heavenstar

Download Kindle software to it and use it as a book. Kindle has LOTS of free books. Plus you can make the text size bigger and it can read to you. Also, you can download audible books on it and do a book club. Watch videos and movies-- amazon and netflix will let you watch from there ( I am sure there are others) Music-- the apps are endless for the Ipad. You can download a free app with a piano on it -- and then play it for real. Same with a guitar. Not to mention listening to music Email and other web programs. Easy to take your computer class to a room, do 1:1, outside-- wherever. Take on field trips and look up local things or use it as a tour guide-- wikipedia, etc. I think once you get the ipad and get used to it, you will love it and will find it hard to live without.

What a wonderful problem! Here are some suggestions: Break up the staff-- shift work-6:00-2:00, 2:00-10:00, and weekend staff. Different off days too. You work the Monday thru friday- 8:5 and see all of your staff every week. Divide up duties: have a couple go through the files, decorations and such and organize every week. Make an inventory. Allow time to research on the computers for different activities and stuff to do. Have a rec aide go on a field trip alone to scope out new places to visit and make sure everything is accessible, affordable, easy to manage. Have someone do the shopping/errands once a week. Have an health and wellness person: This person would do all the programming and implementation for everything health and wellness. Have a volunteer person: In charge of resident volunteers and also outside volunteers- being responsible for volunteer appreciations, intergenerational programs, volunteer retention and newsletters Spiritual committee: making sure everyone is taking care of spiritually. Would definitely overlap other areas such as Christmas party etc. Party/social committee- doing all the party and social activities- may need help from all the other staff when a big party happens Education committee- Having guest speakers come in to talk about different subjects, teaching computer classes or photography classes, etc. Arts and Crafts: Being in charge of all things crafty. Fundraising-- if you need it-- to go out in the real world and solicit donations and ask for funding. ***Of course, everyone would need to help out and fill in when needed, and many would overlap-- but that will add to the creativity of the program!*** My thought is that if you have people working shifts-- you don't have everything going on at once. You can have a late night pajama party with movie and popcorn for those who are night owls. And you can also have early morning Yoga for those who are morning people! The weekends could be full of family stuff to do or different field trips. Also, your one on ones could be more in depth and not rushed. With this many people working to make activities a successful program, you can be really creative and dream big! Plus with all the different personalities, you can let everyone do what they are GREAT at-- and it will be successful for everyone- including the residents! Plus, you won't need to work yourself to death getting everyone to activities and making sure you have enough on your calendar yet still doing all the meetings and paperwork. What concerns me is why are they giving you more people? What are their expectations of act staff? Are other areas-- CNA's fully or overstaffed too or are they expecting you to fill in and help out with them? Also, with this many people, you will have lots of conflicting personalities and problems because of that-- some people will work and some will watch others work. Keep this in mind and have different job descriptions for each one so that everyone is responsible for different things-- that way someone is not always picking up the slack or taking all the credit.

Pinball sounds fantastic! I don't even think you would need to get a tabletop one. You could get a barstool with a back to sit on while they play. My residents have a pool table, foosball machine, and pingpong. All get used a lot (especially the pool table!) Another option is to get a slot machine-- one that only takes tokens and is legal in all states. They would probably enjoy that too-- unless of course you are a religious organization that is against gambling!

Pinball sounds fantastic! I don't even think you would need to get a tabletop one. You could get a barstool with a back to sit on while they play. My residents have a pool table, foosball machine, and pingpong. All get used a lot (especially the pool table!) Another option is to get a slot machine-- one that only takes tokens and is legal in all states. They would probably enjoy that too-- unless of course you are a religious organization that is against gambling!

Some other ideas are: Jewelry making Glass fusing Ceramics / pottery painting volunteering baking dog/ pet care audio books digital photos mp3/ music billiards barbecues

From the slogan maker: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=recreation My doctor says "Recreation" Have Recreation your way! Recreation a day helps you work, rest and play. We bring recreation to life. Where's the Recreation? Recreation keeps going and going From http://globalvisionproject.org/Slogans.htm John Arthur Nesbitt, "What is rehabilitation?" "REHABILITATION Is A Dream, A Philosophy, A Goal, A Method, A Regeneration, and A Birth of Freedom; A dream of possibility, a philosophy of potential, a goal for society, a method of achieving results, a regeneration of an able-person, and a birth of freedom in the life of a person become able." II. FROM PAST CENTURIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (available from Nth Degree) Alan Berger, "INCLUSION: Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere." Robert Browning, "Our aspirations are our possibilities." Mahatma Gandhi, "You Must Be the Change You Wish to See in the World." Kahill Gibran, "The gifts which derive from justice are greater than those which spring from charity." Victor Hugo, "What Matter Is Deafness of the Ear When the Mind Hears." Martin Luther King, Jr, "Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat to Justice Everywhere." Bea Russell, "Inclusion is a birthright, not a privilege." South African Disability Rights Movement, "Nothing About Us Without Us." Robert Louis Stevenson, "To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life." Dan Wilkins, "Understanding makes tolerance necessary." Dan Wilkins, "Mainstreaming is like visiting; Inclusion is belonging." III. FOR THE 21st CENTURY, Compiled by Mr. Dan Wilkins: (1) "Working Toward A World of Awareness and Better Understanding." "It is never enough to be human ... we must be humane." "Your Attitude Just Might Be My Biggest Barrier." "A community that excludes even one of its members ... is no community at all." "Help Stamp Out 'Psycho-sclerosis' (Hardening of the Attitude)." "Together We Can ... To accomplish great things we not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe." "Let's let kids be kids. Let's not handicap them simply because they have a disability." IV. INCLUSION IN THE 21st CENTURY "THINK INCLUSIVELY: School, Work, Play, Community, Life." "NOBODY'S CHARITY: When you look at where the money goes, the telethon begins to look like a smellathon." "REHABILITATION: To Reinvest With Dignity." "DON'T JUST SIT THERE! DO SOMETHING! Climb a Rock, Ride a Rapid, Go to School, Run a Race, Row a Boat, Play some Hoop, Pitch a Tent, Ski a Slope, Fly a Kite, Dive a Reef, Get a Job, Get a Grip, Play some Tennis, Go Canoe, Pop a Chute, Take a Hike, Throw a Ball, Throw a Frisbee, Pump some Iron, See the World, Fall in Love, Bungy! "Existence without Meaning is Nothing; Make a Difference."

This sounds awesome! I wish I had at least one centenarian! Would love to help out tho-- is there anything you need? angie

If you only have a few residents, maybe you could use this time to have them help you. Tell them you are really busy and ask if they would mind helping your fold the newsletters or cleaning out a box of decorations or whatever. They could also help make the centerpeices or set the tables. It is always good to feel needed. If there are more-- then you can show a party that was videotaped at your facility months before for reminiscing sake, paint ceramics, decorate table centerpieces, play a suduko game or other brain game as a group.

Wii Bowling and Wii Golf Tournaments The National Senior League has bowling and golf tournaments a few times a year. They are signing up for golf right now-- and it is free! The bowling costs some money but it is awesome and worth every penny if you have some energetic and competitive bowlers! The Website is www.NSLgames.com. It is only for seniors and last season, there were 183 teams around the United States that played in it. You play once a week and upload your scores on the website. The season last 7 weeks long before playoffs.

Wii Fit: Just so you know, the balance board can fit into many chairs so you can have them sit on it and balance back and forth and play regular. The best way to do this is to set up a new Mii character with that person sitting on it so that it doesn't throw the weight off when doing games. Also, you can put the balance board on the table and have people just use their hands-- set up a new character for that one too. The balance board can also fit perfectly around some walkers-- so people who have minor balance problems can still use the balance board standing up and use the walker for balance. Out of all the games, the Wii fit is the most adaptable that I have found for my residents. For new ones-- we usually start off with the bicycle. It gets them used to the movements and balancing while there is no time limit or consequences.

Thanks all! Great news! ExxonMobil contacted me and they will fund it through their community service project! Problem Solved!

Thanks! I am going to throw it out there at our next meeting!

