heavenstar

The only way I can see your point being made is by doing it "their way" for a whole month. Then, presenting them with a total of all your shipping costs. Also, give them an estimate (or actual) of what it costs them for you to go and do the errands - your time, etc. but don't put in your gas or mileage if you don't ask for it. Also, you could list some benefits that are received by you going out and doing the errands on work time. For instance, in my case anyway, 1. I can usually find things cheaper and on sale when I see them at the store verses buying them online. 2. Stress reliever for me to get away from things for a bit. 3. May find better quality or better ideas while comparison shopping. Also, it is a lot easier to put something back on the shelf when you are at the store versus returning a shipped item and waiting for a replacement. 4. I am more creative at work because while I am shopping, I get more or different ideas. Plus, once I see a decoration in person, I can usually figure out how to make it a lot cheaper-- and then put it back and make it myself. 5. Shopping after the holidays at stores getting up to 90% off of holiday items can save lots of money in the budget. 6. Get to network with the store managers and possibly work out projects together or at least get a discount. My boss lets me go on errands during work, but recently, the Residents' Council Committee (who pays for the decorations) complained that I was spending too much. I told them that I drive about 50 miles round trip-- not asking for gas--- to save them money at a discount store. In addition, I make what I can out of cardboard and free items I can find. I will not do this next year. I will go to the more expensive Party City if they want decorations, or I will not decorate at all. Maybe this will teach them! Lol!

you can make your own awards. Take black plastic cups and turn upside down. Take an action figure and have the residents spray paint each one gold. Hot glue on the cups. Have the residents vote on the different categories and then watch the awards show. Tie this in with a party and serve appetizers and punch. What we do is have our volunteer appreciation dinner in the theme of Academy Awards. I bought lots of stars and decorations, put out a red carpet flanked by balloons. The staff and I act like paparazzi when the residents walk in and take their picture. They of course, get all dressed up. Before hand, they all vote on who should be the winner of different catagories. We do the awards as mentioned above as thier prizes. Then we have lunch and give each person a small special gift. You could watch movies of the big winners after the show-- one a week or something. Play trivia games Google Academy Awards party ideas and see what comes up. Hope this helps!

I would do a survey on outings. Then group them up with similar interests. You can list them in your newsletter or bulletin board for upcoming trips and who is going. Rotate until you have everyone on board. As far as high levels are concerned. I would not discriminate! I would take them also! They benefit from going on trips with their friends from the facility as well. Most of my residents are all high levels-- completely independent, so the ones that need more help must bring their own caregivers with them. I don't help them at all-- not even up the steps. I do a survey on trips with many ideas and topics listed and the residents check which ones they want to go on. We also have a program meeting every month to talk about what trips and entertainment and programs we will plan for the next month. The residents are involved in everything. Also, when planning for a new event, I won't plan it unless we have enough volunteers for the job. They must be willing to work it if they are going to suggest it-- or at least find friends and neighbors who will help. Good Luck! Let us know where you are going for the first trip!

I know this is going to sound weird, but it really worked for me. I took a few days off and during that time, I regrouped and thought about what I wanted my job to be, what I wanted to see happen and how I needed to do it. Basically, I thought about how to make my job perfect. Then I went back to work and dropped programs that weren't working-- or that were more work than they were worth, added a ton of new programs-- everything I wanted to do. I had a new program every day of the week. I have never worked so hard in my life. (Except for last week when dealing with the hurricane, but that wasn't fun). I worked on things that made me happy and because everything was new, the residents acted like they got a breath of fresh air. They attended more activities, they gave me feedback and they saw the potential of what could be done. The next month I backed down again and slowed down a bit. Some activities I kept, some I dropped, and some were tweaked to better serve the residents. But, I was over my burn out because I had a new lease on my job. The staff even commented how wonderful everything was and it was getting new participants in programs-- they even had fewer complaints from the residents. Some of the "new to us" programs I did was: Ice Cream socials every week (the only thing that cost money-- and it was about $35 to feed 100 people) Houston Symphony at our facility, then a different musical group came every week Scrapbooking Starbuck's Coffee College Administrator's Hour (residents come and talk to the admin, ask question, complain, etc) Pumpkin Carving Sip and Solve (puzzles and coffee) Game Day-- board games Breakfast Socials Music by Request (volunteer plays music from CDs) Chair Exercise classes

I do most of my running on company time. My boss is very cooperative. Also, I get comp time for the errands I run on my own time--so I just keep track of everything I do. However, I must say, that I use my own car and my own gas-- which is getting very expensive to do. At our executive meeting a couple of weeks ago with the residents, they complained that I am spending too much money on decorations (ARGHH!!!!) So, I told them that I drive 30 minutes further to a wholesale store on my own gas and sometimes my own time to save them money! Also, I make as much as I can from cardboard and glitter!!!! I won't be doing this anymore! They will either get expensive decorations from Party City or none at all!!!! Because I do not need to be wasting my time and gas for the ones who don't appreciate it!!! Ok, that felt good to get off my chest!

