heavenstar

ExxonMobile is coming to my facility during volunteer week on May 1st and they wanted to do a Prom-- 80's theme. I have a zero budget! They are buying food and music and everything we need except table centerpieces! I am sure I can come up with something-- i need about 18 of them, but I am just dry on ideas! The first (and only) one I have done so far is: Record bowl filled with styrofoam, a ruler coming out of the foam wrapped in white and black polka dotted ribbon. Topped with a styrofoam ball that is covered in a hot pink boa and mardigras beads hanging down in loops that are hot pink, purple and white. Also, in the bottom of the bowl, I have hot pink and purple fabric wrapped around a few cassette tapes. I would like to do something with a rubiks cube (i don't have one, so I would have to spend my own money on one), pac man, atari, fingerless gloves, ??? What else can I do that is cheap or free? I know you don't know what I have, but it is probably similar to what you have, so help me think, Please! Also for decorating the room, the only thing i can come up with is streamers, balloons and twinkle lights everywhere. Any other suggestions?

It is super easy. You can make it on a poster board if you want, or you can make it bigger. You will need 6 horses-- think Barbie sized horses. On the poster board-- make 6 columns going the long length of the board Then horizontally, make at least 9 rows. The bottom row is where the horses start, the last row is the winners' circle. Make the boxes large enough to hold the horses Decorate the winner's circle with flowers, green coloring for grass, etc. Write "winner's Circle" on it. Have the resident pick a horse (you may want to put a number on the horse if it makes it easier or if you have similar colored horses.) Have the residents take turns rolling a die. There horse moves that many spaces toward the winner's circle. The first one to reach the end wins. I found a picture that I used to copy the design. It is the same game only using race cars. http://www.jacksgames.com/roadrally.html Have fun! PS- It took me less than an hour to completely finish this project-- and I painted and used lots of glitter. It would be even faster if you just printed pictures and glued them on the board!

1. Does your facility involve live musical entertainment in its activities programs? once a month 3. If you utilize live musical entertainment, do you use volunteers only, paid entertainers or both? mostly volunteers, but some are paid-- less than $150. 4. Are there any specific types of music your clients especially enjoy? My residents are unusual-- they love classical music and very fast dance music. Waltzes do not do well here. Jewish Hora's are the best-- even the Asian residents dance to these. 5. Are there any specific songs you think musicians should have in their repetoire? Party type music! Great dance songs! 6. Is there anything you wish musicians would do (or not do) when they perform at your facility? definitley anything religious. Talking too much. We are paying (or not paying) you to sing. So sing. Besides, most of my residents don't speak English and although most of my entertainers speak either Russian or Chinese, it will still leave out half of the population. No one speaks all three languages. Also, not standing in one spot while you sing. Walk around the room. Dance a little. Give us something to watch. 7. Any other thoughts, ideas or comments? Being prepared like the others have said is key. We don't need the best singers and performers out there. But we do need someone who is respectful== and being professional and on time is part of respect. If the performer is respectful to the AD, the AD will appreciate it. If the performer is wonderful and the residents love him/her, but they are rude to the AD, they may never be invited back. I know I won't invite the person back. I tell my residents that they have moved. Also, if the performer attempts to ask the AD beforehand about the population and make an effort to make everyone feel welcome, that helps too and goes a long way in our eyes.

Definitely get some help! This is great for a large company to come in and be the dealers, serve food, and help people. One year, we had Chase Bank come and this year we are having ExxonMobile. That way, you can spend your time chasing after things that everyone forgets about and taking pictures. For decorations, I bought some posterboards (cheap!) and black and red construction paper and cut out numbers and suits to make large playing cards. Then, I put a few of them together to make a good hand and posted them on the wall. We also had a horse racing game-- very easy to make and a prize wheel that I made for free. I used small gifts like soap and keychains for those prizes. We asked a local VFW for playing cards and poker chips-- they let us borrow them for the day. In fact, they let us borrow all of their tables and games for the day. The Bank donated food and lots of prizes to win. The residents turned in their winnings in exchange for tickets to be used in the drawings for prizes. I had 40 volunteers and about 175 residents who played. It was a huge party and a great success! I wish you luck! Just remember, don't sign yourself up to help run a table or do food -- nothing specific. Be there to help others! Take over their table when they need to go to the bathroom, or to get food. Or make sure the volunteers/dealers have something to drink and are comfortable, because they may not be able to leave their station!

That system sounds really cool! I love the fact that it has face recognition and a touch screen! Do you know how much it costs? I found one place where the site said it costs .44 a day per user (up to 20 users), so with my calculations-- about $3212. Do you have one?

