Wanda

Hi all, I saw somewhere about being a certified Activity Assistant. Do any of you know anything about it? Where can I get more information? Thanks, Wanda

Well, we have several staff members. 1 35 hour (me) 1 25 hour (that doesn't pull her weight) 2 17 1/2 hour 1 40 hour (20 hour Social Services/20 hours Activities) We have at least two large activities a day, 7 days a week, & 2 evening activities. And we really don't have enough staff for what we do! But then, from what I understand neither do any of the activity departments. The most difficult thing is dealing with staff that cannot do the job. This person has been on the staff for almost 8 years and doesn't get any better. I am not quite sure why she hasn't been terminated! Everything she does is inefficient! I just don't get it. At any other job I have worked, she would have been fired a long time ago! Wanda

I think that the person that gives the meds was out of line. I know that some meds cannot be crushed or chewed and that is why the physician needs to be contacted first (well, they should be contacted before anything is changed). I would say that the residents rights are violated by the response of the person giving the meds. At our facility, any suspected violation has to be reported or you will be fired if you knew about the violation and didn't report it. I would rather be safe than sorry. Everyone should be informed of what they need to do in such cases through a resident's rights training. Wanda

We have a lady come in from a grooming place with her dog and the residents love him! You could call around to see if anyone is willing to do that. Wanda

If you have transportation, I would go on outings. Even if you just ride around town, they love it! They like Men and Women's clubs. We have found that our assisted ladies love puzzles. We are looking into taking over an old dining room for such things. Woodworking is popular with the men. Have you taken a survey? That would be a good place to start. Wanda

How do you put these groups on your calendar? One of our worries is that everyone that comes to the big group activities will want to come to all of the scheduled activities and our goal is to get residents that do not come to the big group activities to come to the smaller group activities. Thanks for all the ideas! Wanda

It is hard to say. I know that the dogs that search for bodies get depressed when they only find dead bodies. Seems like it wouldn't be as bad at a nursing home. Wanda

I have really been thinking about all of the resident's whose needs are not being met. There are Health Care reisdents that cannot get out of bed that don't get much for activities. We are just trying to figure out a way to get more activities in throughout the day without wearing the staff out. We usually have 2 people to ask and transport about 100 or so people. We don't have to transport all of them, maybe a dozen or so in wheelchairs. But, some are on the 3rd floor, etc. Some have dementia and we have to walk with them to make sure they get to the right place. Transporting time is within a half hour. I have worn a pedometer and have walked anywhere from 7 to 11 miles per day. Plus I am overweight a bit. We just want to try to make things better for the residents. Thanks, Wanda

We usually have a snack or desert in the afternoon for our Red Hat ladies. Sometimes we have intertainment or someone comes in to do a demo. Men usually like to sit around and chat. I would just make it simple. We have a separate tea and conversation but, you could have some other beverage. Wanda

We currently have two large group activities per day and three on T/TH, M-Sun. We have been thinking about breaking the large groups down into several smaller groups, except for our popular large group activities, such as exercise, sing-a-long, Bible Study, Coffe Club , and Church. Our typical day is as follows: 9:00 Set up for activity Clean Bird Aviary & feed fish Menus 9:30 Menus 10:00 Transport 10:30 Activity 11:00 Transport 11:15 Activity Lunch 11:45 Sort & Pass Mail 12:00 Serve AR 3 dining room Charting 1:00 1-1 Health Care Center 1:30 transport 2:00 Activity, menus 2:30-3 Transport 3:00-4:30 Menus Charting MWF 3:30 Independent Exercise Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated Wanda AA

I agree that everyone should work as a team but, where I work they are always short CNA's and we are worried that I will be pulled out of activities and put to work. (I do it at home with my CP son, I really don't want to do it at work). We serve a dining room, do menus, and then half the time we don't have time to prepare for our activities. We have been told that we cannot work on anything at home because they are worried that a disgruntle worker will sue or something. We just wanted more help. I am not sure how many beds we have I am thinking 79. We are really busy and really don't have the man power for anyone to be pulled out. Wanda

You can also put up flyers in the employee breakroom for donations of books or anything that could be used for Bingo prices. We are planning to do that for an activity cart. You can get crossword puzzles and word searches free online. We get the library to come in and deliver books to residents, it is an outreach program and the only work we have to do for that is put tapes on a spindal for residents. We have picked up puzzles at yard sales but, that can also be put on the flyers. Make a list of the things that you would like and go from there. Food things we get from dietary because they can usually get things cheaper than at the grocery. We get frozen cookie dough, etc. I am a frugal shopper and I try to help my coworkers in this area. Although some things are big purchases (like this craft cart that we want) and there is no way to purchase that for $43.00. Is there any way to get your amount increased? Wanda

My supervisor and I have been discussing the possibility of someone becoming CNA certified but we are worrie that whoever it is will get pulled out of activities to do CNA work. I personally would not mind becoming certified to help our department but, I don't want to be pulled out to do more! Do any of you have any suggestions how we can go about approaching this subject? Wanda

We have been trying to find a craft cart that we can take around to redidents room in Health Care and Assisted Living. Do any of you have suggestions?