Morag

Hi, I don't think punishing fellow workers will achieve anything. Take time to talk to the carers and find out how they feel about what you are asking them to do. let them know how you feel and maybe you can all come to a compromise. The carers are there for the same reasons you are. I find treating others as equals is the best way to get help when you need it.

Hi Michelle, I have been a DT and Lifestyle coordinator for over 20 years here in Australia. I started in aged care in Scotland when I was only 16 before Activity officers were thought of. I have seen many changes in aged care over the past 40 years and think we are a very worthwhile and important part of aged care. I have a team of eight activity officers who all love what they do,they find Golden Carers a very useful sight. I also use the information we get on here for toolbox talks. Good luck in you new career.

Hi Sunya, try delegating some of your tasks to your staff, they may be so use to you taking charge and doing it all by yourself that they have become complacent and bored in their roles. A little bit of empowerment goes a long way in making a person feel good about themselves and their worth, This will promote good feelings , give a new meaning to their role and possibly lighten your load and make you feel positive and enthused about your role and worth. Try and ensure that the least little thing another staff member does for you and your team is acknowledged with a thank you, it works towards closing the gap of them and us. Nurses also feel overworked and unappreciated, so when someone thanks them they feel they have been validated. I started with one nurse who ran the unit, everyone followed her lead, I would go up to her everyday and say "thank you for your help today" the nurses in the unit now help with assisting residents to get to activity with no complaints. I also direct my staff to help the nurses with small tasks if they have time, I now see nurses join in activities with residents that they never did before. This did not happen over night, it is still a work in progress.

Hi everyone, Some of you may already do this activity but I thought I would share it with you anyway as all the residents at our facility love it. It is the old fashioned game of beetle, where you have to throw the dice to complete your beetle and who completes their beetle first wins. We do it with two large rubber dice and play it on the white board, Draw up a square for each resident and name it, then when they win a body part you draw it in their square. they must get their head or body before they can get legs, eyes, antenna, and wings. 6 is for the head. 5 for the body, 4 for the legs( need 6 legs)3 for the wings(need 2) 2 for the eyes (need2) 1 for the antenna(need 2). It is a lot of fun as you draw each beetle diffrently, residents all cheer each other on when they are after a body part but keep throwing wrong number. If the person who has won the game still wants to play on so others can complete their beetles they get to throw one dice and donate their number to the person they think needs it. The game can take a while if time is running out call a cheating round and add, divide, subtract the numbers thrown to see if you can get a number the resident needs.