OceanGuy23

Hey there Squeaky!! Nice to meet you and feel free to get in touch with me in regards to swapping activity ideas. Tell me about it, spring is definitely starting to take shape here too and I can finally start getting back on our patio with my residents for coffee social, gardening and just that good ol sunshine Hit me up.

Hi all!! Its been a while since I posted here but I have always thought this website is sooo awesome for all us activity professionals. Welcome aboard all new members also. My name is Kevin and I am 26 years old. I work as an activity director in a 46 bed skilled nursing facility in Ceres, California which is in the Central Valley, about an hour and a half drive from Fresno. I have been in the activity profession since I was 18, starting off as an activity assistant right after high school. I took my Activity Director class in 2007 which in California is four months and have been working as an activity director in my current facility since 2008. I love my job and my residents. Everyday is something different and my residents truly are my rays of sunshine I love meeting new activity professionals and trading ideas. We can learn so much from each other. I plan on taking my national certification courses in the near future and am looking into the MEPAP courses. I truly believe attending conferences and keeping up with your CEU's is very vital because there are always new things to learn in the world of activities and we are there for our residents and they count on us. Feel free to contact me anytime. Thanks. Kevin. Email is Portuguese17@msn.com

I use Print Shop to create my monthly activity calendars and use graphics from Creative Forecasting and A New Day magazines to cut and paste graphics to my calendars. I find that Print Shop is very user friendly and a great program. I work in a skilled nursing facility in california and follow the 8 scopes of activities which are as follows: physical exercise, creative(arts & crafts), religious programs, educational activities (hangman, current events, etc.) outdoor activities, outings, social programs, and Resident Council. I take alot of ideas from Creating Forecasting and a New Day for ideas on theme days.

At my nursing facility I tend to recruit church groups willing to come in and provide church services and also some music groups. I am only able to pay for one paid entertainer a month and have four music entertainers that I rotate for our monthly birthday parties. I know that high school seniors need community service hours for graduation and they contact me sometimes and Im always happy to have them come in and also some college campus clubs do community service too. I have a group of college girls that come in and help with bingo and arts and crafts. Its my corporation policy in regards to volunteers that volunteers wanting to volunteer on a regular basis other than like church groups or what not, that they must fill out a volunteer application which I keep on file, they must have a clear tb shot, and also watch a video on elder abuse and mandated reporting. If the volunteer is younger than 18 I have a sheet on the application which needs parental consent. Every April during National Volunteer Week I hold a special volunteer luncheon at my nursing facility to show appreciation to my volunteers and their faithfulness.

Working in a skilled nursing facility I find that some activity ideas for Alzheimers patients that I use are balloon toss, lotion rubs, reading from Chicken Soup books, looking at scenic magazines and making collages, music groups are always awesome and almost always trigger a response from the residents, sing alongs, nature walks, simple large piece puzzles, pet therapy is wonderful. I have contact with the local SPCA group that brings in small dogs, matching card games, folding items like washclothes, etc. I would also love to hear from you guys on more ideas since I can always use more ideas in my activity programming.

I work in a skilled nursing facility and find that A New Day magazine is a wonderful resource with information on sensory stimulation activities and also Creative Forecasting is a great resourceful magazine. I have to agree that the Montessori based method is a great resource to look into for sensory ideas. I recently purchased a Montessori based book which has great sensory activities for working with our Alzheimer and Dementia residents. Can't think of the book's name off the top of my head but it was very reasonably priced.

Hi Kelley Is there an area away from the lounge to not disturb those residents who are watching the Price is Right where you could get a group of residents together and do balloon toss or hangman or even read a couple of short stories from the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Good luck and im sure you will come up with something great. Kevin

Hi Chris Nice to meet ya. I am also an activities assistant in a 99 bed skilled nursing facility in California. I have been working in activities for six years and I absolutely love what I do. Lol, this is the only job I have ever done since I started right out of high school and I am now 24. This is my love and passion. I took my activity director class back in November which was 16 weeks and I really enjoyed it. I am so happy to now be able to work as an activity director and I am looking for AD positions locally. Is your class 16 weeks also in Florida? Good luck with your class and if ya need any help just let me know. I am getting ready to take my Mepap 1 course soon because I want to get nationally certified. Hope to hear from ya soon and great meeting ya. Kevin

Hi Trixie. Congratulations on receiving a super survey. That is so awesome and what an exciting way to end National Activity Professionals Week. This is for Imzoop, I am also located in California and I was wondering where in California you are located. Would love hearing from ya. Kevin

Hey Sara Awesome job with state survey. Congratulations. Also congratulations with your AD course. You should be very proud of yourself. YEAH!!!! I am also enrolled in my AD state course but I have until November to go. Great job Sara. Kevin

Hi Mandy I would really consider that you start sending out a letter to families stating what their loved ones are doing in activities and I would say that is a great start and when those families come in couldn't you show them the resident's daily activity sheet just to prove that they were in those activities. Also like Kate said, leaving supplies in the room is a great idea showing that you were in the resident's room doing a 1:1 activity. Like maybe let the resident do an arts and crafts project if they are able or leave behind word searches, crossword puzzles or magazines or drawing paper and markers. When families see that their loved ones have supplies in their room they will know that activity department has touched base with them. Be encouraged and everything will turn out okay. Kevin

Hi Miguel, Your incorporating that wellness program into your activities sounds really nice. Can you tell me more about the six dimensions of health and how you plan to get this running into your activity program. Sounds like something I would be interested in doing myself or would want to learn more about. I actually read something in Creative Forecasting about the wellness idea and activities.Thanks so much. Kevin

Hi Trixie I really like the "Remember and Reminisce Books" that cover all kinds of trivia and word games from certain decades. We have purchased the 1930's, 40's and 50's and like I said it is full of trivia to bring back great memories for our residents. I can't remember the author though but I can get back to you on that. The New Day Magazines also have great reminiscing stories that rekindle great memories of the past. Hope this helps. Kevin

Hey Miguel Very nice bulletin board and calendar board. I like your Hawaiian theme for August and of course Elvis is a biggie for alot of our residents so good choice. My e-mail address is Portuguese17@msn.com so if you want you can email me your calendar if you don't mind so I can check out those great activities. Hey Miguel also by the way I just got home from my activity director class and I absolutely loved it. Can't wait till we meet again next Thursday. The instructors are very nice and there is alot of work but very much worth it. Kevin

I really enjoy using PrintShop to make our activity calendars. Kevin