[Nfb-seniors] Finding the Blind in Retirement Facilities - Questions we will get answers to, Monday - Nebraska Senior Blind Call

[Robert Leslie Newman]

Hi You All

(Information to get on the call is at the end of this message; visitors
welcome.

 

Our call this coming Monday is in regards to how we can find blind residents
in senior retirement homes, and in a small or large way, help these
facilities to do a better job with the blind. In this effort, I attended the
monthly meeting of the Activity professional's Association of Omaha (APAO).
It was a very friendly meeting of about 20 members (not all of APAO members
were in attendance). 

 

Below are the questions that our special guest, the President of APAO sent
to the entire organization prior to the meeting. Some data came in to the
President via email from those who could not make it, while several in
attendance verbalized their needs. Note: basically, a good portal into
finding the blind in these care facilities is through the activity director
(different titles can be found for this professional). And what mostly came
to us via this meeting was a discussion on what their specific needs are in
regards to working with the blind/visually impaired, and where to find it.
They do believe that learning from a person who lives with blindness is a
good resource.

 

**Here is the text of the email that was sent out to the APAO group:

 

Hello: For our meeting on Friday I had our membership receive the following
potential prompting questions for our discussion in advance.

 

I am hopeful that if they have more time to think on these questions it will
help us have a more lively discussion on Friday.

 

See you Friday.  The questions are listed below.

 

*What population are you currently serving?  

Context - our speaker wants to get an idea of the amount of people you serve
that may have visual impairments and benefit from additional services that
the group can provide.

 

*What type of activities are you currently offering to your population?

Context - our speaker wants to get an idea of the types of events we are
running (happy hour, musical entertainment, cards/games, service projects,
art programs, craft groups, etc.)

 

*What examples can you provide of how you have had to get creative in
adapting activities for someone (or multiple people) with visual
impairments?

Context - our speaker wants to get an idea of the types of ways their group
may be able to help support your work (e.g. adaptive equipment
recommendations, education about how to support people with visual
impairments to participate in a variety of programs, etc.)

 

*What challenges have you had in serving people with visual impairments that
you would like to brainstorm on with our speaker?

 

 

Cameo Rogers, CTRS, CDP, CDCM, CADDCT

Corporate Life Enrichment Manager

 

**When and How to Get On the Call:

Date: June 10th

Time: 5:00 Pacific; 6:00 Mountain; 7:00 Central; 8:00 Eastern 

Phone: 1-712-451-0011

Access Code: 345154Pound

 

Respectfully yours,

Robert Leslie Newman

NFBN Senior Division, President

NFB Seniors Division, Second Vice President