I live and work in Houston, but not in a nursing home-- I work in a retirement home. While it is a lot different, since Katrina and Rita, we now actively do lots of hurricane and disaster preparedness stuff. Somehow, I was lucky enough to get on the team (did I miss a meeting and got voted in???). My job is to communicate with the residents and families every year (in May or June) and have a disaster preparedness workshop with the residents. In this meeting, I bring all of the supplies a person needs to sustain themselves for a week with no electricity or water. I also have handouts that list everything, give important numbers (emergency evacuation and transportation registration) and our own personalized disaster plan. We are a high rise-- so we have special rules! I show them how to work the crank radio (always their favorite) how much water is needed and what everything on the list is to be used for. The meetings take about 2 hours-- with all the translations we do. During a hurricane, I plan on staying at work-- getting ready to help residents or mopping up water or boarding up windows. My family and pets can come to work with me. While we definitely have different priorities during a storm (we must protect the building, the residents are responsible for themselves) we have had to be more proactive during the past three years. In fact, one of the first things I tell the residents is that they chose to live in an independent apartment complex because they want their independence. If they wanted someone to take care of them, they should move to assisted living or a nursing home. Many of our residents evacuated during Rita with their families--thank God there were no problems with any of them, and most of the residents do not plan on being at their home during a storm. They plan on staying with their families. Of course there are many that cannot do that, and those will be staying, but we have a list of people who plan to stay and if we needed to evacuate the building, we could go by that list. Of course, then we would have the problem of getting someone down nine flights of stairs -- but the fire department would probably help us out there. Angie

The question I have is, Is he lipsyncing to his OWN music? I think that makes a difference because when I pay a singing entertainer, I pay them to sing. Almost anyone can lipsync to someone else's songs. But if it were his own songs and he lipsync's because he wants to maintain the same quality all the time, then I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it. However, it would bother me if he couldn't change the sound volume of his voice during a show.... for example, if the music was too loud and the residents couldn't hear what he was singing (or singing to). He should be expected to have all of the necessary equipment to adjust all the settings. I have the same issues with someone bringing a keyboard and all the songs and instruments are already loaded on it, and all they have to do is push a button. However, I know I don't pay near as much for that person than I would for a band to come, so I accept and enjoy the music.

Some other ideas are: Dress in TuTu's and do the Swan Lake ballet-- it will be hilarious! Get a bathtub, shower cap etc- or make one and sing along to Splish Splash I was takin a bath. Lip sync to a different song.-- do a duet! In high school, We had to do a duet lip sync and my partner and I did Sonny and Cher's I got You Babe. We dressed up like them and had the right facial expressions. Do a magic show--- and make it funny by messing up a lot. act out a short skit-- there are lots with just two participants. Do an abbott and costello routine or something like it.

I have been following your post for a while now, and my ears perked up when you mentioned non English speaking clients. I work in an apartment complex for seniors-- 370 residents-- and most of them (90%) do not speak English! I have been working on a CEU class to be posted on the .org site for activities for Non English Speaking Residents! Hopefully it will be up soon and you can get lots of ideas from it. It will always be a challenge to incorporate activities that will please the masses and not upset the English speaking ones (they are very verbal!). My suggestion to you to start with is MUSIC! Music is universal-- you can provide all different types and everyone will be happy. Start a slide show with flowers and put music in the background. Have exercises with music-- do the chicken dance, harlem shuffle, line dance or anything else you can think of. Paint to music Have a dance with a theme International music hour-- once a week and each time, play music from a specific part of the world. Vary it each week-- but don't forget American music! I have often said that I am glad I have non-English speaking residents--- they almost never complain to me because they can't! The English speaking residents will talk my ear off of the things they hate! Good luck!

