Paulette

I have heard two interpretations of this: my first understanding was that EVERY type of facility that houses a group of seniors that are not family members must abide by all the rules - one being that the activity director must qualify by meeting the stated standards. A member of one certain facility corrected me and said that only nursing homes need to follow ANY of the 248/249 rules. The person later corrected herself regarding activities and said that as long as one person in the facility had a four-year degree in gerontology and was available to the activity director, that the activity director need meet no state standards. Can you please clarify?

Please give suggestions on relay races to do while sitting in chairs in a row. An example would be that there are two rows of chairs designating two teams. On the word "go," each team passes a ball overhead hand to hand to the person in the next chair until it reaches the last chair, then makes the return trip, and the first team to get the ball to return to the first chair wins. This is an obvious one. I need other ones. They can have to do with balls, any other objects, or no object. Thank you!

I need more ideas for fun ways to get the body moving. Games, variations on exercises, etc. Thanks! (If you already have a file on this or a link to ideas, please let me know how to find it.)

I recently found out about the New York State EDGE (Electronic Dementia Guide for Excellence) Project. Aside from the information page, which gives a couple of good tips, can anyone tell me how else it works/helps? Thank you. http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/conditions/dementia/edge/

I'm just about done with my MEPAP 1 class and am looking for jobs. (Hoping to do MEPAP 2 while working.) So far I am flabbergasted. I've only found out about five places so far, but it seems that the pay for an activities assistant is roughly the same as that for a fast food worker. (Unions, anyone?) Hopefully I'm wrong, or at least the pay goes up after a little while. I've looked below and that doesn't cheer me much, but I see it does vary from place to place. Can someone please tell me what an activities assistant and what an activities director can expect to earn per hour when first hired, after one year, after five years, and after ten years? This is in New York State, between Catskill and Delmar (Greene and Albany counties). Thank you very much!

I am only a volunteer at our facility but we play twice a week, which was very gradually cut from the every day that the residents wanted. I agree with the activities director that twice per week is a good amount; it gets the players to try different things the other days of the week - things that might stimulate their minds or bodies more. This leads me to my own question: DO ANY OF YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE DURING BINGO BESIDES CALL NUMBERS AND AWARD PRIZES? Bingo just seems so BORING. Have any of you tried anything like reading a joke every once in a while, or leading a discussion at the same time, or anything else at all? If so, did they like it or not? Back to your original questions, we charge 5 (real) cents per card per game, and 10 cents per card for the very last game (fill the whole card). There is no maximum on cards, so we have one resident who usually purchases 6 to 8 cards, one who purchases 4, and the rest purchase one or two. 5 cents per card makes it so easy to afford more cards, and yet some people don't do it on principle to make it more fair (which doesn't work unless everyone does that, which is obviously not the case) or because they are not quick enough to mark more than one or two cards (also not fair). I think everyone should have the same number of cards - say, two - and residents should be asked how much they'd like to pay per card in order to get the type of prizes that would then be available. (You'd have to do research first to be able to say to them something like, "At ten cents a card, the prizes would be things like a, b, and c; at 25 cents a card the prizes would be things like d, e, and f, and at a dollar a card the prizes would be things like g, h, and i." Or you could try having the first few games be 10 cents a card with smaller prizes, then the next few games 25 cents a card with bigger prizes, and the next few games a dollar a card, with bigger prizes. The very last game might be two dollars a card. I think it's good to have a selection of prizes to choose from, so they can get things they actually like. I think that candy should be at a minimum, if at all. I'd go more for things to do or little collectibles, such as crossword puzzle books, trivia books, puzzles, a pennywhistle, an art or craft item, tiny figurines or stuffed animals or dollar-store vases with artificial flowers, or even coupons good for services (that would have to be made available), such as a 10-minute hand, foot, back, or head massage, an errand to be run for them, a lesson in something a staff member is good at, etc. As far as cutting back on the number of times without a riot, I'd cut back gradually, and be sure to replace that time with something REALLY interesting and different. I can't remember if you had other questions, and this is my first time on this site so I'm not sure how to go back to your question...but I hope I helped a bit!

My young adult daughter has been trying to tell me this as well, because I'm another one who likes to de-bra the minute I get home. Here are my feelings about this: Physically, it just plain feels better to be without a bra. It is tight, which can't be as good for your skin or circulation as going bra-less, and why not feel more comfortable - at any age? Most of us have nursed babies, jogged, held little ones against our chest - how much more are we going to droop just by sitting at home without a bra? Mentally, why bother our residents with one more thing to worry about their health? Whether or not it is in fact better to wear a bra or not, let the residents do what is comfortable for them. Chances are, they already droop, so if not wearing a bra does make them droop an extra tenth of an inch before they die, so what? And why remind them that they droop or point out that others might care and that they should care? They're already worried about wrinkles on their faces - or, hopefully, they've learned to accept those - and they're certainly worried about other things, like getting (or worsening) dementia or other diseases - so I say, definitely don't bring it up!