Pennie

Hi Cathy, welcome to the board. I also worked at a facility that I had my grandmother in and another one that I had my father-in-law in. It had it pros and cons. One of the cons was that I couldn't go on my days off to visit because all of the res. thought I was there for them too. Also they didn't (my grandmother & father-in-law) why I couldn't be with them when I was there working (both had alzheimers). Glad to have join us.

It's "Christmas in July" at Heartland Willowbrook 13631 Ardfield Dr., Houston, Texas 77070 I would like to invite you to join us for our first Craft Fair - Thursday, July 22nd - 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Together, we can "Make A Difference" in the race to end Alzheimer's Disease. Get a head start on your Christmas shopping and benefit the Alzheimer's 2004 Memory Walk. Each vendor will be donating an item for our Alzheimer's Memory Walk Raffle. Our vendors are: Perfections by Pat - Handmade Items, Jacquel's Accessories- Purses, Jewelry, etc., Longaberger Baskets, Harvestime Plus - Jewelry & Jubilee Jellies-scented candle alternative, Jeanne's Monogramming & Gifts, Fancy Flops-Decorated Flip Flops, Crafts by Cindy-Handmade Beaded Jewelry, Discovery Toys-Educational Toys for all Ages, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Homemade Gourmet-Meals and Desserts, Patrice Gift Baskets, Party-Lite Candles and more..... Contact: Donna Martin 281.955.9572 or reply to this e-mail for more information. martindonna@hotmail.com

Hey, I made the same type of form up that Stacy made up. The only thing I would ad is that I make a copy of the Concern/Reply Form I keep the orginal one with the mins. then 1 goes to the admin & 1 to the dept head (the dept that needs to address this) and if you have a res, council president s/he gets a copy. Once I recieve the reply back from that dept. I tear up the orginal form attach they reply to the mins for the next meeting. The Res Council Pres gets a copy of this as well as one for the admin as a FYI from you. This way you have covered yourself if you get no reply and make notes if you send it out more than once or if you speak with the dept head or admin about getting a reply back. If they don't reply back by next meeting make a note in you mins. telling the res that you didn't get a response. Cover your *ss on this :-D

Hi, The Resident Council Minutes form address these F-Tags (Fedral Tags) F151, 156,165,166,243-245. The form has a place for the date, time started & adjourned Name of Facility, Officer in attendance, residents in attendance, staff members in attendance, Minutes of the previous council meeting with a place tp check one of the 2 Were read and approved as read or were read and approved as corrected. Old Business (List follow-up on last month's minutes and identify staff person responsible) A large area for writting info about old bus. Then New Business (list topics discussed and recommendations) again a large area for you to write in info on new bus. Res. Right(s) reviewed - Fill in what right you reviewed Facility Policy and procedures developedrevised/updated in past 30 days. Day, Date and time of next meeting: Signature spaces for Staff rep (may be you) and Res council president. I have this form & will fax it to you just email me if you want a copy with fax number. I would check out the state & fed. regs find the tags I mentioned above & show the admin. Of course s/he knows these I feel sure. You may try talking to her/him about your concern about these minutes and responses etc.. how you feel stuck in the middle. Since you are new at the job chances are s/he may be opening to listening to you. I know that state looks at these mins. but if the admin and dept heads reply back to any concerns the res. have, that they did try to fix the concern or explain why they are unable to for whatever reason, then state is OK with this. However if state sees council mins. and never a problem on them this is a red flag to them. Remind admin. that state will speak to the res. about council meetings and they (the res0 will speak up! I hope this makes sense to you. I know I my not have helped you out with this catch 22 problem but I hope I given you some ammo and courage to speak with the admin. This needs to be addressed by both of you otherwise you 2 are starting off on bad footing and it will only go down from here. :cry: Best to U P

Hi Rosa, I sent you an private message with a link to a good newsletter program. enjoy, Pennie :-)

The email is still down, its the 4th, they assigned the email to a different server and the internet has to learn the new address, it takes some time, they told me it might take 72hrs.... I keep waiting. The emails are still going to our accounts but we just cant get to em yet. the link is http://freemail.activitydirector.com click on the link and then press F5 to refresh the screen It should be up soon... Pennie :-(

The activityDirector.Com Mail we be down for 24hrs due to maintenance. They are switching to a faster server/connection due to the large userbase. We have over 5000 people using the ActivityDirector.Com Mail sorry for the inconvience, Pennie :-)

