year anniversary.

The week of festivities May 11-15 upholds the Cambridge long-term care community’s tradition of marking its anniversary every year. It’s rooted in the belief that happy team members make for happy residents.

“It’s building that positive environment and positive team so when you have events like this that draw the team together, we all work better together,” life enrichment manager Sara Byma says.

“And if we work well together then our residents benefit. Times like these help to foster that environment of working together.”

Staged by the home’s management team and office managers, the anniversary theme of “A Trip Around the World” was inspired by a large chalk drawing of the world that Byma created for her children’s school play.

As part of the anniversary festivities, residents, families and staff members could place different-coloured stickers on the globe to indicate where they were born, where they have been, and where they would like to go.

“Now it’s covered in dots,” Byma says, noting residents found this activity particularly fun.

“It gives people a chance to share a bit of their story and dream of places they’d love to go,” Byma says. “And it creates conversation, gets you thinking.”

Residents and team members got to know each other more in other ways too. A display board, for instance, has been filled by staff with their vacation photos. Two days of quick scavenger hunts also took place during anniversary week, incorporating not only the different continents adapted by each home area but also residents’ life stories.

Byma developed questions for the scavenger hunters from the life stories shared when each new resident comes to St. Andrew’s Terrace. These snapshots relate who each resident is and support staff in better understanding residents and appreciating them for the individuals they are.

“With each question (during the scavenger hunt), you would come out learning something about a particular resident,” Byma says. “In that regard, it was a fun way to incorporate the life stories and to get team members reading them and get them more familiar with our residents’ uniqueness.”

With each step along the scavenger hunt, team members had to take a photo or video, and these will be shared on the home’s internal TV system for everyone to see and enjoy.

Another highlight from anniversary week was dress-up day, when team members wore authentic clothing from the cultures represented by staff. Or, they could dress up as tourists in keeping with the world travel theme.

Byma says some team members like Lizzy Rogers and Shelima Awadia brought traditional clothing for their co-workers to wear. Outfits from areas such as Africa and India were worn, fostering education and awareness about a part of team members’ lives they were happy to share and piqued the interest of staff, residents and families alike.

Anniversary week began on a fun note with a Zumba class led by St. Andrew’s Terrace’s hairdresser, and it concluded with a feast of foods from around the world. Set up in the front lobby, the colourful spread provided by authentic local restaurants attracted residents, families, staff and volunteers. They got to taste everything from gelato and tacos to Vietnamese spring rolls and Portuguese baking.

Byma says it was an opportunity to celebrate the diverse cultures represented at the home and show appreciation for team members.

She couldn’t be happier with the whole week and its strong level of participation.

“Everyone’s busy and this is a very busy workplace, and so it is challenging at times to be able to set your work aside to do something fun for a few minutes, but I think each event was short enough that people could come for 10-15 minutes and be a part of this (celebration).”

If you have a story to share or feedback on this article, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 25, or e-mail lisa(at)axiomnews.com.

   
 

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