alwaysfun

:-) Hi Marian,Good to hear back from you. There are 3 of us in our act. dept. I am an act. coordinator and I have a partner(coordinator). We work under our ad. We share the week. Me half and her half. We also share the other events ie facility b-day celebration.Evening acts. I've been there 4 years. She and I were hired the same day.It's really worked out beatifuly.It's a pleasure to work with such a creative person.I love going to work. Even though we aren't working at the very same time we are pretty-much in tune as to how we do things. By the way - The "rocking motion ' I mentioned isn't in a rocking chair. I put my arm around her waist like in dancing. And rather than taking steps, it's a rocking and swaying motion to the music. I think the physical contact calms her. I hope all will come together for you. I also hope everyone on this site doesn't tell me to get off and get lost because I'm not a Director. I'm so enjoying this place. So many different views and ideas.When I get here I can almost smell the creativity.I also love to see people helping each other.I will look for you Marion......Alwaysfun....Mary

:-) Hi marian, I'm pretty new to. A week or so.I work in an 80 bed long term facility in Iowa. (you know-where all the tall corn grows) ha-ha. I have a hard time with ........YOUR TIME. Anyway welcome. I don't really know my way around this site real well yet,but it's an interesting place. Have you tried scrap-books with your resident?We have tons of them filled with everything familiar. From baby's to animals. Our Altzheimers residents love them and it seems to have a calming effect.We have a ladies unit and a mens unit. We have some that are more men oriented( tractors- cars -tools etc.We were very fortunate to have about 14 of them donated just recently.They are beautifuly done. Or have you tried animals? I realize you can't have them there all the time but hopefully you can find someone who will help you out on a regular basis. I wish we had a unit cat. I know a lot of places do but our administrator is alergic to cats.(to bad)It's hard to say what one person may like but I have a lady that likes to dance.Not lively music .More like soothing music with a rocking motion. Do you work alone ? If you write another message you can answer that.Hope something clicks for you.Can you say G-bye like you do G-day? Alwaysfun........Mary

:-) Hi nisice, Wow! talk about a bomb being dropped on you. That's kind of "Dirty Pool" leaving without giving you training. Well for one thing I would start going through all the records and daily schedule books so you can become familiar-with what has been the norm there. (kinds of activities- on what days-where things are. Maybe ask for a volunteer to give you a little assistance til you become a little more oriented.You can always change some things later. but I'd stick to what's normal for now.You should be able to figure out whats been going on there from her records and schedules. Don't be afraid to ask for some help in getting started. I'm sure they realize the dificulty.Hope it's a little help to you. Good luck.......alwaysfun

Hi,Pat8231....Stacey.....Raven1029.......Gina.......and Cindymaybe. I just caught your discussion about using volunteers to feed residents . At my facility it's only cnas that feed. They are trained for that. Sometimes when they have been working short I have volunteered to help them . I almost had to run for cover from the nursing staff. They are very touchy about it. Even in assisting a gentleman with his coffee they jumped down my throat.so I'm surprized to hear that anyplace would even consider a volunteer......I'm not sure what her title is but we have a "swallow'tech come in to train the cnas. I suppose she's a nurse. I'm finding this site so very interesting.There's everything from soup to nuts here...............I'm still looking for a project for National Nursing Home week. Any GREAT ideas? ....... :-P alwaysfun

Hi Angie, My name is Mary (alwaysfun)My daughter's name is Angie. I think by your interests I am probably a lot older than you .I'm 61(62 next month, don't tell)I'm not rock climbing but I'm happy you can.I'm an activity coordinator at a long term care center. We have about 80 residents. I'm in Iowa. I see you are also looking for ideas. It comes with the territory doesn't it? I've only been doing this for about 4 years. I was a cna for many years. In some ways the same area of work. But now it's a whole lot more FUN! Well National Nursing Home week is comming up in May. Thats what I'm looking for .Wow how do you do it yourself? I have a director and 1 other coordinator besides myself.I work 3 days a week every other Sat. and 1 evening activity a month. And my counter-part and I switch every other month for our big birthday celebration each month for all the residents that have b-days that particular month.And I think I'm OVER_WORKED! Sounds like you've done a lot of theme parties.I'm trying to figure out my way around this site. I keep getting lost and have to start over. Oh well I'll figure it out sooner or later.I really like your quote. I plan to keep comming back on this message board so maybe we can be looking and thinking ,and run into each other again.Have you ever done a comedy fashion show? Where the residents wear a spoof costume?They model .I will have to look into my book for the details. It's been so long since we did that but I remember it was halarious.Well must go. Hope to catch you again......Mary (alwaysfun)