It was a lot of fun! The cutouts came from party city. Shindigz also has some wonderful decorations--although I couldn't afford them. The barstools were really neat-- $5.00 for that and another scene setter (2 to a pack). We are not a dementia unit-- only a housing project for the low-income elderly-- Completely independent living and no medical services of any kind. Of course, we have some residents with slight dementia-- and they should not be living here. Also, we had our Wii bowling tournament yesterday too! It was sooo much fun! It was the residents (Wii Are Winners) and the Staff (Spare Mii). The residents killed us by over 200 points! They had such a great time, that the tournament will be repeated again and again! Maybe this time, the staff will practice!

Thanks! The Soda glasses were filled with pink tissue paper-- topped off with white batting and a red pompom on top with a pipe cleaner as a straw. Super easy. I ran out of pink tissue paper and then I used a pink and white lei from my hawaiian decorations, topped off with a white lei for the foam. I also had a yellow and white lei in there too. A few were used with tan copy paper to look more like a chocolate malt. I used whatever I had on hand!

Hey everyone! Just thought I would share pictures of my latest party. ExxonMobil came to our facility for community service again and had a Sock Hop. Last time, they had an 80's themed Senior Prom which was fantastic. Here is a link to all of the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/angie.futch/ExxonMobilSockHop All of the decorations--including helium was about $80. All of the table decorations were made by me-- the only thing I bought was table cloths. The records were picked up for free somewhere. The balloon weights were upside down styrofoam cups-- bottoms cut out. A circle of blue or pink table cloth made the skirts and the poodles were just photocopied and cut out. I put that over a real balloon wieght and it really made a nice touch to the theme! The soda glasses are real glass-- which was cheaper than the plastic ones, filled with paper and batting with a pipe cleaner for a straw and a fuzzy ball for a cherry. I had everything laying around except the glasses ($1.00 each). We will be using the glasses again too to have real rootbeer floats! ExxonMobil brought out lots of volunteers, all the food, music and energy! If you don't have a connection with a large company --- you are missing out! They can provide lots of things that we can't do by ourselves! They came early, helped set up, danced with the residents, served food, and helped clean up! Angie

We have the same thing-- a party every month with all of the residents. The 30 or so birthday people for the month sit in a special section. We also serve cake and ice cream. We have some kind of entertainment every month- usually volunteers. We do several piano class recitals, tango dancers, singers and other musicians. Also, several times a year, we will put on a show by our own residents such as talent shows, fashion shows, magic shows, etc. Once a year, we have a grandchildren talent show which is always a big hit. Also, we have a multi-ethnic chorus, which is a group of residents who sing in different languages. For our Thanksgiving/birthday party we do a pot luck dinner and play music in the background. In February, we have a Mardi Gras theme with volunteers who bring barbecue dinner and play bingo. In May we always have a Hawaiian Luau with cruise/party music. Hope this gives you some new ideas!

We love the wii and we play at least 4 times a week. But I know what you mean by the controller. I have one resident who has polio and cannot work her fingers. She uses two hands to work the controller. One hand holds the top and she rests the bottom of the controller on her thumb- right where the B button is. She pushes the remote off of her hand which makes the bowling movement and releases it at the same time. It works for her. I am sure in a year or so, Nintendo will make adaptive devices to fit the games for our groups!

Hopefully, we will stay as cool as possible! Although for the month of June, our trip will be taking walking tours of three of the universities in town. I planned them as early in the morning as possible, but it will be 90 degrees when we start the first tour! Unless of course, it is raining! July we will probably go on the alligator swamp tour again. It sounds hot too, but we are moving on the boat most of the time and it is a wonderful experience. Watermelon party for our independence day party-- everything else will hopefully be indoors-- and summers here are traditionally slow around here-- residents going to see their grandchildren or taking vacations, so *hopefully* I will get some work done and update all my files!

Ahh, the infamous "Lobby Lizards" (of course, we don't call them this) rears its ugly head again. For some reason, Administrators dislike the folks who sit out front. I just got back from a conference where this topic came up several times with the administrators. One facility went so far as to remove all furniture from thier lobby. Of course, the residents didn't let this stop them-- they brought the patio furniture inside. These "lobby lizards" have a bad reputation of being nasty by making comments when people or other residents walk by that are not always polite. They also have the reputation of being trouble because they annoy the staff and bug them. I, however, don't see them this way. I like having the lobby full of people. It makes it seem "alive". What we have done is set up a desk right in front of the entrance and use our lobby lizards as volunteers. They make sure volunteers sign in and guide them where to go or who to see. We also put our jewelry showcase in the lobby. The showcase is our big fundraiser for the Residents' Council. The lobby lizards volunteer and run the showcase. They sell the items to other residents and guests. Other residents come down to socialize with the volunteers. We put a table in the lobby and set out a puzzle for residents to work on while they are hanging out. The puzzle is changed as soon as it is completed. We also use them to sell tickets to other residents-- signing them up for dinner, trips, housekeeping or whatever program we have that I need a sign up for. They sit at the front desk where visitors sign in. If I am waiting for entertainers, I usually have the lobby lizards watch out for them and open the door. Good Luck!

