douglash26

I had a woman come it with Parrots (birds) and taught our residents all about them and they also did tricks. I have also had the person who installed and cares for our fish tank come in and do a presentation about the fish and the aquarium. I reached out to the local college and have guest speakers come in...so far it has mostly been health-related issues but I'm working with them to hopefully have other topics soon too such as biographies perhaps. Our chef does culinary demonstrations for us once a month (with samples!) This month was Designs in Chocolate! How about a ventriloquist, a palm reader or tarot card reader, local cheerleaders, local dance studio, high school band. Hope these ideas can be useful to you! Don't hesitate to ask people if they would do a presentation for you...ask your local businesses to do a presentation, you never know when they will say yes and if they may have a great idea on what they should present even if you don't.

Have Santa deliver gifts during your party and you and your staff dress up like elves. Also, you could have a Harry Hanukkah or Rabbi Hanukkah deliver gifts at the same time to your Jewish residents. Someone dressed up in a blue and white outfit similiar to Santa. How about a choir singing Christmas songs, how beautiful to have a big group singing "Silent Night." I also like the bell ringer idea listed above by Pennie. In the past I have done a "Christmas around the World" with 8 different stations, each station is decorated and serves food and drinks from a different country. If possible have people dressed up at each station. One station was the North Pole where Santa and Mrs. Claus and their elves were handing out gifts and a photo booth was set up to take pictures of each guest/group of guests. They received a print out of their picture following the event. You could have fewer stations if necessary. I had a fantastic team who helped make this happen and it was a much loved event. I also had a strolling musician and each station had music playing. Hope this helps!

Love the tablecloth costume ideas!

All great ideas! Thanks for your input!

Hi everyone! I prefer bringing a variety of different entertainers in for my residents instead of the same ones month after month. Although I currently have a good list already I'm always looking for more. I would greatly appreciate names and contact numbers for good entertainers in South Florida...specifically those serving the Boca Raton area. Thanks!

Hi everyone! Just wondering what games you play or know of that could be played with a wheel of fortune style spinning wheel? My wheel has 8 different colored spots it can stop on but we can easily tape on paper cutouts with numbers, dollar amounts, pictures, etc. Thanks in advance for the ideas!

We put a black permanent marker in ours for residents to mark their clothing and other items with their name (we include directions with it so they know why we included it.) Chapstick, hand lotions, little notepads, a flower pen for the ladies/regular pen for the men, telephone directory, calendar, newsletter, travel-size tissues, t.v. channel guide, bookmarker, emory board/nail file, and greeting cards. A volunteer usually delivers this within 24 hours of admission/moving in, on occasion a staff member delivers it. A personalized card is included welcoming them to our community/their new home. Other ideas: small candies/cookies, forwarding address packet for residents moving permanently, voter's registration application and absentee ballot request form to update address and voting info. if this is a permanent move. Some of you may also like this idea: we put a comfort basket in the room of our residents who are on crisis care hospice...it includes snacks/candy/tea/cocoa/creamers/sugar and cups/coffee straws/bottled water/cans of soda etc. Why? Usually a family member or the hospice nurse is in the room for long periods of time and it is nice to have something to munch on without having to search out a vending machine or ask the staff for it. I have yet to need to fill the basket more than once before the person either improved and was taken off of crisis care or passed away. It is a small price to pay to provide comfort during a difficult time. We also bring a radio with cd's of music the resident likes if they don't already have one (to be played softly in the background if desired.)

Very neat! I sent the link to our Fitness Director and IL Activity Director. I think this is great...thanks for posting!

I will assume that you all are talking about a SNF...the only requirement related to your question is that there is an ongoing program of activities that meets the needs and interests of your residents. I recommend doing a survey which is essentially what you are doing on a regular basis with your assesments. Ask your residents what time of day they enjoy activities and what activities they enjoy. Create your calendar around their responses, otherwise you could be tagged during state survey...don't forget...document, document, document, take credit for what you do!!

This will give you a better idea of what I'm all about...thanks for taking the time to read!!! Link: http://www.active.com/donate/tntpb/Heather Well, I bit the bullet today! I signed up to do a 26 mile run marathon in Honolulu, Hawaii. Over the next few months I will be training with the coaches and mentors of Team In Training and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to fund research and patient aid. Check out my website here and donate all that you can to this worthwhile cause. I have also posted the links to the Team In Training website and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for anyone who would like more information. Link: http://www.teamintraining.org/ Link: http://www.lls.org/hm_lls If you are interested in helping the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by participating in a run or walk half marathon, full marathon, triathlon, or century bike ride please feel free to contact me for more information. Thank you all for your support and don't forget to donate! douglash26 !!!!!

What state are you looking to work in? Have you checked the job board on this site? Just so you know AD jobs aren't always on the market...I recommend typing in the following when looking online...activity, activities, recreation, activity director, volunteer coordinator, activities director, lifestyle coordinator. I check careerbuilder.com, monster.com, yahoo hot jobs, local newspapers online. You could also try sending your resume to different places even if they aren't currently hiring. Not every facility will place an ad when an AD leaves because they may promote from within. However, if you had recently sent your resume to a place and their AD leaves, you may get a call. Don't forget to check the following places for an AD job...nursing homes, assisted living facilities, independent living communities, retirement communities, and alzheimers/dementia/memory care facilities. Hope this helps.

The theme for National Nursing Home Week 2006 is "Legends in Our Own Time" according to www.nnhw.org just to let everyone know.

I work in an ALF and SNF and the ALF allows pets...one of our residents owns a small dog and the other residents love her. She comes to many of our activities and the residents are always petting her, talking to her. etc. Of course not everyone would like this so you have to look at your population. Hope this helps.

I just relocated closer to family and started working in a new building where I also have high resident turnover. So far most of my activities have been in-room visits or chatting in the hallway while walking with a resident...usually to the therapy room, but those short visits let the resident know that I'm available, and I always remind them of what I can offer them for independent use as well as any activity for that day or the next that they may be interested in. I also find that telling them what we did earlier that day or the previous day can strike up their interest in coming to a group. Most of all these residents are so alert and oriented that they self-direct their activity choices. Family visits, occasionally they go out with family for meals, they watch t.v., read books and the newspaper or magazines. Today we showed a movie on that unit before dinner time and I popped popcorn, residents who hadn't given activities a single thought saw me in the dining room at the end of the movie/beginning of dinner and I was able to offer them some popcorn and chat briefly, as well as a resident asked me to have the movie available for their use tonight. Although that probably will be something he does on his own it was nice to see them speak up about their activity preferences. My next goal is to keep attendance records, the last time their was an activity director at this building was over 2 months ago, so their is a lot to do. Best of luck to everyone. Keep sharing the ideas.

I think the biggest drawback to requiring our Activity Assistants to be C.N.A.'s is that we as Activity Directors have fewer qualified candidates to choose from. I was a C.N.A. before I became an Activity Assistant and then a director. I personally wouldn't change the path I took. I understand the role of all three positions because of it and feel I have grown. I find it very useful to have my Assistant be a C.N.A. because I don't have to help my residents with toileting and such as much on outings, that's what my assistant/C.N.A. is for. On the flip side, I've had an assistant who was a C.N.A. and one who wasn't and the one who wasn't a C.N.A. was much more into activities and had a better attitude about work. Could just be personal traits, but I think the background made a difference. My opinion is, it should not be a requirement to have our Assistants be C.N.A.'s but it may be a qualification we want to consider having in our department.

I was an activity assistant for one year before I was promoted to Activity Director. I wouldn't say time is the most important thing, more important I think is being able to manage other people, networking with peers, taking activity classes to learn more, and just plain common sense so that you can make changes before someone else tells you you need to. In other words knowing your residents well is key. One other important thing....feel confident in yourself. One of the things that made my transition easier was that my Activity Director when I was the assistant, taught me how to do the initial assessment and progress notes. If you are going to make that transition make sure you ask the Administrator of the facility what is expected of you!! Good Luck!!

Hey I live in Florida, not south florida though, I lived down there before I went to college and worked in one nursing home but not in activities. Let me know if I can help with anything. Heather

We don't, but here's one I've heard of...take all your old newspapers and you can also have old newspapers donated...have your residents rip them up into strips and place into a large bag...contact an animal shelter and ask if they use shredded paper for the cages first...If they do, you can donate them...this is great especially for lower functioning residents who can rip paper easily and it is a simple task. ie: alzheimer's, MR residents, and even for higher functioning residents who always want a job or love animals. Maybe once you have a good repoire with the animal shelter they will start to do pet visits or something for you...it's great community service. Heather D.

My name is Heather and I live in Florida. I work in a 120 bed skilled nursing and long-term care facility. I started out as a CNA then I became an activity assistant and now I have been working as an activity director for over a year. I have a great budget compared to most places but don't get paid enough like most places. I only have one assistant who works full time but not full time for the activity department because she has to be a CNA and feeds in the dining room 2 hours a day. Of course I wish I had more money (budget and wage) and more help but we do everything we can with what we have. Plus I work with what is overall a great team...our family dinners/parties are huge and so much fun for the families and residents. Because I don't get paid great I work part-time for a Hallmark store. I just received my bachelor's degree in Health Services Administration last year and got no increase in pay from the nursing home...but now I am paying back student loans. There is so much that I wouldn't change about my situation...but the things I would change grate on me tremendously...for example not enough staffing, poor wages, and although we do a great job, the residents still suffer in my opinion. Plus, my lack of sleep during the week ruins my days off because I sleep in. We all have to love our jobs in some way to stick with it. Paperwork is important but I wish we didn't have so much. I live several hundreds of miles away from my family so my boyfriend, pets, and residents are my family on a daily basis. I am so thankful to have such an understanding man, and a team of coworkers who really care about the residents. Best of luck to everyone, I look forward to reading your ideas and implementing the ones that work for my residents. Heather D. Always remember it's about the residents!!!!

Blockbusters program is great, especially for younger residents...you can rent 2-3 movies at a time or even have them mailed to the facility. As was said in the previous reply our younger residents love to watch movies but my resident council president and vice president especially love it and often make an extra movie night out of it and order pizza to go with it too when they have the money. It's really not that expensive and has expanded our sad little movie collection...which isn't that small but once they've seen a movie 10 times they want something new. Good luck, Heather D.

Don't know what to say about not having a budget...that's horrible...for prizes for games since you know you won't have any money how about coupons to the residents ie: this coupon redeemable for one manicure on any friday of your choice or etc. Doesn't your kitchen help at all...do they supply ice cream, sodas, chips anything that you could use as prizes or for food-related activities. Also it sounds like you guys need some team-building since no one wants to help each other to help the residents. Good luck...if I think of anything else I'll be sure to write again...Heather D.