Home creates opportunity
for male bonding
Pleasant Meadow to create ROMEO club
chapter
Monday, November 6, 2006
-- Natalie Miller
Male residents of a Norwood long-term care home
will have the opportunity to shoot the breeze
about the latest news and discuss sports scores
courtesy of two new social programs at Pleasant
Meadow Manor.
Life enrichment supervisor Karen
Coulter has put an emphasis on men’s programming,
recognizing the need to cater to this population
of residents. Wanting to introduce more activities
for men, Karen got the inspiration for two specific
programs from a recent article she read.
First, she’s starting a ROMEO
club at the long-term care home. ROMEO stands
for Retired Old Men Eating Out. According to http://www.romeoclub.org/,
John "Lefty" Caulfield (a school principal
and U.S. Navy retiree) started the first ROMEO
club at various dinners in Cambridge, Massachusetts
and he dubbed it "retired old men eating
out.”
According to the website, the club, which has
various chapters in different communities, gives
men an opportunity to meet with other men in their
community for a meal and enjoy good food and conversation.
“You can meet men with similar interests
and backgrounds and others with varied interests
and vastly differing backgrounds, but all will
have an interesting story to tell. No memberships
are needed to the Romeo club just a weekly meeting
of old friends who enjoy each other's camaraderie,
a good time, and good food.”
At Pleasant Meadow, ROMEO will stand
for Retired ‘Older’ Men Eating Out
and will entail a group of male residents going
out once a month. “It’s just the gentleman
going out for coffee at a local restaurant.”
Karen will provide a variety of newspapers the
men can peruse and discuss. She says if her father
is any indication, news about the latest local
happenings and world issues is important to senior
men. “News is big with them,” she
says.
In addition to the ROMEO club, Karen will also
start a program called ‘Guy Talk’
which will bring together male residents socially
also on a monthly basis. Hosted at Pleasant Meadow
Manor, Karen will invite guest speakers to come
into the home to discuss topics of interest to
the men. She’s starting by asking a local
Legion member to come into the home.
Having taken over the role of supervising
activities recently, one of Karen’s goals
was to increase the number of programs for men.
She introduced a breakfast club, which once a
month, gives a group of four men the opportunity
to have breakfast made before them and gather
in the activity room, away from the rest of the
home’s residents.
“We need to have our identity
and separate interests,” Karen noted.
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