Celebrating Activity Professionals Week 2023 | Mary Ellen Layman

Happy Activity Professionals Week! 

Activity professionals are amazing and deserve far more than a week of appreciation, so let's keep the ball rolling! Throughout this week, we’re spotlighting some of the exceptional Activity Professionals that we have the honor of working with and share some stories from the field that make these people so special. Stay tuned so you can get to know some of the individuals making an incredible impact on older adults living across North America!

In support of Activities Professionals week, today we honor Mary Ellen Layman, Director of Activities in Independent Living, and the activities team at Ohio Living Breckenridge Village.

When we asked Mary Ellen to be featured in our appreciation posts, she wrote back that she couldn’t take the credit because her team makes the magic happen. 

What a beautiful response~ The Breckenridge Village Team is a truly special group to work with. A meeting or training with them makes our day! And that’s over zoom. To have such positivity, curiosity, and passion translate through a computer screen is incredible. It is so exciting to know that residents get to experience that energy in person! 

Mary Ellen sums up her passion perfectly: 
“I fell in love with working with seniors when I had my first job out of college at a local park system. We put on events for bus tours and I loved greeting the seniors and being part of their fun and enjoyable afternoon. My Grandmother lived in an Independent Living community and she was never in her room; because she was at an activity. And I was like "That's a real job? Sign me up!" 

Mary Ellen has been a Certified Laughter Leader and Joyologist for almost 20 years. That means she studies living a life full of joy! She even leads laughter and joy sessions with her residents every week. It is so special when your job is not just a job, but a calling that brings that joy to others, as well. 

The independent living and Assisted Living/nursing home sides each have a system and each team is rocking it! Their dedication to their residents' quality of life is second to none.

As Mary Ellen says: “I love being an Activity Director and one reason why is because of products like Rendever. It keeps our campus cutting edge but more importantly enables us to connect with our residents in a new, different way every session!!!!”

At Rendever, our mission is to overcome social isolation through the power of virtual reality and shared experiences. The change we make would be impossible without the partners on the ground, running the experiences and making them so special for their residents. 

We are so grateful to call ourselves a partner of Breckenridge Village! 

Thank you Catherine Otto-Hadley, Director of Activities (Licensed Buildings), Marissa Motta, Sarah Salopek, Cindy Luc, Kelly Scoville, Linda Clark, Kim Bradac, Kirsten Ross, Georgette Lawson, Luci Remchick and Jiara Sanders and the entire Activities Team!