PTRS E-Newsletter

The Newsletter of the PA Therapeutic Recreation Society

We need your assistance to create what is known as a tagline. A tagline is a short slogan or phrase that conveys the most important benefit that PTRS wishes to embody. It is a theme to promote our mission, vision, and values. Watch for details as we will be having a contest for members to submit their PTRS tagline to go along with our new logo. The Board of Directors will select a winner from the entries and it will be used with the new logo and other marketing materials.

Continuing with our rebranding we rewrote the vision, mission and value statements for PTRS which now read as follows

Our Vision

To promote and enhance a holistic approach to wellness and quality of life for individuals in Pennsylvania.

Our Mission

To actively engage individuals committed to Therapeutic Recreation, and interested consumers, by supporting professional development, advocacy, and resources.

Our Values

We strive to empower members to achieve professional excellence.

The next rebranding step was the longest and most involved as we recreated our website (www.prps.org/ptrs) to be more in alignment with our parent organization PRPS. Our goal is to assure the website offers updated information, is user friendly and is more informative as you navigate and click on the options. We would appreciate your feedback and recommendations once you visit the website as this site will always be a work in progress.

The Board of Directors will be taking the newly rebranded PTRS out to colleges and universities in Pennsylvania that offer Therapeutic Recreation as a major during the spring semester. We will be visiting classrooms to present a new PowerPoint designed for students to explain the benefits and importance of being a student member and a future professional member of an organization specifically designed for their chosen occupation. Students are our future!

We have planned our Spring Workshops and the 2014 TRI committee,led by Anne Wieland and Rachel Guiher, is reviewing session proposals to create another amazing Therapeutic Recreation Institute. The theme this year is "Therapeutic Recreation: A Circle of Life" and the conference is being held June 4-6 at the Double Tree Resort by Hilton in Lancaster, PA.

If you need a New Year's resolution, grow yourself professionally by reading the PRPS weekly e-newsletter for PTRS information, read the PTRS newsletter for interesting ideas, visit the new website, register to attend PTRS workshops, and of course plan to attend the TRI in June.

Best wishes in the New Year and I look forward to seeing you at a PTRS sponsored event in 2014.

Kirk Rakos

PTRS President

by Becky Kandrac, Recording Secretary

Your Board of Directors has been working very hard over the past couple of months to build and improve the PTRS organization.

Click here to continue reading the Board notes. 

by Anne T. Wieland, CTRS, MHA

Solo Dx is a new form of subtitling and video description, provide via an iPhone app called Moviereading. This promising new technology will allow blind or visually impaired iPhone owners to enjoy a movie at any theater, any time. It will also be able to be used with DVDs in the future. To get started, you simply download the app then go to the app's marketplace and see what movies have video description of subtitling. (It is new, so titles are limited.)

Before leaving home, you download that movie file for the movie you wish to see, which just takes a minute or so. Then, at the movie you use your phone's earphone, open the app, and click on the file once the movie starts.

The app listens through the phone microphones and syncs itself with the movie track. You also need to use the phone screen curtain so the light doesn't bother others. It works very well the sync was perfect and took very little time to get set. Quality both of delivery and of the description was very high.

This is so promising because once one has a phone that can use their app then you can go to any theater at any time to see your movie. The app will also provided files to use with DVDs in the future as they run at a very slightly different speed.

by Stacy Cathrall, CTRS

What's going on in Long Term Care? Smaller groups and more residents being seen for 1:1 visits; an increase in Short Term Rehab admissions; TR interventions to help reduce pain and the amount of falls; residents with iPads, and cell phones ringing during groups...Are you seeing any of these things in your Long Term Care Community? How are you changing with the times and meeting the needs of your residents? Are you in need of suggestions or have questions of your own to be answered?

As the current PTRS Geriatric Specialty Representative, I want to hear from you. If you have had success with a specific intervention, or insight about trends you are seeing in your community then please share. With the changing population of Long Term Care, new ideas are needed every day. By connecting with one another and sharing ideas we can provide better services for the residents in our communities.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas. Please email Stacy at            scathral@masonicvillages.org.

by Emily Connors

As the aging population is growing, we are also living longer. In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 50% of women and 17% of men aged 75 and over were widowed. The number of individuals experiencing widowhood is expected to increase as the baby boomer population ages.

Numerous issues may arise following the loss of one's spouse including economic hardship, loss of familiar roles, loss of companionship, social changes and withdrawal. Friendships, social support and involvement in meaningful activities have been proven through studies to be the biggest factors in helping an individual successfully adjust to widowhood.

How can recreation professionals help those we work with who may be experiencing widowhood? Many assume that simply "keeping busy" will distract the widow, however, the individual needs to be involved in activities that were and are meaningful to them. In addition, we need to advocate for these individuals as they may experience the "anniversary effect" years later. Sadness, symptoms of depression and withdrawal can occur on birth dates and anniversary dates of their lost spouse.

Recreation professionals can follow Maya Angelou's advice and "Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud."