StacieO

Help! We've been asked by Nursing to provide some sort of after meal activity/entertainment, to try to keep residents from heading back to their rooms right after the meal (there are other stations that our lower functioning residents are being fed at & staff isn't as available as they'd like to be at that time for these residents that eat a bit earlier). My hope is that the aide that is scheduled to stay in the dining area to observe for safety will be able to do this - somewhere down the line, but until then, it's the Activity Staff. We are doing trivia, jokes, devotionals, etc for about 10 - 15 minutes, just to sort of slow down that migration out of the dining room. It has boosted the participation of some of those residents who rarely come to group activities, but I'm looking for other ideas to help keep them interested. Of course, residents who do not want to stay are not forced to stay, we are just trying to provide that motivation to stay a bit longer. Thanks in advance for the help! Stacie :-D

Opps! Let's fix my last statement, it should end w/, "it's not like some are being favored." Sorry! It's Friday, I'm ready for the weekend!

By less involved residents, do you mean residents that aren't able to participate or residents who CHOOSE not to participate? We invite anyone to join our group (we keep a couple of extra hats ready for new memebers). Our group only meets monthly, so it's like some are being favored.

Just to add to the hat decorating, we did the very same thing (hats from Oriental Trading & the whole bit). BUT, we invited another local Red Hat Group to assist w/ the decorating. It was basically one on one & worked out great!

We are just finishing a REALLY neat marketing tool that our social worker put together & will give to potiential residents, families, local hospitals, & any other facility that we may get residents from. It is a nice folder w/ indexed tabs of what our facility offers. Included in this package is a disk/cd that has a really cool presentation of our facility on it. It has pictures of residents, staff, family, volunteers (all gave permission) & has backround music & some really cool quotes. Again, this highlights what we offer & generally shows our residents & their lives here. It's about 7 - 8 minutes long. We are trying to market our facility as a comfortable home. She had checked w/ area places that put together these types of things & was able to do it on her own for a fraction of the cost. And the cd can be changed over time. The residents & staff truely enjoyed being involved in this project. Our community is about 3,500 people, but almost every community w/in a 40 mile radius has a LTC, so competition is FIERCE!

I have heard that surveyors are not looking at the calendars, but we do still use the large monthly calendars as well as posting a daily calendar in key places in our facility. Just seems to work that way. I have family members who request montly calendars so they can be sure to attend functions w/ their loved ones. Not sure that I'll ever quit doing the calendars. Stacie O.

We also have a Red Hat group in our facility. They have a blast planning what they want to do each month (picnics on the deck, coffee parties, etc.). I have put one of my staff in charge, & she loves it, she's really taken ownership in it & besides, as one of my residents pointed out, I'm under 50! Anyway, they do things on their own & also invite other local Red Hat Groups in for special functions. Stacie O.

We don't have a "welcome wagon". But, I have a Welcome Basket that will stock w/: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, candy (sugar free, too), comb, brush, listing of facility phone numbers, tv channel listings, & a card. We have 2 residents & one of my staff that bring this to the new residents. Our facility really doesn't have many more residents that are willing/able to do this! But the two that do it, love it! We try to get this done w/in 3 days of admission.

I am very fortunate that my admin. has not asked me or directed me to cut out trips & entertainment. I will be budgeting accordingly this fall. What we are working on now w/ our residents is donations for the victims. We have 4 quilts that they will finish tying next week, discarded clothing (from residents & staff), & we are working on a little fund raiser for a monitary donation. Our residents are really heart-broken when they hear about not only the devistation, but also the looting. Stacie

We will have cake & punch at our coffee time & some piano music. We also have encouraged family to eat w/ their loved one & have a special menu planned for that day. Stacie

We don't actually do a "Winter Olympics" here, but during the first week of February, our town celebrates, "Ole & Lena Days". (Rural Minnesota.) Anyway, that's when we do some of the following events: Lefse Fling -- (pronounced: lefsa - Scandinavian, looks like a tortilla). We use either lefse or tortillas & the resident's toss them. Prizes given for the longest throw. Mitten Match -- We get a bunch of mittens, mix them up in a basket & residents match them up. Quickest time wins a prize. We've also done Ole & Lena jokes, bed pan races, we've done actual snow ball tosses (aiming for a target or farthest throw), & we always end w/ hot chocolate & marshmellows. Hope this helps. Stacie

You are correct. Rec. Therapy is not re-imbursed at this time. My MDS coordinator has me fill in 0,0 on section "T" of the MDS when it asks the minutes spent in Rec. Therapy. Also, in our facility, I am not a "therapy based" department. Stacie O CTRS

I am LOL! I loved that, copied, printed it, we're using it next week!

Our facility is taking small, baby steps towards this. I'm excited for the move towards this, but it will not be an easy transition! There is alot involved, & getting ALL staff to "buy in" is very important. Our facility will also need to do some major re-construction if we hope to accomplish this & that takes tons of $$$, which we all know that SNF's are swimming in money! So - I don't see this being a change that will happen here in the next year, but we are slowly progressing in this direction. (I work in rural Minnesota, by the way.) Stacie

Update - they didn't end up sending us the 18-year old, she ended up w/ a chest tube, poor thing. Erin - yes - I'll be at MNSWAP, just not sure which days yet. I like to send a couple of my staff for one day, & then try to be there one day myself (budget doesn't allow for much more than that). My email is: solson@gfmhm.com if you wish to contact me directly.