Recommendations

                                                                                                                            

June 23, 2015 

To Whom It May Concern: 

I am writing with utmost gratitude to highly recommend an innovative educational activity recently added to our program schedule, facilitated by Tracey Wong a certified librarian. For the past twelve weeks on a weekly basis, I have watched her American Passage “Tales to Travel” group grow into one of our more popular programs offered at The Riverside Rehab. Our residents have even begun asking for it by name. This is especially notable on our cognitive impairment unit for those patients afflicted with Dementia related memory loss.  

Tales to Travel is an interactive literacy based program that promotes intellectual stimulation and socialization engagement among the elderly residents and staff, and is accessible and easily enjoyed even by our lower functioning Alzheimer unit residents. It provides opportunity for independent verbalizations with cueing, stimulating reminiscence and reflection of any prior experiences in the countries being discussed, and increases their focus and attention spans by utilizing a multi-media approach. It is not unusual to see our residents reading, researching and participating in the peer discussions with other participants and Tracey herself. Participants not only enjoy the program, they remember Tracey asking for her on other days as well. 

Each week Tracey welcomes her participants, each of whom has a name tag and individualized passport to keep track of the countries they have traveled. Tracey reads aloud a book of choice pertaining to the country as some clients are visually impaired. There is individual time allotted for reading to promote independent functioning. Many of the books used are large print with accompanying pictures for visual stimulation. Tracey includes an electronic component to the program utilizing a tablet to pull up information on the countries being studied. She also conducts a cultural art activity related to the subject matter, along with corresponding regional music. It truly is an innovative and tremendous way to have your residents or patients engage in an activity on many different levels.  

I highly recommend American Passage with its Tales to Travel programming. It is well organized and a great way to provide cognitive and multi-sensory stimulation. If you have any further questions about the program, please feel free to contact me. 

Sincerely, 

Chloe Hodgson, MA, ATR-BC, LCAT
Director of Therapeutic Recreation and Integrative Therapy  
The Riverside Premier Rehabilitation & Healing Center 
150 Riverside Drive New York, NY 10024 
646.505.3561  or  chodgson@theriversiderehab.com