Those are great articles. Last year, our nurse began a series of Memory Workshops to help our residents work around memory problems, increase brain function and even how to increase memory. One of the many things that everyone was interested in was Brain Age with the Nintendo DS LIte. Several residents had their families buy them one for Hanukkah or Christmas. We even started a Brain Game activity in addition to the Memory Workshops. In the activity, I put out simple jigsaw puzzles, metal puzzles (getting rings off of horseshoes chained together), paper puzzles such as crossword, word search and easy math problems. There are so many free websites that offer brain games that you can print. The Mindfit sounds really good too! I can't wait to try it out.

I finally got a Wii for our facility! Sam's even had 2-- so I was able to buy one for my home as well! The residents are so excited about this. Last year, the residents bought a large flat screen plasma TV for the community room and the Wii looks great on it. We will be playing once a week to start. Also, we had a cabinet built last year to hold the DVD, Receiver, Speakers and other electronic componets for the TV that has a lock on it, so our Wii will be safe. As far as staff playing, they can play as long as their work is done or during lunch or afterwards. They can also play with the residents as this encourages good relationships between them. Ebay has lots of Wii's for sale-- you will pay more though. What I had started doing was calling all gamestops, targets, walmarts, Sams' everyday to ask if they had received the systems. I also asked when their UPS trucks made deliveries, as this helped me time my calls. Of course, the one day I got busy and couldn't make the calls, three stores received Wii's and by the time I called, they were sold out. This would be a good volunteer job for a resident to do though!

If you have a Wii, you can have a Wii bowling /tennis/baseball/golf tourney for the men. Get the cub scouts involved in your community. Build pinewood derby cars together and have races. The scouts will have the track and timers. Have a barbecue-- men love to sit around a fire and talk Have a camp out for the day at a local state park and have the men in charge of fire, fishing and cooking (not prepping, or cleaning up). Ping Pong tournaments, chess, billiard games if you have stationary bikes with odometers on them, do a tour de france type of race to see who can go the farthest. Start a veteran's club-- have meetings weekly or monthly If they are active, let them start fixing bikes for kids for christmas. get donated old bikes from goodwill or similar, have the men fix flats, paint, and general maintenance. Then give them away to needy kids. Invite day care over to make bird feeders with the men. Let the men lead Invite local antique car club to visit your facility with a couple of cars to show off

Our nurse brought hers to the facility and "wii" had a Wii day. It was so amazing and everyone loved it. Our resident council approved to buy one and they are pestering me to get one--even if i have to wait in line! so coincidentally, this sunday, sam's club is opening at midnight to sell Wii's for a promotion and I was planning on being there a few hours early. I was telling my residents this and they agreed to help me! We are setting up shifts to wait in line. I will relieve the last person just a few hours before the store opens! This is how bad they want one! In fact, one gentleman has already started posting signs about a wii bowling tournament. If you want to check out a really awesome video on a wii bowling tournament from a retirement community, go to:

"God Help Us" is right. Maybe your resident is not far off! If I were you (and Thank God, I'm not!) I would forget eating out totally. That seems to be an impossible feat for both you and the residents. Besides, eating out is overrated. If your residents feel that they have to eat out, then maybe catering in from a favorite restaurant is an option for you, or if not, maybe getting a private room for your group so no one gets embarrassed. This is only if you have adequate staff to help feed. Could you break your trips up into different categories every month? For instance, once a week, take everyone on a scenic trip. You could even hire a tour guide to show different things- historic homes, ghost tours, Churches, architecture, whatever. But make it to where you don't have to get off the bus. Then, have different trips suitable for your different levels. Alzheimer Patients would take a trip down memory lane or something. Then the next day have a different group with a different itinerary. It sounds like this is what you are already doing. If this is working for YOU (and not your DON) then maybe you should just present it to her a little differently by adding in goals and therapeutic objectives by splitting up the group in their care plans. This sounds like a LOT of planning and very time consuming. I thank God that I do not have transportation except once a month and all of my residents are independent!

Thank you guys so much for the feedback! I feel better already! I am going to be using a slide show and also a few videos--the topic is Aging In Place, so I might use a questionnaire for the participants to use in their own facility to determine the need for certain programs. I think that will be one handout. I will also hand out a much shorter version of the slideshow presentation with different ideas for programs on it. THANKS THANKS THANKS Angie

I need your help! I am not a public speaker-- AT ALL! In fact, every month at the birthday party, I have to write down the entertainers name in order to introduce them or else I start stammering and Um, Hmm, Uh- ing and forget it! I was just asked to do a 2 HOUR presentation at a National conference in Pennsylvania in October based on my programs and activities relating to Aging in Place. It is such an honor for me to do this-- and a great opportunity, I can't say no. Also, I know I have 2 hours worth of material-- so that isn't the problem. The problem (which is where YOU come in) is how to make the presentation great! When you go to conferences and meetings, what stands out to you? What areas should I focus on? For example, audience participation always keeps me interested- But, handouts don't- they just give me somehting to doodle on- especially if the speaker is boring! Thanks

