Rose

Lori,
If you're asking me about the horse videos - there are a LOT of them that pop up when you do a YouTube search "Horse in pasture." I don't use the same one every time, so I really can't come up with a name of the video. Sorry.

Have you thought about doing shorter activities, maybe doing a 40 minute one for the higher functioning followed by a 30 minute slower/easier version for the lower functioning people. I pretty much gave up doing big activities trying to include everyone of all functioning levels long ago. I have time slots set out for higher functioning activities for those folks, and then simplified activities for lower functioning. When the high functioning folks are in activities the cognitively impaired are listening to music or watching nature videos. While the more confused folks are in their activity the higher functioning folks are encouraged to pursue independent activities as much as they are able. (this might simply be watching a movie or tv show.) I'm in SNF with a wide variety of abilities from the very cognitively intact rehab person to very low functioning dementia people.

My SNF residents want to have an Easter Egg hunt! Not the kind where they hide the eggs and kids come in and hunt, they want to be the ones doing the hunting, staff are the ones doing the hiding. Almost all of them are in wheelchairs, and only 20-30% are able to self propel their chairs well, though about 60% can go at least a short distance. We have a mix of cognitively intact/rehab folks and fairly advanced memory care people.

Does any one have any ideas on how I can pull this off for them? Of course, budget for this is small.

I'm in SNF, so my situation might be different, but this is exactly why I don't hire CNAs to work in activities any more. In SNF, non-CNAs aren't allowed to do any sort of personal cares like feeding, dressing, bathing, toileting, walking, transfers, etc. That said, I used to have my staff pulled all of the time - which is why I changed my hiring practices.

We have been using a lot of YouTube videos that match our resident's interests. For example, one lady "loved her horses more than her children" according to her son, so we searched for "horses in pasture" and got a lot of 30+ minute videos that she loves. Another lady liked to feed the birds (and is in an area of the building that birdfeeding isn't feasible) so we searched YouTube for "birds at feeder" and "hummingbirds." There are also videos of puppies, kittens, wild animals, farm animals, nature walks... just about anything we have asked for has been found on YouTube. We use an HDMI cord to attach a chromebook to the living room large screen tv to play the videos. Our facility pays for a YouTube account so we don't have interruptions with ads - which our residents found confusing and distressing. I think it's around $15 a month and something we use every day, so it costs around $0.50 per day to provide this and other activities. Actually a lot of bang for our buck.

Ask them "what would you be doing if you were at home right now?" Often you can build on what they tell you during that conversation. Also, "Is there something that you were always interested in, but never had a chance to learn more about?"

Feed them and they will come! :D It depends on what your group has in common - I have a building full of retired farmers, so most of what we do with the guys is farming related. During football season we talk about the Packers and Badgers. The best place to start is with a good social and leisure inventory to see what your group is interested in. - On Friday we are doing a series of Facebook videos on robotic dairy farming! They may be long retired, but they are still interested in the latest and greatest in the industry.

I got mine at Dollar Tree - only a dollar each. We don't use the ball on top of the basket, just tip the basket upside down to drum on the base. I don't have enough storage space to store 8-10 balls for this activity!

I use a whole lot of music but never ask them to Name That Tune when working with late dementia people. We just sit around, sing along if they are able (and it's surprising how many of them are still able to do that!) and move to the music. Maybe clapping, tapping toes, or I pat their hand in rhythm to the music. Move their w/c in time to the music/do w/c dancing. I don't ask a lot from my memory care people as far as giving a response that they have to think about. We just do, and I take what they are able to give.