Wilton Meadows Celebrates National Activity Professionals Week

Wilton Meadows has been “lighting the way” for quality of life through therapeutic activities since 1988. The staff to patient ratio in recreation is comprehensive with as little as three and as many as five recreation specialists on the sixty-five-bed memory care community alone. The programs are tiered by acuity level for comprehension, resident involvement and dignity. The building sometimes has as many as five programs an hour including short and long-term care.

The Elms is an all-inclusive activity day program aimed at promoting quality of life and improved memory function for higher level memory care residents, nestled in a sixty-five bed Memory Care Community at Wilton Meadows. In this program residents spend the day engaged in multiple activities that include exercise, trivia and art therapies.

Cynthia Frantisak, head of this special program, has over seven years of service t o the community. Rachael Wallin is a recreation aide in the Memory Care Community and facilitates recreation programs in The Elms and Birchwood. Rachael has over fifteen years’ experience as a CNA and two years providing therapeutic recreation in a skilled nursing environment. Tom Cookson is a recreation aide in the Memory Care Community as well. Tom has over five years of experience providing activities to elders and served as the Manager of Therapeutic Recreation at River House Adult Day Center. Tom is musically inclined and enjoys facilitating music-based programs to the Memory Care Community. Jessica Buck is a Therapeutic Recreation Director with a bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Western Connecticut State University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Southern CT. She works closely with the short-term rehabilitation population at Wilton Meadows. Shannon White is a Board-Certified Music Therapist who provides music therapy and recreation therapy to the residents of Wilton Meadows. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree. The recreation department is led by Alexandra Paye, Master of Science in Art Therapy, Board Certified Art Therapist, and Licensed New York State Creative Arts Therapist. The recreation department facilitates activities in four separate areas of Wilton Meadows seven days a week for over 8 hours each day.

At every level there is peer mentoring and engagement. A learning environment where individuals strive towards bettering both themselves and the quality of life for the community that they care for has an energy to it. Daily there are interns from the art therapy department at Albertus Magnus, social work interns from both Fordham and Columbia University, and business school interns from Sacred Heart. When one person is elevated, we are all elevated. The excitement is palpable. Together we all Light The Way!

Find out more about Wilton Meadows skilled nursing and rehabilitation services.