Opal

Hi Morgan, I too have uncounted staff from other teams, besides activities, not wanting to interact with residents outside of care. It can be tricky to get them to join in. One approach I have used is to make it non-stress for the carer, such as when the activity team is in the room ask some of the carers to help out with something very simple eg. painting. The aim is for the carer to have fun and relax and to see that the resident is having fun and behaviours are reduced. It can be a bit of extra work but hopefully the payoff is worth it. Also some people see that sitting and talking with residents is not actual work so I reassure them that it is the most important job of all. Good luck hope it work out for you.

I am hoping that you will be able to give me some coping strategies for dealing with a very very difficult resident. She is high cognitive functioning with slight short term memory loss. She is very demanding and critical ( she is a regular visitor to the manager) and causes other residents also to become demanding. She is an " I want" person and not just for simple things either but for major changes in the facility, then when the changes are delivered, they are either never right or she has lost interest so it dosent matter any more. We have tried all the usual things like being very nice or firm with her, doing as she requests, giving her a project to do, keeping her mentally challenged, she also has friends, not in the facility that she visits weekly. It seems to be her nature so there is no stop to it.
This is more a request of help for us, the staff, as dealing with her saps all our energy and enthusiasm.

Hi Patricia, This sounds just like my place. 50 residents with 10 high dementia needs and anther 10 high functioning and everyone one else in between. It can be a real challenge at times, along with all the meetings :)
I find having access anytime to scrabble and cards is working well [ at the moment anyway] The first few times I needed to encourage them, target group of about 8 as not all come each time and some are happy just watching. I also included one lady with advanced dementia, but her word and social skills are still high, some residents were a bit concerned at first, but then she started to beat them ;) They now organise themselves but still like to be in the same area as the staff. Also 2 suggestions for the quiz. Ask a question get an answer then go around group one by one and see if others agree or have a different answer. 2) Ask a question with no right/wrong answer eg What is your favourite ........., Have you ever.......
I hope this helps you and I am sure that you have tried these already. We are here to help each other and I am putting up my own help request now
Good luck Robyn