Download Grant and Award Applications
Dotti Mullen Grant 2019
The CATRD is proud to announce that this year’s Dottie Mullen Grant was awarded to Carolyn Kelly TRD of Hamden Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Hamden. This innovative proposal was for money to create a pollinator garden at her facility. Carolyn’s enthusiasm for helping sustain pollinators, the fate of our fragile environment, as well as educating her residents about this plight prompted her to apply for the grant.
Carolyn was awarded $500 to enhance an outdoor patio with plants and bird feeders that are environmentally conscious . Her residents have been educated on the importance of this cause through articles and videos explaining the critical situation that pollinators face. They are excited to begin the project.
We wish Carolyn and her residents the best in their efforts and commend them for helping our environment. We are look forward to pictures of the garden at next year’s conference.
Dottie Mullen Grant 2017
The CATRD is proud to announce that this year’s Dottie Mullen Grant was awarded to Deborah Kristopik and Scott Emmons at Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center in East Hartford. The proposal was for the Renovation/Adaptation of a kitchenette area in the main recreation room. The renovation consists of improving the kitchen prep and sink area to meet the needs of the residents who use it giving them a greater sense of independence. The area will be adapted to ADA regulations and will increase accessibility for the residents of Riverside. They were awarded $1782 for the project. We wish them much success and can’t wait to see pictures of the finished project at next years conference.
Dottie Mullen Grant 2016
The Connecticut Association of Therapeutic Recreation Directors, Inc. is proud to announce that there were two winners for this year’s Dottie Mullen Grant.
The first grant of $500 is awarded to Jenna Sweet TRD, CDP, for her “Make A Wish” program at West Hartford Health and Rehabilitation Center of West Hartford.
The second award of $500 goes to Jean Granata TRD, CDP, for her “Memorial Garden On Wheels” at Apple Rehabilitation at Laurel Woods.
We wish them much success.
Respectfully submitted the Grant Committee,
Marion Pierce, Luanne Kemp
Lee Ann Ward
Dottie Mullen Grant 2015
The Connecticut Association of Therapeutic Recreation Directors, Inc. is proud to announce that there were three winners for this year’s Dottie Mullen Grant.
The first grant of $1000 is awarded to Kathy Wilburn TRD, CDP, for her “E-Readers” program at the Advanced Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of New Haven. Kathy started the e-readers program about a year ago using her own collection of five e-readers. Two of them were for reading only but the other three had Wi-Fi capabilities. They are being used not only for reading books but to receive magazine subscriptions, newspapers, and movies. People also browse the internet, play games, email, take photos and use Facebook on them. Kathy adjusted the fonts to make it easy for people to read. She also uses the whisper-sync program on Kindle. It allows residents to listen as they read, highlighting the words, for increase comprehension and attention.
Kathy uses the e-readers in groups, to read short stories, tell jokes and play trivia. Currently she does not have enough e-readers to meet the needs of her residents. She hopes to purchase more Kindle Fire e-readers which will allow her residents to be more independent in their activity choices and provide group activities such as a book club or poetry group. Her target population is residents ages thirty five to sixty five who enjoy independent activities. Her long term plan is to create a photo club with the Kindles. She hopes to instruct residents on using email and establish pen pals through e-mail. We applaud her motivation and wish her much success.
The second award of $600 goes to Jacqui Sweet TRD, for her “Music and Memory,” program idea for Sharon Health Care Center. Jacqui has a passion to help people suffering from dementia. She thinks that medication is not the way to help people with disruptive, agitated or aggressive behaviors. She believes that having a “Music and Memories” program at her facility could alleviate much distress and improve interaction and communication. She is trying to raise enough money to have her staff and nursing staff, who work on the dementia unit, attend three Webinar training programs in the “Music and Memories” program. She hopes that once it is implemented there will be a decrease in the number of falls and psychotropic medication usage at her facility. She believes that the program will reduce anxiety for her residents and improve the quality of communication, the quality of life and promote connectedness with the environment, family and friends for her residents. We hope she meets her goals and wish her much success in her pursuit.
Our final winner is Ada Schulman, MS, CTRS, TRD, CDP. She is awarded $400 for an art program at the Grimes Center Yale-New Haven Health. The watercolor art program would be run by a volunteer who has an art education background and donates one to two days a week at the facility. The Therapeutic Recreation practitioners will supervise the program. Ada is requesting the funds to purchase the supplies for the program, which she believes will help her residents to express their talents and experience joy. We wish her much success.
Respectfully submitted the Grant Committee,
Marion Pierce
Lee Ann Ward
Beth Ann Heath
Brian Hickey