We have a very active ceramics studio and would like to add a glass fusing/ jewelry class to our program. The problem is we have a very old kiln. We need a digital one-- that costs around $600. What are some ideas for a fundraiser? We just had a bake sale and garage sale and next month we will have a dinner-- so we can't use those. Angie

Where are you at? Maybe I can help. I am the Vice President of the Houston Dog Park Association and we have lots of events with different rescue organizations and pet stores. We may have a connection with someone in your area or else a sister organization. It seems like you have really done a lot of leg work on your own. Don't give up just yet. Angie

I also work in Independent Living, but I will tell you what works for me. My budget is handled by the residents council! They determine what I can spend or not-- and they do not like to spend anything! It is a yearly budget-- $500 for decorations (which includes helium rentals) $1200 for entertainers-- we have about 14 parties where we hire out entertainers (once a month and 4th of July and New Years) Of course, not every entertainer will settle for $100 so several times a year, we get entertainers that come to us for free-- grandchildren, piano classes, residents themselves, volunteers. Then we can spend more on the paid entertainers. Also, we spend about $150 a month on the birthday parties for ice cream and cake (to serve a 150 people)We have to also buy all the kitchen supplies-- utensils, plates and cups in addition to coffee and whatever else we want to eat. We have to pay for our piano tuning, exercise equipment tune-ups, wii bowling league registration and anything else for the benefit of the residents. The apartment complex is strictly a housing facility and anything else is paid for by us. With that said.. we have LOTS of fundraisers-- membership dues, bake sales, garage sales, spaghetti dinners, garden sales, jewelry showcase and many more. We are fortunate to have a great community support system and can often find donations in that form. ExxonMobil is awesome-- they will come to us once or twice a year and do community service, then give us a check for a couple of thousand dollars. Unfortunately for us, they will not be coming back this year due to everything that is going on. My budget for activities is nil! If I want to do a game night or crafts class or play pokeno-- the residents pay for it out of their own pocket or it gets donated by someone (usually me ) Our budget is around $6000 a year-- with an income of that much too. This probably doesn't help you. lol

our background: 370+ residents-- all independent Very few English Speaking-- mostly Russian and Chinese -- who do not get along Problem: Trip sign ups We get a county bus once a month to go on trips (we have no other transportation). We sign up a week ahead of the trip-- volunteer residents sign them up. Only residents are allowed to go and each resident must come down and buy their own ticket-- neighbors cannot buy for each other. Residents will come down 3 hours early to wait in line. They make a rogue list and one person will sit with that list. Anyone else who comes down adds their name to this list and then leaves. They come back when it is time to sell the tickets. Other residents think they are wrong to start their own list and then cut in front of them to buy tickets. So, by the time ticket sales start, we are already sold out and have a waitlist. Fights have ensued because of this. What I have done (and it HAS NOT worked) I have put chairs in a line and sat with them (so that no one cuts) 3 hours before sales start. If someone leaves, then they lose their spot. Of course I was mean and hated for this because they are " little old sick people who need to take their meds, eat and go to the bathroom." I have started giving out numbers two hours before sales. They can leave and do whatever as long as they are back in time for the sale (they are skipped if not present). Of course this doesn't work because it messes up their whole day, we are already sold out by 2:05 pm, if they have a number, why can't we just sign them up right then? ( and then, they start coming down an hour before we give out numbers, so this is not helping!) Residents are still complaining and I have begged them to come up with a better way-- I am open to try it! The only thing that anyone has said is to just have the sale at 3:30 and sign them up-- which doesn't solve any problem-- they will still come down, cut in line, have to leave the line because needing to go to the bathroom, etc. We are not AL or a nursing home, so we can't alternate people on the trips. And our waitlists are only about 6-7 people long-- so only about 40 people want to go. These 40 people are driving me crazy though! Hopefully someone will come up with a better way to skin this cat! Thanks!

