This focus group idea is to encourage the women who are not part of the Corps Community Care Ministries, or who volunteer in different areas of the corps, to get involved in a program to encourage and minister to those seniors who are lonely and would appreciate a visit. This ministry might not be limited to just nursing homes, but also senior centers, adult with disabilities centers, individuals who are house bound, cancer center groups, or any location where the occupants could use some encouragement.

The leader of the group would be responsible to contact women who would be interested in being a part of this ministry. Once it is determined the number of women who wish to participate, the group will need to decide how many individuals/groups they will be able to visit. This will also determine whether one person or a small group will visit a location. Even if they decide to visit in a small group to one location, they may want to focus on one–on–one visitation with individual residents in the home.

The members would agree to meet on a regular basis (weekly, biweekly, or monthly) to plan the logistics of the visits. Their responsibilities could include contact with the center coordinator/social worker to determine the time, date and number of people that would be able to participate in any planned activities. At their meetings they could also discuss what activities they would share with the larger group of residents and what they would share with an individual client. The groups’ focus would be on seniors whose families don’t visit them on a regular basis because of their location, or those who have no family and few visitors.

While this focus group is primarily a ministry of visitation, an additional goal could be that the members would enjoy times of fellowship together. This could lead to activities other than planning the visitation to “fun” times that the group would enjoy (dinner, a movie or play, shopping).

Following are some suggestions of visitation activities. Some could be used with individual residents while others could be with a larger group.

Week one: Manicure and hand massage
Week two: Craft to decorate client’s room (Pinterest has great, affordable ideas)
Week three: Board games
Week four: Dance party
Week five: Karaoke and talent show (Get the individual’s songs choices the week before in order to prepare the Karaoke play list.)
Week six: Scrapbooking and sharing stories of the good old days.