The Activity Director.com Mail is down for 24 hrs.... they were switching servers. It will take 24-48hrs for the internet to resolve the new address, sorry for the inconvience, Pennie

Hi Theresa, I saw that you teach the MAPAP courses. Someone asked a question about being certified, I think the name was Kelly but I am not 100% sure now :-o Any way the posting is on the message board under the topic Activities charting & Forms. This person works in Austin & not sure about some suff. I answered it but not sure if I was clear in my answer. Could you go to it read it? Feel free to add, expand or what ever, sometimes what is written vs what in the head; well seem to come out different, you know :-? Thank You much

Hi Kelly & all, Not sure if this would be S.O. but since this is our S.O. it can be if we & the res. want it to be right So how about a game of horse shoes, washer game & dominoes. These are popular games for our older generation. Doing this in July you may add some sort of water related games ie., water balloon throwing, water pistol shooting the longest distance things like this maybe. Best of luck to you have a great S.O.

HEY BIG CHRIS, Where are u? Been busy? I have the site set-up for u to post your articles, you may have gotten my email. When you have time drop me a line or give me a call, u know the number. Pennie 8-)

Hi Sammy, There are 2 types of cerfication: the first one is the one I believe you are certified thru: Consortium for Therapeutic Recreation/Activities Certification. This is a Texas Certification: which you would sign AD/TXC after your name. The second one National Certification Council for Activity Professionals. This is as the name implies a National Certification: which you would sign after your name ADC. The courses use to be called BEC & AMC Basic Management Course & Advance Management Course. Now the are called MEPAP 1 & 2 the Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals, BEC is Part 1 & AMC is Part 2 These courses are taught as 2 different courses each being 90 hrs. plus 90 hours of practicum (practicum may have been counted if you are holding down a full time job in activities). Then after these courses are completed you sit for the State exam. This would be how you become certified for the State of Texas. AD/TXC For NCCAP you would need to all of the above plus take a few more courses, see NAAP.org for full details. Once you have done all required by NCCAP then you are National Certified. ADC Both of these do expire, so you are required to take so many hours of Continuing Education Hours/Units CEU's, before they expire. Each Certification renewal different number of hours for renewal. Do you have a certificate from CTRAC? If you took the exam for Texas then you must have taken the courses you asked about. Your certificate will have your name, a number on it, as well as a date that it will expire. If you have the certificate mentioned then you are OK in the State of Texas but must renew it before it expires. Same on the National certification, name, ADC number & a date it will expire. In Texas either of these certifications will work. But if you are certified for NCCAP then you have already done the requirements for CTRAC, might as well get certified by both :idea: I hope that I have answered your question without adding to much extra info. I know when I first read the stuff from NCCAP I was so totally confused :-o If you have need for more info. or still don't quiet understand it all please feel free to write more or call NCCAP they are great people who are more than willing to help out. See www.nccap.org for more information on certification requirements

Usually the DON & ADON handel this event. But the residents like to honor them as well. So you could make up a large card for each station/unit. Put a saying or something on the card & let all of the res. as well as family members ighn the card. Hang the card up near the nurse station forr all to see.

Hi, I like the rest of you place res. names & b"date in the newsletter as well as on the b.board in the facility. Like Newbie said as long as the year & age is not posted then there should not be any problems. the only other thing to look at is the res. relgion. I know of a couple who do not celebrate b'days &/or other holidays. (Of course there is always that one surveyor who shows up in a blue moon that questions this, in that case I would challenge them on this. Show me the written words that are specific to this topic, must say b'day privacy etc.. in it! How do you like those cookies ha-ha) Usually as far as the concent form most res. &/or family members sign one up on admission. check with your admission office & see what they have in the paks. If they don't have one that covers this as well as res. pictures being posted/published then maybe you see about getting one in there. I would also ask the admission staff to please make me a copy of consent form on all new admits. Another thing to add to the admission pak is your monthly caledar.

Hey Gina, I remember that this topic was on the old message board but I don't remeber what was said :-? If I remeber correctly that I looked into this once before for a facility. It sounded great but the cost was expensive. Most facilities could not afford it or wouldn't. The bear was quiet expensive if I recall correctly. I remember reading somewhere where a facilty had done a room up in low lights, soft music, few quiet type games etc.. It was calming to alot of the residents. However I never looked into it beacuse there was not any extra space to set-up a room like this and again that money thing came up, darn. It would be nice to have the room & money to do one wouldn't it. I think maybe the Eden Alternative Homes are on the right track. I will be watching to see what kind of feed back you get on this who knows maybe someone will have the answer for you & me.

Hey Denise, You say that your taking the class now but can't get hold of the instructor? Who is teaching the course? You can have the person who is actually doing it sign the certificate, To get a certificate you can go to NCCAP & they have one that you can print out. Then you put the information on it & have the instructor sign it. If this is not possible you have a couple of other options, go to the office (one at the college campus) & speak with them about the CPR course & explain to them what you are needing. You can also copy the certificate that you will be getting. showing that you have taken the course & send this in for the credit. Another way is to make a copy of the information you get from the instructor about CPR, the course, any paperwork they give you & send this in for the CEU. You can get lots of information on how to get CEU credit(s) & how to fill out the paperwork from the same website mentioned above. Welcome to the Activity world, you will love this job. :-D

Hi, When the mail come in the receptionist sorts the mail & s/he puts the mail in all of the dept heads boxes. As for the res. mail she would call the activity office to let us know it was in. A volunteer resident delievers the mail. This job was one all of the res wanted to do. You can 1 of 2 things to help the volunteer deleiver it: 1. Go thru the mail & write that res. room # on it 2. Give the res. volunteer a rooming list of all res. w/ room # on the list. The res. volunteer would read the letters to the res. if they unable to or ask them to. Remember to have a Privacy Paper filed w/res showing it is OK for act staff &/or volunteer to do this. As for mail foward or returned to sender, the act staff would do this. If we did not have an address to foward it to, or we wanted to foward to family member d/t res, passed away etc.. This was taken to accounting for them to put address on. I like my dept getting the mail so that we could see who was getting mail & who was not. This way we knew which alert res may not be getting cards etc.. Usually you can find a volunteer to maybe send them cards on holidays etc.. Prefect job for someone who wants to volunteer but doesn't have the time to come to the facility.

Hi All, I taught a seminar sometime back. I know abot the Red Hat Society "Red Hatters" I have always thought that they are great. So I found a purple shirt with red hats on it, bought some red shoes, a red hat & purple pants. This is what I wore to teach in. I was so surprised that hardly anyone knew about this great group :-o I am now reading the book: The Red Hat Society, Fun and Frendship After Fifity. This is a great book. Check out this link:How it got started I want to get my mom involed with something & this sounds like just the ticket. In fact I want to join, but I am not 50 yet so maybe I can with mom & they will not notice, you think Anyway I feel that anyone who starts a chapter in their facility will be so glad they did. It will enrich the life of so many residents & yours as well. Check out this link:How to start a chapter If I was going to start a group in a facility I would start by read the book, then share this with a group of ladies who would be interested in joining the group,(of course this would be on the calendar, with a catchy title) then proceeed to explain what the "Red Hatters" are about & plan our name, first meeting from here. If you have a chapter in your community why not invite them in to speak to your female residents. One of the chapters in the book reads: All people need a place to belong, a place where thay feel that thay fit in without trying to hard. The Red Hat Society aspires to be just a place for the increasing number of women who are entering midlife determined to savor every minute of their existence. Will we manage to change the world? Maybe. maybe not. But we now that we will manage to make some changes inour own lives. We are not Alone! Alos read the poem: by Jenny Joseph: Warning Have lots of fun. 8-) Also here is a poem by Jenny that is for the gents, about 3/4 way down the page: One Man's Warning

The discussion has always been a back and forth volley trying to identify who is qualified to sign. The MDS and the Users Manual describe Qualified as a person who is State Certified or is eligiable for State Certification, ftag 249, which I take as anyone who has completed the Certification Courses. I dont see it practiced much either, as a consultant I have always stressed, to a facility, the importance of having State Certified Directors. After all would a facility have just anybody sign off on a Nursing Chart...!@#$! I have run into all types of Administrators, those who understand the value of a good fun recreational enviroment and those who think the State makes them have an Activity Department, so they allocate them space and tell them to stay out of the way, they dont include AD in the family meetings or care planning, they just dont get it.. But you can always tell if you are in a great facility by the smiles and all the activity. ummm Here is the MDS Section on the State of Texas Website. http://www.dhs.state.tx.us/providers/ltc-p.../MDS/index.html pennie :-)

... from my Email, thought it would be useful information.... The heated question that was brought up about a year ago re: Activity Assistants signing off on the MDS. If you remember, we were discussing that there was somewhere ( I can't remember, in a regulation or what) it said that you needed to be a Qualified Health Professional. Now, when I refer to the MDS 2.0 book it of course is making me look like a liar b/c it is saying that anyone can sign it; however, highly recommended that a qualified professional does the scoring for accuracy. I hope you recall and can lead me in the right direction as to where I should look. I do recall looking at something (one of my books, I think) and located something. This is really important to me b/c I consult for this Nursing Home and somehow in a conversation I mentioned that it should be the AD's job to sign and score these. Well, somehow this recommendation went to the Adm. and phoned my Boss. This Adm. is not too happy w/ my work and it seems that the harder I try w/ her the more I screw up. I consult for 37 Nursing Homes and the majority of the places are great. I work well w/; this place is a real struggle for me. Contradict everything I say questioning my knowledge. I thank you so much for you assistance. The F-tag you would be looking for would be one that relates to the MDS, F-272, the area that refers to who is qualified to complete portions of the MDS. Your second reference would be the current, Jan. 2003, MDS Users Manual. It refers to "qualified professional." This "Qualified Professional" would be those people who are licensed and/are considered qualified by regulations, which then returns you to F-248 & 249, the people who are qualified to serve as AD. Nice runaround, huh? As far as other documentation, anyone designated by the facility can do the facility activity specific assessment, the care plan, the progress notes, etc. ************ F248 Activities Residents should not sit idle for long periods of time without being invited to an activity or offered individual activity supplies. This is the responsibility of all staff. All staff must take an active role in inviting and assisting residents to activities. Activity staff must make an effort to actively engage residents into the group, especially if each resident will be recorded in the participation record as attending. Programming needs to reflect the interests and needs of all resident. Special groups should be designed for the lower functioning residents, men, residents with similar issues, etc. Documentation must be timely, complete, accurate and organized. Overall care plans must be specific, measurable and individualized. If a resident expresses an interest, it is the activity staffs responsibility to provide the resident with the opportunity to enjoy that interest. Interests are identified on the MDS, Activity History and Interest Survey, planned for in the care plan and/or Overall Activity Plan, and followed through with, as evidenced in the participation records, 1-1 documentation forms and progress note. If you say you are going to do it, do it! Quarterly progress notes must reflect how the resident responded to the previously identified activity problems, goals and/or approaches from the care plan. (F514) Participation records and 1-1 documentation must be accurate and current. Falsification of records is not permissible! Spiritual activities need to be offered each Sunday and as needed. Every resident must be given the opportunity to practice his or her religion. Facilitate special needs when necessary. Activities must be offered throughout the day, evenings, weekends and holidays. Residents who are unable to leave their room, ie.. roombound &/or bedbound, at risk for isolation, must be on a 1:1 program. Documentation of 1:1 programs must reflect date, the type of activity provided, approaches, length of program & response of resident. Residents who choose to primarily stay in their rooms &/ or prefer independent activities should be on a visitation schedule (In-Room). Documentation of the In-Rooms must reflect date, what the visit consisted of, type of activities &/or supplies offered & response of the resident. Sufficient funds must be available to the Activity department. Transportation must be available for taking residents out of the facility. Supplies need to be appropriate and as adult-like as possible. A change of condition may warrant a change in the activity plan. Post activity calendars around the facility in conspicuous locations. i.e. wheelchair level, large, dark ink lettering for optimal visibilty. Avoid canceling groups. In the event of a cancellation, change the activity calendar. Volunteers require proper training to perform required duties. Volunteer files must be current and include an application, orientation checklist and job description. Volunteers must sign in and out. ********* F249 Qualifications : Activity program must be directed by a qualified: CTRS or person eligible for certification or Activity professional certified or eligible for certification, (see course information below) or Qualified OT or OT Assistan. Certification requirements: Activity professionals must completed the BEC- 90 hour course and the 90 hours of practicum, and the AMC-90 hour course and 90 hours of practicum.(The BEC and AMC have a new named, the Modular Education Program for Activity Professionals, BEC is Part 1 & AMC is Part 2) Both of these courses must be taught by a certified NCCAP pre-approved instructor, effective July 1, 2001 and approved by the state. Sit for the state exam. See www.nccap.org for more information on certification requirements. The two year experience clause was only used during the grandfather period. After June 1999 all of this was null and void. All Activity Professionals must be certified by 2004 per HCFA request. No excuses will be accepted after this. The regs. that came out in April 2001 discuss certification issues. Facilities may consider using a consultant and putting the consultant name on the staffing record. Here is a Texas link Angela Chisholm, RN 512/490-0415 angela.chisholm@hhsc.state.tx.us State website for MDS 20 & Relates ?'s Texas www.dhs.tx.us/about/initiatives/assessment/index.html http://www.dhs.state.tx.us/about/initiativ...ment/index.html

