Madison Manor

Yes I do have 2 Activities Coordinators! I have tried hallway activities, they are doable but a bit difficult. I have a hard time getting my staff excited about activities the way I am, but that's another post entirely. I have lots of ideas it's just a matter of fitting them all in the day. We only have two scheduled activities each day. Is that too few? Everything in the facility is on one level.

Hello there! I have been an AD since May 2021. I am also a board-certified music therapist. I have a question regarding scheduling the calendar. I work in a 76 bed SNF w/ LTC and rehab. I also have 2 ACs. I would estimate 75% of my residents have some level of dementia. With that, I have to make many activities very adaptive so all can participate. When I arrived, there was only a morning activity at 10:00 and an afternoon activity at 2:00. I wanted to provide more diverse activities options and more activities in the day because, frankly, I didn't think it was enough. Now, we do also do 1:1s every day, but I think that the socialization aspect is very important. My trouble is that we don't really have a designated Activities space. We typically do activities in the dining room, so we are subject to limit times due to meals. We have a beautiful living room but there are staff that have to work in there due to limited office space. So, my question is: how many activities do you typically have going on in your facility daily? How many staff do you have to assist? Do you have to share space? I'm just trying to get an idea if this is normal and I've being overzealous or if there is a way I can provide more. Thank you!

We have been experiencing a lot of residents lashing out at those w/ cognitive decline in groups. W/in my facility, there are more residents w/ Alzheimers/dementia than without and it can make the individuals who are w/o cognitive decline frustrated at the pace in which group progresses and the repetitive nature. Some of these residents can become particularly hateful/hurtful. Rather than call individual residents out, we have enacted a "No Bullying Rule" in activities and we go over it at the beginning of every activity. My team and I thought this may be the best way to address the behavior w/o calling specific residents out in front of the group. If a resident does say something hurtful/inappropriate after the rules have been stated, we try to redirect them and remind them of why Activities are inclusive to all, but it has been difficult. Do you have any tips for residents who are completely AAO and still extremely hurtful, regardless of going over the rules at the beginning of each group. The last thing we want to do is to have to remove a resident from group but we also want to maintain the dignity of the other residents present.