For over 30 years, we have used the same bingo machine and flashboard. It is the same as in large bingo halls. They are very spoiled to this system (some residents have lived and played bingo here for 28 of those years!) Problem is: The machine finally died-- it's been on it's last legs for 10 years and we have always patched it up. The flashboard still works-- but nothing is compatible anymore. I have tried several times in the past to get a donated machine-- when we do, they never work, are in the same condition or convenietly break during transport. And then I have to find someway to haul it off. Our resdients' council has some money to buy a new one-- but will not have a flashboard-- and this is fine with our small group of regular bingo players. But the large parties-- they really need to see the numbers (especially because they do not speak Engllish) Here is my question: For large group parties (150 residents and 20 volunteers) what other games can we play? My residents don't speak English so games like pictionary are out. They love Pokeno-- but I can only find the game with 12 cards. Any ideas on good projects to do?

most fanciable male most fanciable female most caring most hardworking Prozac award for optimism best dressed funniest best sportsman best sportswoman do a google search on most likely awards and you should find more

If you don't already, start a recycling program -- invite an environmental awareness group from the local college to come over and show the benefits. Also, you can show the movie earth or any of the planet earth DVD's Give away stuffed animals (endagered species) as prizes too.

Make a film reel table centerpiece.-- you need a round or square peice of styrofoam to be the base. Take a dowel rod to put in the middle. On top, cut out circles of cardboard or card stock to look like a film reel. You can even cut out the middle triangle shapes. Cover the film reel in gold glitter. On the dowel rod, buy some film strip ribbon-- or print out film strips and cut them out to wrap around the dowel. For the base, cover in glitter again and decorate with some film strips or sparkle things. You can also make "oscars" really cheap-- use those for decorations or actually give them out. The only things you need to buy are: Black plastic cups and 1 can of gold spray paint! Get co-workers and friends to donate some old action figures from kids toy boxes. Spray paint them gold and then hot glue them to the upside down cups.

If you have access to computers, then teach them facebook, twitter, ebay, digital photos, etc. Play games on the computer using yahoo games or pogo-- where you play someone else live. Book clubs, scrapbooking, gardening. Field trips to museums, antique stores, malls, etc. Do a photography class Have experts come in to your facility to teach classes for free-- and let them plug their own company. We had a local florist come in to teach flower arranging. She also donated all the flowers. If you have access, teach ceramics. Painting, pet therapy, cooking classes (cooking for one, cooking for diabetes, cooking for memory, cooking for heart health, cooking for antioxidants, cook dog biscuits for local shelter and then take them there for a field trip-- you can even get the residents to volunteer there for an hour or so-- brushing out cat or dogs, giving baths, changing litter or bedding, feeding etc..... list goes on forever!) Instead of board games, play pictionary using a white erase board or overhead projector-- give gifts for correct answers. Play pokeno or poker-- use real money. Set up bridge tournaments or poker tournaments. Poetry slams, karaoke, aromatherapy, make bath salts, lotions, candles and put together gift baskets for them to give away to families or friends (or keep themselves!) Start up a jewelry class-- repair broken jewelry, make new things out of old, sell what they make, jewelry cleaning, etc. Hope some of these ideas help you!

We also do the same thing (we are independent living) : Our nurse does memory workshops and aromatherapy classes, Our social worker does grief groups, medicare information, Our administrator does complaint groups-- residents come to her to complain about how everything is running- and how to improve things. Our maintenance department does videos of what to do and what not to do dealing with trash rooms, etc.- it is shown at the Residents' Council meeting.

I was reading a cooking magazine last night and got some more ideas: taste of home healthy choices The Mixing Bowl Wok This Way (chinese snacks) C'mon over Poultry in Motion That's Amore (for Pizza or italian) Oodles of Noodles Southern Accent, Spanish Accent, etc Cooking School Easy Pickings Quick Bites Healthy Living Family Secrets Food Power Coffee house Cafe & Crudites In the Kitchen with... Simply Delicious

1. Volunteers are always hard to keep. 2. What about volunteer appreciation parties? 3. Volunteer training 4. Volunteer Exit interviews-- find out what they really think and feel. 5. Using more volunteers for the same amount of jobs. having two or more volunteers to work a program together. 6. Keep an updated job listing on VolunteerMatch.com so that you can always have fresh volunteers. 7. Take as much burden off of the volunteers as you can. Make it fun for them too This is probably all the same things you are doing now, but itis the best I can come up with. I know it is hard-- and it is for everyone! Keep your head up! angie

L'Chaim-- pronounced LaHime, which is a yiddish toast that means "To Life" Cheers-- same thing The Nosh Nook - Yiddish for snacking Brunch Bunch Koffee Klatsch