Hi, Welcome Bunny. I think I have seen you post some messages etc. on ActivityDirector.com in the past, right? If not then I guess it was on one of the other sites. Glad to have you join us & look forward to any thoughts, ideas & help your expertise can bring to us. :-)

Baby-Loving Day: This is an easy activity that brings great benefits. Rather than having a traditional baby contest, just invite babies in for residents to love. Ask friends, resident's family members & staff members to bring in their babies & pre-schooled children. :hammer: In addition advertise using public service announcements on radio, TV & newspaper. You probably won't get a lot of babies from public sources, but it lets everyone know that your facility is busy doing fun activities. Great P.R. for the facility! Send out notices a couple of weeks in advance of your Baby Loving Day. Don't forget to put a big notice in your newsletter & to post this information on all of the activity boards as well as at each nurse's station & in the break room. If you can post a sign up on all of the entrance doors into the building. The 1st or 2nd time invite the press, opt. Arrange residents in the activity room sitting in chairs or w/c to form a large circle. When the mothers & babies arrive, let them get in the center of the circle. Have some toys in the middle; balls, beanbags, balloons, hot wheel cars are good for starters. The children if old enough will soon begin to play & will reach up to involve the residents in their play. The little ones can be held by the residents with their mothers available to supervise. When the visiting is about done. Serve animal cookies & juice. :roll: Baby Loving Days work well to hold about 4 times a year. After one or two, the mothers may well be calling to see when you're having another one.

This is from: Barbara Dahl I have had this activity in my files for a few years, so I am not sure where I got it from other than it was posted by Barbara. We also have "Mystery Auction". Each senior is given a set amount of Monopoly money--$56.00 or so. They bid on prizes that have been donated. They are kept in plain paper bags. Some are silly prizes. They bid on the bags. They can bid as much as they have. There is a grand prize that is bid on at the end. But in order to bid on the grand prize, they must have purchased a prize through bidding earlier. They love the mysteries and surprise of what are in the secret bags.

Hi, I kmow that working on a locked ward for alzheimers is a nit different that working on LTC floor or as AD AA in Ass't Living. On an Alz unit you may be required to help w/ ADL's as part of team approach in the Care Plans. But this doe not include changing diapers, bathing etc.. As for nails I have always haad this included as a activity but never never allowing my staff, volunteers or myself to cut them. Feeding was done by nursing & CNA's those trained to do so. I have heard of a few act. dept being forced to do this at some facilities however I would not, nor did I aloow my staff to. At a couple of facilities I worked at we did have a rotating schedule were all of the Dept heads wouls would help pass out trays & oversee a certain dining room/meal. This was do done for QA purposes. It sounds like maybe they were asking you to do a CNA job as well as yours which crossed the line. Didi you speak with you boss about this? If not go back & try to see if their was a misunderstanding between the 2 of you. If you boss is not the Administraator may you should speak w/ him/her to see if this can be resolved. If not know that you tried your best to resolve this & start sennding out those resumes. You'll probably find a job that you like even better that this one and you may even be appericated so much more. Best to you. Keep head up, be strong & keep us in informed.

Hi Trina, Welcome to the board. In a way we also work with the adolescents, our res are elder but lots of them have gone back to living in the past. Psychiatric & behavioral population is for sure in our field. It takes alot of patiences, chart reading, people skills, & learning as much background as you possible can to better understand why a person acts the why they do. Then sometimes we never know so we just have to trust our instincts. Before I got into this field I worked with the Mentally Retarted in a group home. I would go duty on friday afternoon & get off on monday late mornings. this taught me alot. Glaad to have you here & loved to help out anyway we can.