Salem is home for our residents. The level of care at Salem Christian Homes isn't left to chance; it's shaped by both state requirements and real, individual need. As a licensed facility serving Regional Center clients, Salem Christian Homes is required to provide a certain amount of nursing, physical, occupational, and recreational therapy support, based on the size of the home and the needs of the residents living there. In addition, each resident has their own Individual Program Plan, created by a team that gets to know their specific medical and developmental needs, which spells out the therapy hours that will best support their goals. Salem is responsible for making sure those hours actually happen. But at the heart of it all is something simple: therapy hours exist to help residents stay healthy, keep their independence, and live fuller, more connected lives!

About 20 years ago, Salem needed to meet therapy hours, specifically in many residents’ favorite therapy “recreational therapy”. Our Home Director at the time asked the recreational therapist we were working with if she could hire one of our employees to work for her to help meet those hours. The requirement being a bachelor's degree, Salem just the right employee for the moment… Anna Lopez, Home Administrator for Salem South! Twenty years later, Anna is serving numerous Salem residents a month providing recreational therapy hours on top of being our wonderful South Home administrator.

Cindy Behnke: Tell our readers what it looks like being a Recreational Therapist Assistant at Salem in between being the home administrator for our largest home.

Anna Lopez: It’s a separate job on top of being a home manager for South Home. I get to visit other homes and to know so many residents. I help find their interests, and we work on cognitive and functional skills such as arts and crafts to build fine motor control, and cooking or baking to practice sequencing, measuring and following directions.  

CB: How often do residents need recreational therapy?  

AL: I started in only Level 4 homes. Each resident needs a combination of physical, occupational, recreational, and/or nursing therapy hours. Depending on the level, it’s around 16-20 hours every 6 months and is reviewed by the Regional Center. It used to be just Level 4 homes, but Regional Center also changed care at Level 3 homes requiring residents to receive more consultant hours.

CB: How do you spread out the hours?

AL: In one month, I go to maybe 11 homes. I’ll go to each home one to two times a month. This looks like asking the residents about their interests and designing a plan for what they would like to do for the next month. I schedule it with their home manager. Sometimes one on one, sometimes with the whole house.

CB: I have heard the residents really like when you come for their recreational therapy. Why do you think?

AL: Because I cater to their needs, I ask them what they are interested in and I’ll plan it all out. If they want to do baking or a craft for an upcoming holiday, I’ll look on YouTube for inspo recipes and ideas of what they want to do. I go there not to disrupt anything. If they have something else come up or not in the mood, that’s totally okay. Whatever they give me, I’m just happy to help them. I make sure they are happy to see me because I do what they like to do.  

CB: What do our Salem residents like to do?

AL: Wester Home likes to do arts and crafts and little homemade snacks that they all participate in. They love to taste their creations! We also plan a meal for dinner once a month where the residents do all the preparation and cooking. They just love the company.  

Yorba Home does a combination of different activities. Cathy always, always wants to do sugar cookies whereas Marilyn really likes to do arts and crafts. Sandra likes all baking or cooking. So we’ve all been able to do try a few new cookies (other than sugar!) like pumpkin and molasses. One time they all wanted to make breakfast for dinner and that was super fun. With Flora, she and I will make mousse desserts to help with swallowing - flavored pudding, no bake cheesecake. I’m always conscious of pre-diabetics and needing less sugar.  

Walnut Home asked straight out, “We want to learn how to cook!” All six participate and contribute to the dinner. We just had meatloaf and mashed potatoes there and I broke up the meal for each to contribute. Christina likes to do the cutting and dicing. If they like Thai food, I look up Thai food recipes. If they want spaghetti and meatballs, I teach them how.  

Palm Place likes to cook dinner ideas together. We’ve done chicken parmesan, and most recently, Ryan wanted to cook his birthday dinner with his housemates. He wanted little smokies, mac & cheese with shells and not elbow noodles, so I brought it over, and they all contributed to the birthday dinner including his very own hand-picked birthday cake – carrot cake.

I have also lived and learned… One time, De Hoog Home wanted to make strawberry cheesecake. It was much more complicated than the video and we didn’t have all the right kitchen utensils… had to go back to South home a couple times to get the right items. It took way too long and the residents were over it.  But we had picked strawberry cheesecake because Shane only wants to weight lift. I kept asking him, what do you like to eat though, what’s a favorite flavor. He finally told me strawberries. So that’s how we came up with strawberry cheesecake! Just need a less complex recipe next time.

Nantucket Home likes arts and crafts. Tim loves, loves, loves planes! We’ve tried many model planes and he glues them together. He saw how complicated they can be, so would try to stick to level 1. He’s just recently become open to more trucks and cars. For Father’s Day, I incorporated a picture frame with a printed military plane and I had him cut it out and color and glue it to background. He was so happy to give that to his dad! Annie wanted to do a project for Mother’s Day. I had two hearts and rays of sunshine. She can do some of the pre-cutting, so that’s what we do. Whatever they are able! Kirk wanted to do a paint by color/number for Mother’s Day and we framed it and turned out great. Dana wants to see what everyone else is doing before she decides her next project. I miss Scott. He always wanted to go out to eat and to Color Me Mine. Didn’t want housemates coming; he liked that one on one time. (4 pics)

Oak Hill Home likes to do make their own pizza nights! Aaron wants to work with me over any other therapy, says it’s more fun than physical therapy. And he always reminds me not to forget the pineapple for their pizzas!

Blue Jay Home loves for me to come before dinner. Kristen loves Christmas, she likes to make holiday items. Udo prefers using his iPad and we communicate through different sign language. David likes projects he can do with just me.  

Casa Puente, they are just so excited to see me, Ramona wants to take my markers! They love all the projects.  

Graphite Home is fun because Paula is so crafty and Laura loves anything with Olaf!

CB: Sounds like such a fun job, but with a lot of coordinating, remembering so many details and extra work. Why do you keep doing it on top of your busy schedule?

AL: What started as fulfilling a need for Salem, turned into this. It’s like therapy for me too! I don’t have to be a supervisor when I do recreational therapy. I’m there just to teach them new things, enjoy their company. Chit chat with the residents while encouraging them to learn and try new things. I really enjoy it. I see the joy when I come around. It’s not for the money. I get to help Salem!

We are thankful for Anna and her 37 years of service to Salem Christian Homes, including 20 of them as Recreational Therapist Assistant too. What a blessing.