aged care

Eddie’s Story

Eddie rarely moves while lying in his tub chair – he usually just watches or falls asleep during our Chair Chi sessions.

I always gently try to encourage him to participate, but for the past several sessions he had barely moved.

Then this day it happened! He moved his arms and legs – surprising and delighting one of the staff members watching nearby. It also delighted me, so I kept encouraging him and he began participating in the activities for much longer than in previous sessions.

Because I’m at this aged care centre only once a month for an hour of Chair Chi, I don’t fully get to know residents’ levels of physical ability or cognitive awareness. All I can do is observe and be guided by their reactions.

But when you get a staff member who knows the residents and reacts in the way this one did when Eddie moved, then I know I’m on the right track.

A Portrait

By Chris Leave a Comment

One of the residents at an aged care centre drew this portrait of me. He’d asked me previously to pose for him after one of the Chair Chi sessions I run for the centre.

I’ve never had the time to do so as I’m usually off to my next Chair Chi session elsewhere.

I suggested he draw a portrait of me from a photo on my website – and the next time I visited, I discovered he’d done exactly that!

He presented the drawing to me before our Chair Chi session and was very keen to find if I liked it. I said, ‘It’s great, thanks!’ Though words weren’t really enough to express how delighted I was.

We then had a brief conversation on his passion for drawing and what motivated him to start. We got so involved in our conversation that I found it difficult to stop talking and start the Chair Chi session!

But I managed to do so and he was smiling broadly, as one of the lifestyle staff wheeled him back into the circle with the other residents.

It’s moments like this that makes working in the aged care sector so very enjoyable.

I’m a Travelling Man ….

By Chris Leave a Comment

Recently I had an email from a director in an Aged Care organisation from New York (USA) inquiring about our Chair Chi Training Program – and that’s encouraging.

So far over the past six years, I’ve run aged care workshops for staff across Australia and in Christchurch, New Zealand .

One of my dreams (I have many) is to travel internationally and run workshops in various countries.

I’ve realised part of that dream by running Tai Chi early morning sessions for attendees in Nepal and Belgium at Appreciative Inquiry conferences.

And I’ve provided Tai Chi energisers as part of Appreciative Inquiry workshops delivered by my colleague, Sue James, at an international school in Qingdao, China.

Besides Chair Chi sessions for residents and staff training workshops for aged care, I’m planning to further develop my Sports Chi program locally and eventually introduce it internationally.

It’s going to take a lot of work to fully realise my dream but, as Confucius once said, ‘A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step‘.

Be Upright

By Chris Leave a Comment

When I work with residents at aged care centres, running a Chair Chi session, occasionally something special happens that makes it all worthwhile.

The other day I was working with a group of residents and one was resident stooped over in his wheel chair, his back at about a 45 degree angle.

We were focusing on aligning the body vertically and I’m very careful when I teach this technique not to cause pain or aggravate any existing injuries.

I make sure the residents watch my demonstration before they consider attempting the realignment and I always say ‘if you feel any pain stop what you are doing’.

Anyway, this particular resident next to me said he suffered from ‘severe depression’ which he said is one of the reason he stoops. So I gently guided him towards a vertical alignment not expecting much change from his posture, because I’d seen him stooped several times before.

Then an amazing thing happened. As he moved his body this time, he managed to achieve an almost vertical alignment without experiencing any pain. The transformation was incredible! I asked him to work on what he had achieved each day.

Next week I hope he is part of our session again. It will be very interesting to see if he has practiced and whether he can do the alignment again. With encouragement I think he can.

I’ll keep you posted of his progress.

The Johnny Weissmuller Question

By Chris Leave a Comment

A question I ask aged care residents when I’m running a Chair Chi workshop is “Who was Johnny Weissmuller?”

TARZAN 1934 Johnny Weissmuller by LALO VAZQUEZ

Usually one or two will know the answer.

Why ask this question? To stimulate residents’ long term memory and also to get a laugh.

This is how I go about it.

I’ll say, “Now it’s time to do the Johnny Weismuller”. I then ask “Do you know who Johnny Weissmuller was?”

Anyway, Johnny Weissmuller was a champion swimmer and a movie actor famous for his portrayal of Tarzan during the 1930s and 1940s. And when he thumped his chest with his hands and yelled, you knew he was nearby in the jungle.

I get the residents to do a milder version of Tarzan by lightly tapping their chests with their hands … but the yell is optional. Occasionally we get one or two residents who do the Tarzan yell as well. 🙂

So far the funniest response to my question was when one resident smiled and replied, “It’s Mrs Weissmuller’s husband!”