Leslie Rigsby develops understanding of the elderly

“I’ve been a recreation therapist for 25 years,” stated Leslie Rigsby. “For the past seven-anda-half years I’ve been working at Heritage House in Nappanee as the life enrichment director. The older I get, the more I can relate to the residents in our assisted living facility. I’m starting to feel some aches and pains like they have. And they are able to relate to me. They remember the time when they had jobs to go to each day. The women had to also come home and fix supper, same as me.”

Rigsby has always been drawn to the elderly. “I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was growing up. They were very special people. I view our residents as extended family members. I used to view them as grandparents. Now they’re more the age of parents. They mentor and instruct me.”

She did not start out as an activity director. “I began my career as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) when I lived in Marion. The administrator asked me if I’d like to take some extra training and become an activity director.” Rigsby received her training in Indianapolis.

A typical day for her at the assisted living facility starts with exercise class. “Then we move on to coffee chat. After lunch and resident naps, we begin structured activities at 2 p.m. We might do soda shop. We have a Wii bowling tournament in late fall that extends to spring. The teams in the tournament have a yearly banquet where winners receive trophies. We play games such as dominoes, cards, Bingo. We have cornhole competitions. We have Bible studies twice a month and church services on Sunday.”

The fun activities are not restricted to inside. When weather permits, the residents are entertained with van rides for ice cream. Residents are also driven out to breakfast.

“I love my job. If I had to pick a favorite part of my work, I’d say it’s interacting with the seniors. I love listening to their stories. They, in turn, love showing me pictures of their families and talking about their children and grandchildren.”

Through the years, Rigsby has found that each senior is unique in his/her own way. “I remember giving seniors their own work space and a recipe for banana bread. Although they had the same recipe, each batch turned out differently. Some put more bananas in the mix. Some put less. Others may have forgotten the flour or baking soda. Each loaf of bread was unique and made with loving hands.”

In her younger years, Rigsby worked at a nursing home. “It’s a whole different ball game at an assisted living facility. I work for the residents. They choose what they want to do.

Warsaw Parks

One of my biggest challenges is accommodating all their activity suggestions.”

Rigsby’s heart goes out to seniors whose families are not engaged in their lives. “Seniors need their loved ones to visit and show they care. I think so many families don’t understand memory loss or dementia. We need to educate ourselves about some of the realities the elderly face.”

She and her husband Joe have three grown boys, seven grandchildren, two dogs and a cat. “I love being a grandma. I have the liberty to spoil the kids more than I ever did my own.” She enjoys flower gardening and spending time outside.

Continued from page 1 other people those opportunities makes me really happy. Every one of the events I plan is special in its own way.

“I think that programs should be updated often to ensure they remain engaging and fun for all participants. When determining how often to update a program, I look at current trends, participant feedback and available resources. I love changing some different programs. I think you have change things up to keep people involved. I like to start small to make sure my staff and I can handle that event or program, and then if it’s successful we add an additional night or let more participants come to that program or event.

A good example of that is Santa’s workshop that we had in December. We started small with that program and we had lots of emails and phone calls and comments telling us it was great and that we needed to open it up for more people. This year we will. We’re going to have a Friday night and a Saturday night to allow more people to come in.”

A listing of Warsaw Parks and Recreation events can be found online at warsaw. in.gov/192/Parks-Recreation. You also can follow them on Facebook to keep updated on the latest programs.