Sara

We're going to have something for JuneTeenth at our facility. I set a time at 5:00 for the "JuneTeenth Celebration." At our facility suppertime is 6:00 p.m. I have no clue what to do though! LOL .... I hope to get great ideas here

Fish are always good .... anything from small tanks (about a 10 gallon) to 50 or 100 gallon tanks. Come to think of it, I bet a pond w/ goldfish (they grow to fit their environment) or other fish would be fun. There's a snf in a nearby town that have a huge bird cage (larger than a highboy or hutch) filled with birds ... don't ask me what kind, I only recognize parakeets, and the like. There were no parakeets LOL. But boy, you'd have to have responsible staff to clean & feed regularly. I just remembered, we have a couple of "farm" type animals nearby that are therapy pets. One is miniature donkeys, the other are miniature horses. Alpacas are friendly too (look like llamas but soft hooves and don't spit like llamas do).

Copy and paste this questionnaire so we can get to know each other better and have fun! Activity Director’s Who Are You? 1. Where are you from (City and State) Lamesa, TX 2. What type of Facility do you work in? SNF ~80 beds 3. How many years in the field? a whole UNO! 4. What are your strengths as and Activity Director? I'm creative, have a lot of energy ('til I get home!!), and want my residents to realize THEIR wants and needs are important, and try to teach them to use their voices and not be sheep 5. What are your weaknesses as and Activity Directtor? The time issue - I do all the documentation, progress notes, care plans, attendance, one to one, manage the dept., do staff recognition for various wecognition weeks, and anything else that nobody wants to do. 6. Do you have activity staff or are you the activity staff? I am the activity staff 7. Do you drive the bus? We have a van, and I only sometimes have to drive the van. 8. What is your favorite craft to do with the residents? I love anything that "makes" something using our hands ... ceramics, molding, etc. 9. What has been your favorite outing? Actually, the residents love driving around town to see the changes since they've been "home-bound". 10. How many residents in your facility? Currently 55-60 on average. 11. What did you do before becoming an Activity Director? Let me see . . . immediately before I was a scopist (editor of court transcriptionists) ... before that I was a records manager for a large independent oil and gas company . . . and I'm old so I'm not telling more!!! LOL 12. What information would you like to know about in this field? How to encourage more volunteers to join us, new activities that are for multiple levels of cognition, and anything else I don't know 13. Do you have a good volunteer program? Not really, I have some churches that are very dependable and one volunteer that seldom misses. I'd love more, so that I have more charting time and more time to develop activities. 14. If you could only have one game to play with your residents what would it be (not including bingo)? Skip-Bo What are you listening to right now? TV - some movie (I'm not paying attention, it's just noise. What was the last thing you ate? Pimento cheese sandwich (before that I ate M&Ms LOL) Do you wish on stars? Nope .... I don't think I ever wished on stars! If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Candy Apple Red -- real bright How is the weather right now? 70 degrees and Lots of sunshine! Last person you spoke to on the phone? My son. Had to drop off valentine's gifts for the grandkids How old are you today? 52. Favorite drink? Cafe Mocha (hot) & Dr. Pepper (cold). Favorite sport(s) to watch? FOOTBALLLLLL (I'm from the home of "Friday Night Lights"). Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep, finally quit .... it was becoming a loosing battle LOL Do you wear contacts or glasses? Glasses. Pets? Two long-haired Dachshunds . . . one red female, one black/tan male. Favorite month. August .... I always have a luau in August with homemade ice cream and good cookin' Favorite food? Peanut Butter and Banana sammich What was the last movie you watched? Oops .... I can't remember, but it was good LOLOL Favorite day of the year? Saturday!!!! •Fall or Spring? Fall. Spring here means huge sand/dust storms. •When was the last time you cried? Yesterday when I introduced an aphasic resident to a communication board. •What did you do last night? I read and slept!!! We got up early to travel for my friend's CNA test, so went to bed early •What inspires you? Spiritual inspiration comes from communing with God .... creative inspiration comes from God and the ideas he exposes me to. •What are you afraid of? Cancer (I'm a survivor of 5 1/2 years) •Favorite car? '56 Thunderbird (red!!!!) with a continental kit •Favorite dog breed? Dachshunds •How many years at your current job? Uno •How many states have you lived in? 3, I think •How many cities/towns have you lived in? Oh Lordy! I don't know ..... tons . . well at least 13