I work in a HUD subsidized apartment complex with 370 residents. They are all independent, so I definitely do not have the same issues, but in addition to the activities, I am in charge of the meal program (planning meals, ordering food, serving sometimes, and of course, handling the complaints) The computers in the office and computer center are a big part of my job- so I am always trying to find classes teaching me to diagnose computer problems and tearing them apart and fixing them and also I am supposed to be an expert at finding programs and files others lose! I also teach computer classes to my residents- everything from how to use a mouse to digital photography and graphic designing. In addition to doing all the graphics, photo shopping, banners, signs, etc for the office. When the secretary is out, I have to take over the desk and phones. Most of my job is doing office work instead of activities, but the activities I do get to do make up for everything!

What about doing the maintenance things you hate-- like organizing your addresses and phone numbers? They could do that at home. Organizing trip information by having them fill out a form by going through and listing available places to visit- contact information, how much it costs, hours open, etc. I know when we look to go on a trip, I am always having to search the internet or call for the information because I can never find it on time. Another thing is for them to pick up donated items (if they have a car) that you just don't have time to go and pick up. Make welcome baskets for the residents at home-- you give them all the stuff to do it and they return it already made. Write birthday/get well cards to the residents Think of all the things you do at home for the job-- pass the buck, and give to a volunteer!

I would like to add that I showed my administrator your message and we were both floored! How dare the surveyor make you speak another language (other than English!) What country are we living in? Also, I come from a HUD facility that is very diverse, I can count 10 different languages spoken here. We only have to translate for the languages that take up more than 5% of our population- and then we only have to translate if it is requested-- definitely not if they are documented as knowing English! And we definitely do not need to be the ones translating! They bring their kids or friends to translate for them or we have a few residents that can translate as volunteers as well. I would seriously consider going above your surveyor's head and speaking with someone else who can override that decision! It is wrong! And no, it wouldn't hurt you to learn other languages, but it should not be part of your job unless you are getting paid to do so-like a translators salary in addition to your regular salary. Also, would you do that from everyone in your facility that was born in another country? That would be discrimination if you didn't and I would point that out as well. I am getting off my soapbox now! Thanks and good luck angie

While I was reading the posts, I started laughing about the rigging bingo problem. Not that it is funny, but I can relate. A few years ago in my facility, my residents were complaining (imagine that!) that other players were cheating in bingo. I do not attend bingo-ever! (Yes, I know I am blessed) So, this was a major concern to me. I took the complaints seriously, had a talk with the offending 90 yr old resident who swore up and down she didn't cheat. It was just luck that she won every week. I then scratched my head and went to find an expert. I went to the local VFW post who holds major bingo games and talked to the main guy. He promised me that the ladies were not cheating and it was impossible to cheat the way they were playing. He did tell me that there are certain numbers that come up more frequently than others-- there are books and websites that prove this (this is one way the lottery makes it's money) and people who "save" their bingo cards to reuse every week because they have certain numbers tend to win more, but in no way was it cheating. I listened and wrote down everything he said, then went back to my facility where I called a meeting with the bingo players. I told them what he said and gave them an option. 1. They can no longer save their cards by marking them-- the cards will be handed out to them randomly or 2. They can quit complaining about cheaters, because it isn't happening. They chose Number 2! I haven't heard another word out of them about it in probably 3 years.

Why not try making your own postcards? There are great programs out there like works, word and print shop. You just add pictures to the front of it. Another thing is to mail PICTURES as postcards. just add a stamp and address to the back of the picture. Works the same. Another idea is to have the residents design their own postcards out of card stock. Laminate them if you wish to give it a more professional look to it before sending them on their way.

I live in Houston and every one of my AD friends including myself are not certified. I would suggest that you look in retirement homes, independent housing for seniors, adult day cares and community centers. At these places, you do not have any documentation whatsoever, no state regs, no paperwork really unless it is inhouse. They are wonderful places to work.

We do a mardi gras party every year and I buy plain masks and craft supplies (feathers, glitter and sequins) that they use to decorate their masks before the party. They wear their masks to the party complete with costumes if they have them. We have a vote on the winners-- most beautiful, most decorated, most unique, etc. They are also given beads when they walk in the door. For table decorations, I use manequin heads-- decorate with mask, beads and a feather boa. We also play bingo- and don't forget the Kings cake-- the winner is the one who finds the baby. Don't forget to take pictures! You could even do a memory class on the pictures for the future.