Activity aide at Birchaven Village wins state award

FINDLAY — Cathy Quinlan is an activity aide assistant at Birchaven Village. Her days revolve around calling bingo numbers, directing games of tabletop curling and leading exercise classes using pool noodles and maracas. "It's something every day," she said. "It keeps them active and happy." Quinlan and residents of the Cedar and Dogwood halls also laugh a lot. "We tell jokes. They don't really like my corny jokes, but I know if I didn't tell them, they'd be like, we need the jokes, Cathy," she said. Quinlan was recognized earlier this month with the Ohio Health Care Association (OHCA) Jean Lyttle Activity Assistant of the Year Award. OHCA collaborates with over 1,300 assisted living communities, health care and hospice services throughout Ohio, according to Activities Director Amanda Sharp, who nominated her for the honor. Originally from Findlay, Quinlan now she lives in the Rawson/Mount Cory area. She is a retired teacher, having worked the majority of her career teaching second through fifth graders at Cory-Rawson Local School. "So this is 'my retirement job,' but it doesn't even feel like a job," Quinlan said. "As I've told them, I have two homes. I have my home where I come during the day and I'm with them at their home. And then I go to my other home at night." She said the job appeals to her because she's always liked helping people. "And when my career as an educator came to a close, I was ready to try something new," she explained. "So this job really tied in nice. I've done the spectrum of ages." She got a taste for the work when she accompanied her daughter, Caitlin, to volunteer at Birchaven. Caitlin would bring along Charlotte, a seven-year-old Golden Retriever she had raised to be a therapy dog. "I went with her a few times, and I was like, this looks fun," said Quinlan. Now she tries to bring Charlotte at least three times a week. "They adore Charlotte, and she loves each and every one of them," Quinlan said. Charlotte also knows which rooms to visit for treats. One of the residents even calls herself Charlotte's great-grandma, Quinlan laughed. She will observe her third year at Birchaven in June. "And I've loved everyday," she said. "All the residents are just wonderful, and they love to do activities." Quinlan said families will sometimes come for a visit when the residents are in the middle of a bingo game. "So the family has to wait because we're playing bingo," she laughed. "I'm just living life with them." Sharp and Quinlan work together to come up with the different activities. "And if there's something they really want to do, we try to make it happen," said Quinlan. With the Olympics underway, they've watched it on TV and played several different games, she said. "And we do something called Morning Circle where we read the Courier, we look at the weather, we do trivia and we learn about different things going on throughout the year," said Quinlan. There's also devotions, crafts and walks outside. One of the residents' favorite excursions is making their annual trip to the Hancock County Fair. This past year, they also saw Christmas lights and attended the Wednesday evening concerts at Riverside Park. Sharp said they especially enjoy the group community events like trick-or-treat along Birchaven's Main Street and seeing the children get pictures taken with Santa at Christmas. "It's a lot of fun, and I'd encourage anybody who's interested," said Quinlan. "There's a lot of nursing homes around the community I know that could use the support and help."