In addition to what the others have said, I would also spend some time talking with her- getting to know her own likes and hobbies. Then incorporate those into your activity planning. Letting her lead or advise. She will feel comfortable and competent and therefore take ownership of the program. This in turn will give her confidence and understanding that I think will lead to a more qualified assistant. Also. keep a list either in your head or on paper somewhere of exactly what you want in an assistant. Review it periodically to make sure you are leading her to what you want her to be. It is easy to get off track or let some things go that may be small now, but in the future, would be a deal breaker. We are doing the same thing now with our new receptionist. What appeared to be boredom and having nothing to do at first has turned into laziness and sloppiness and since we never corrected it-and didn't see it for what it was- because we thought it would get better, has turned into a big problem now that we are having inspections coming up and we are having to go back through all of her work. Also, think back to how you were trained at first-- what was good advice- what helped and what hurt. Good luck!

Here is a website that gives in detail the instructions on making a memory box to hang on a wall. If the link doesn't work, then go to www.google.com and under the images tab, type shadow boxes. It is on the second page. But there are lots of ideas out there! Good luck! http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...m%3D1%26hl%3Den

The ones I have seen have all been really cute. I think all they did was gather things that the resident liked- hobbies, careers, pictures of grandchildren mixed with a special momento and arranged them all in a memory box that stood outside their door to their room. Use bandanas or newspapers or something unique as a backdrop, then tack things to it and layer them to make an outstanding box. Hobby Lobby would be a great place to pick up inexpensive things such as wooden cutouts, stickers, scrapbook items, charms, special papers etc to get started. Also, look in magazines for ideas.

Ok! The party is finished and was fantastic! We had over 120 residents and 30 volunteers from ExxonMobil. We danced and danced! Thanks to everyone's help with the decorating ideas. The room looked totally awesome! Here is a link to view the album with all the pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/angie.futch/Se...eWithExxonMobil

Ok! I am finished with the table decorations! Thanks for all the help and ideas that I got! I took some pictures and here is the link to view them> http://picasaweb.google.com/angie.futch/80STableDecorations

Karen You can definitely come out to see it. It is Thursday at 2:00. Call me if you want. I will take pictures soon--- as soon as I paint the California Raisins-- they are going to be soooo cute. I will post them on here. This has been so much fun decorating and putting everything together. I did 15 tables for $5.00-- total! How awesome is that?!!! Plus, I did the rubik's cube that is going to hang from the ceiling for free too. Nobody can say anything about me being a pack rat and saving everything I come across anymore, because I have totally used everything I could find! I will also post pictures after the party! Thanks for everyone's help!

Stacey, Thanks! I completely forgot about the Golden girls! I think what I am going to do is to print out pictures of them and stand them up inside a low basket with foam and put something around the bottom of the pictures. I will glue the pictures up so that they are standing. That will be a cute decoration. I have so many ideas now, that I have begun making themed tables-- i have 17 tables! Also, I found this great square box and I covered it in black construction paper and added the squares for a Rubik's Cube. It will be hanging in the center of the room as our "disco ball". It is going to look super! Thanks for all your help and I will post pictures when I get everything decorated! Angie Proud graduate of 1992!

Thanks Elaine! And also thanks Karen for making responding to posts extra credit! lol I got really excited about all of this over the weekend and I decided to come up with themed tables. (I need about 15 tables) So far, I have a cassette tape table, rubiks cube, pac man, indiana jones, Where's The Beef, California Raisins, Madonna, Wrestling, sixteen candles/breakfast club, and an "Iv'e fallen and cant' get up" table. Even if the residents don't know or don't remember, the volunteers will and they will love it! Thanks again for your help!

Elaine, Those are great ideas! That is the perfect solution in my opinion! We are always complaining that there is not enough time in our day to do everything. This is definitely a golden opportunity that I am sure many AD's wish they had! Good thinking!