The Commons on Marice Wii Program Successful for Memory Care Residents!

The Commons on Marice in the memory care community provide a program called “Historical Sports”. This program focuses on a variety of sports that are of interest in the memory care community.
One sport of interest is golf. As part of the program they used the game system “Wii”. The residents proved successful in playing “Wii sports” golf training section. This is where they are required to chip golf balls into a golf hole and swing at the golf ball to hit the ball in the designated bull’s eye. To hit the golf ball and be successful requires two simple tasks: 1. Push thumb down on the “A” button. 2. Swing arm back and then forward while “A” button is pressed. The memory care residents were successful in hitting the golf ball to the designated areas. In fact, we had two residents who hit the golf ball into the golf hole for a “chip in”.
Some adaptation was required by the Recreation Therapist reminding the resident to hold down on the “A” button and swinging the arm along with the resident. For residents who understood the sequencing needed minimal adaptation by the Recreation Therapist mimicking the swing of the arm back and forth along with the resident.
The memory care residents were successful and appeared to enjoy the gaming system as they cheered each other on in their successes, and the desire to participate!

Written By: Karen Ostler, CTRS Memory Care Activity Coordinator