A passion for books

My Time, My Choice is a program that is being implemented at the Arcare Knox and The Lodge communities, as a part of lifestyle.

The program encourages clients to think about, and choose what’s most important for them to do or experience. The client may choose to go on an outing, complete an activity or project or fulfill a dream of theirs; the program is designed to fulfill whatever their heart truly desires.

It doesn’t matter if the request is big or small, as long it’s something that the client truly wants to do, the Arcare Knox lifestyle team will make it happen.

In October, a group of ladies from the Knox community approached the lifestyle team with a clear idea of what they wanted to do, as a part of the the My Time, My Choice program. The ladies requested that once a month, they should travel to the local library to explore their wide range of literature and books.

Client, Mary said, “Books and libraries have always been part of my life, and to still be able to go out in the community with support, is something that is extremely important to me.”

After hearing the request, the lifestyle team began organising a day to take the ladies out on the bus to visit the library.

“Enabling and encouraging the clients to make their own choices, and choose what they want to do, evokes a sense of purpose and independence within the clients. We have seen such a change in attitude since we started this program; the clients really seem more positive and motivated to be involved in the community.” Lifestyle coordinator, Leanne said.

When the group arrived at the Knox library, the ladies spread out, to begin searching through all of the titles. They have such fun wandering through the shelves of books and picking out their favourites to read.

A few of the ladies had to renew their library cards, so that they could borrow the books that they wanted to read more of. The ladies gathered their piles of books to bring back with them to Arcare Knox, with one client even saying, “This is isn’t even all of the books that I wanted to borrow; there are just so many to read! I will need to save them to borrow next time we visit.”

The smiles on the ladies’ faces, as they flickered through the pages of the dusty novels, really spoke volumes and should further highlight the importance of the My Time, My Choice lifestyle program to the community.