Suddenly, bees appeared everywhere. On the elevator, on door frames, on the wall, on signs. People were wondering whether we should call the pest control. But since there were paper bees, we figured it wasn’t necessary. We were in suspense for about one week. At our Mardi Gras Celebration, in February, Mother Maureen finally clued us in: Bee is an abbreviation for “Bee-attitude.”
Providing for the physical needs of our Residents is only a first step. Providing for their psychological, emotional and spiritual needs requires collaboration of all the staff on all levels. That’s why we decided to focus on “TEAMWORK”.
To boost the team work already happening, we started a “Bee-attitude” program, which is, or course, based on the Gospel! For the first month everyone worked on T as in Thoughtfulness and when an employee showed thoughtfulness, whoever noticed it, put a bee in the beehive. Our Activity Director, Lisa, made a beehive of construction paper and provided stickers with bees on them. We simply put the sticker in the hive, but we tell the person that we noticed their thoughtfulness, which makes them feel good about themselves and about whoever told them something positive. To celebrate our efforts, we had a great had a “Bumble Bee Brunch” for the Residents and the Staff.
The next month’s goal was “enthusiasm”! To celebrate enthusiasm, we had a Sensational Stinger Ice Cream Social of the patio. Read all about it here.
After enthusiasm came attentiveness. June 9, 2010 seemed the perfect day for a picnic. Only that St. Joseph didn’t think so. It rained all day cats and dogs. So we moved into the auditorium. That couldn’t dampen the spirits. See some pictures here
In July, we worked on motivation. Now, it’s hard to be motivated in the summer, when it’s time for summer vacations and it’s hot and muggy. But the Residents feel it even more, when their children are on the beach and they are staying home. Summer is also a time for parish festivals and picnics. Since we have a perfect space for a picnics, we decided to have a “Carnival on the Hill” to celebrate our efforts on motivation.
Now, so far we have spelled “T-E-A-M.” It’s time to focus on “W-O-R-K.” In August, we had a hard time coming up with an effort starting in “w”, but after a lot of brainstorming, we decided on “wit”. Wit also goes with the month of August, because it is the month of the Feast Day of St. Jeanne Jugan, who often told the novices she lived with at the Motherhouse, “Be always cheerful, the elderly don’t like long faces.” To make her more known among the Residents and staff, we had a series of skids depicting her life. Pavilion Residents were so gracious to lend their remarkable acting skills to this effort.
