Kylie

Perhaps supplying a box of items for the rehab residents to do at their own leisure ( a few boxes pre-organised and stay at the centre when the resident leaves) - all dependant on their admission notes and level of ability. A pack of cards, crosswords, notepads, colouring, a list of DVDs available etc.
Generally rehab residents won’t integrate easily with the General Activities, however letting them know they have other options is a lovely gesture. Meaningful engagements - chit chats etc May let them feel they are understood and not alone.

There are so many fun activities to do with residents living with less advanced dementia. Our program involves Sale of the Century ( not the board game - I am the host of the show and run it this way with a large whiteboard to keep score). The wheel of Fortune Game ( again not the board game, I’ve made a large pinwheel and we use this with the whiteboard) indoor tennis, ( balloons ), quiz time, reminiscing time, Cooking with the residents ( their ideas for what to cook are run each week) , awesome art and craft - watercolour painting, freestyle, cardmaking, knitting, papier-mâché, ( paddlepop sticks are cheap and the ideas are endless). Try Pinterest for more activity ideas as well.

During the year I collect all recyclables- cooking jars, milk top lids, paddle pop sticks, egg cartons, tissue boxes etc. These are all an awesome way to keep the budget down and also have great new art craft ideas each week.

We have a gentleman in our home who loves to collect items and hide them. ( I know this is common as they often regress to the younger years and in this case, the depression) Items such as toilet rolls, personal belongings from other residents room etc. As you can imagine, this is now upsetting other residents throughout the home. I’ve tried introducing a nuts and bolts collection for him ( as he loves to collect these as well) and while he was delighted, he still continued to take the other items.
Any suggestions would be so welcome - I’m at a loss as to how to stop the items from going missing and how to keep this lovely man happy at the same time.

Hi Donna, I’m sure a few of our residents would love to start this as well. Would email be okay to communicate through? This actually sounds so exciting !! Such a great idea. xx

Hi Jane,
I’m thinking you mean the activity plan rather than the planner? I’ll see if I can screenshot one of mine tomorrow. It should give you a rough idea of proposed outcomes and also the list of steps to achieve the outcome.

If you meant the planner instead, we have a full planner but very simply laid out. I can screenshot this again tomorrow for you. We follow the Montessori approach which also has identified black font on yellow paper is more helpful for residents living with dementia to be able to read. Our name badges are also black font on yellow backing.

Art and craft is a great idea, making either paper red poppies, or a wreath from crepe paper, ( if you have able residents you could make items to be donated to the services ) a reminiscent hr with talks relating around these eras. A songlist of the various eras music, a guest speaker for the service if possible can be arranged.

We put the monthly calendar up in the main dining room, however weekly calendars are also delivered and placed in the rooms for those residents who are interested in this. We then have a special events noticeboard of each weekly performance or something different that may be coming up. As with everyone above me, it’s word of mouth and also the white board in the dining room. I list what’s on that day, Times and of course the day and date at the top.

In our company, we don’t have a participation record, rather a membership list we refer to for each activity. This list we refer to when gathering the residents for each individual activity. If we notice a particular resident hasn’t attended for a period of time, we can then follow up and see if there are changes etc we can make. If there is anything of interest or change from the group activity in a particular resident, then this is what we document in progress notes.

However we do have a meaningful engagement sheet for each month. It lists each resident of the home on one side of the grid and the dates up the top. This way we can record for each month who has had a meaningful engagement visit and it also allows us to see who has had minimal visits.

By looking into their background with family members or even previous Lifestyle Evaluations, it’s amazing the ideas you can put together. I recently have 1:1 engagement ( ongoing) with a lady who is non verbal and blind, also no mobility , however when I read the previous care plan it mentioned she and her husband used to be in a jazz band. I’ve put together a playlist with the iPad and 2-3 times a week I’ll give her a hand massage while she has the headphones on low of jazz music. It really seems to calm her. An awesome step forward.

I absolutely love this site. I have used it in a Lifestyle Position in a Daycentre with the older Person and I now find the resources and ideas invaluable in my new role as a Recreational Activities Officer in a large Nursing Home. The abundance of ideas, Quizzes, and Printable forms are helping me help the residents find their inner “fun” which had previously been missing. THANKYOU from myself and the residents !! xx

Thankyou so much for replying Morgan. Absolutely you did the right thing considering the circumstances Morgan. Well done to you for handling it so well. Safety is paramount. I’m considering holding a staff meeting to discuss it with all RAO’s in the facility. It’s quite a large nursing home in space, so we have approx 6 RAO’s on staff at any given time. Two for each area. But perhaps if we can all get on board with a solution, then these residents may follow eventually. I’m just not sure what the solution is on this one. I don’t mind being firm when it comes to safety, but I Need to find solutions to present to management so they’ll be behind us as well.