Activity Professionals Week: Megan Lau-Sears

Our communities offer incredible social and wellness opportunities for residents to participate in. Leading up much of the planning and coordinating, are team members of the Lifestyle Enrichment team. As we continue to celebrate Activity Professionals Week, meet Megan Lau-Sears who has been at LSS for over 16 years and shares her experience at Lenoir Woods.

Q: Can you describe your role as the Director of Lifestyle Enrichment at Lenoir Woods?

A: My role is to keep the residents active and engaged.?We try to provide a wide variety of activities designed to interest as many residents as we can.

Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in this field, particularly in aging services?

A: I have always been an active and outgoing person. When I was younger, I was active in the community, and I love planning and organizing events.?After working in wilderness with teenagers right out of college for a few years, my dad encouraged me to look into senior living.?I love working with older adults and hearing their stories and experiences.? It was a great transition and I have so much fun at Lenoir Woods.

Q: Your community is well known for having guest speakers and performances. Can you share about some of the successful events you organized for the residents?

A: A couple of my favorite events from over the years are our Mystery April Fool’s Day Trip and Paris week. On the Mystery Trip residents had no idea what would happen.?One year we went to Marceline and the Walt Disney Hometown Museum, then Glasgow for pie. It was such a fun outing! Another event I loved was “An Evening in Paris”. For this event/week we built a 15 ft. Eiffel Tower out of cardboard. The Plaza turned into a café in Paris, and we had events scheduled around the tower all week.

Q: How do you go about selecting and securing guest speakers and performances for the community?

A: A lot of the speakers and concerts we get are resident requested.?They give me the name and I research it to see if I can get them to come to Lenoir.?

Q: Lenoir Woods residents go on many outings. What are some unique or memorable adventures you’ve organized for them?

A: We have been to Warm Springs Ranch to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, as well as a local alpaca farm to see the baby alpaca’s and how their wool is used. Quite a few residents are interested in plays, so we go to Lyceum Theater and the Maples Repertory Theater a few times every year. Residents vote on the plays they are most interested in seeing and the plays with the most votes are the ones we attend. We have also done a few overnight adventures including Branson, Crystal Bridges in Arkansas, and Mackinac Island.

Q: How do you stay creative and adaptive in developing new activities to meet the changing needs of residents?

A: We have a wonderful Lifestyle Enrichment team that are constantly working to come up with new and exciting events. Also, our residents are very involved and give us lots of ideas. They really drive our activities calendar.

Join us in celebrating Megan’s passion and commitment to enhancing the lives of Lenoir Woods residents! Stay tuned or more inspiring stories in our #ActivityProfessionals series.