The
Importance of Being Certified as an Activities Professional
By
Annie Wantz, Apti 2.4
My
name is Annie Wantz and I have been an activities professional
for almost 5 years. In that time, I have come to realize
just how important activities are to the residents we
serve. However, I never really realized just how important
it is for us to be certified and to make a name for
ourselves. I never realized how the activities department
was viewed and how many staff members think that all
we do is play games and make cute things all day. Well,
I thought all of that until one day when a nurse made
me see red and then the light.
One
day when I was sitting in the back of the nursing home
unit where I work, I was working on bulletin board birthday
signs and my residents were helping by cutting out some
of the shapes. During the project, a conversation ensued
about school and I began telling them about how I was
in school taking a course to eventually become certified
as an Activity Director. The residents began asking
questions and suddenly a nurse appeared and said "Did
I hear you say you are going to school to become an
Activities Director?" I said, yes and she responded
in words that I will never forget. She said, in front
of my residents and the other staff, "So, will
that give you a license to hold a glue gun?" She
and the other staff began to laugh as my face turned
as red as the construction paper I was cutting.
I
went home that night and pondered what she had said.
Is that what people think about activities? Do people
think our only contribution is to master a glue gun?
That is when I decided that the only way we as activity
professionals would get any recognition is if we all
become certified. Almost everyone has heard of a Certified
Nursing Assistant (CNA), but almost no one knows what
an Activity Assistant Certified (AAC), an Activity Director
Certified (ADC), or an Activity Consultant Certified
(ACC) is. We need to get the word out there. We all
NEED to be certified in this field. We NEED to let the
healthcare world know what an asset we are. The time
to do this is NOW. We should fight for a national law
that requires all activities profes-sional to be certified.
If we fought this baffle and won, just think of what
it would do for our profession and for the residents
that we so lovingly serve.
NN
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