Well, so far no luck with the rules, setup, etc for the Res. Rights Bingo. So .... Guess I'll try to find someone with the game to figure out what's supposed to happen with it. I know there's no way I'll spend that amount to replace it when I have all but one or two components. We're in a teensy town (less than 10,000 population) and the only nursing home. We are also in a very low income area, so we have to be very careful with our spending. On with the search . . . Thanks

I recently inherited a Residents' Rights Bingo game, however there are no rules with it. It doesn't look like it has been used. Does anyone have a copy of the game set-up and rules or can anyone direct me to the original source for the game? Thanks

We'll be inviting the residents to decorate their walkers and w/cs and throw beads in our in-house parade. I'm toying with the idea of inviting the head start and 1st-2nd graders to join us with their "floats" (decorated wagons). I'll have to make this decision like ..... NOW! LOL

I have a couple of suggestions that might help. First, when you post your wall calendar, include the room/area by each activity. That way, if anyone wants to see what's going on, they'll know where to go. Second, I keep a list of attendees for each and every activity. It's very helpful, especially if I don't get my posting done immediately afterward for individual attendees. My form includes the date, time, activity name. It also includes a brief summary of the activity (i.e., Reading Club -- We read 3 chapters of Agatha Christe book <whatever the title of the book is> and discussed who we each though was the "whodunit" at this point in the book). It's important to include a list of active attendees, passive attendees, and those who refuse to come (that helps show you invite folks, whether they show or not). Hope this helps a bit.

My facility is required to have a weekend manager and a holiday manager on duty. It is the manager's responsibility to do the scheduled activities. We are a small SNF facility, so a department head plays the part of manager.

Love the new look!! These are the colors I painted the majority of my house in see why I love the look?? LOL

I'm still experiencing the holidays for the first time as an AD. When I get to Easter I'll start the "repeats" LOL. I'm learning what works and what doesn't .... and always pay attention to my fellow dept heads when they talk with me about what worked in the past and what bombed.

We have a resident that requires restorative care (LLE strength exercises). Should this be done by the AD or by a CNA? He's no longer on Part B, so doesn't go to PT any more. He's at risk for falls. I do notice that the requirement for him is 3-5x week x 3-6 mo. and that a CNA is doing ROM exercises with him 3x week. Thanks for any input you can give.

Wow -- great article there. Timely too .... our poor pooches have been infested and we're fighting pests tooth and nail! We have a huge flea and tick population due to all those lovely rains (and more coming LOL).

It sounds like you already have some good ideas. Handouts for me are great ... I can add notes and not have to spend my time writing in a frenzy instead of listening to the speaker. Knowing your material, and the way you'll present it, is the most important part .... practice practice practice. Also, be very careful to have inflection in your voice ... monotones put me into a dead zone. Graphics keep interest up and keep attention on you and what you're saying. Basically, I think you have all the basics you need. You don't have to be an entertainer, just be yourself and enjoy your talk. I won't tell you to picture the audience in their skivvies ... it works for some but I just get tickled and giggle rather than present my topic LOL. If you aren't comfortable looking folks in the eye ... look at their forehead or at the very top of their head. Best of luck to you! I bet you'll do a bang-up job of it!

The state surveyors left our facility today. Most of the staff was in severe stress due to their existence LOL. I have a different perspective from the others. I'm new, just 4 months, so I feel you can't un-ring a bell so find out what's what then fix it We had only 3 things that may come as 1 or 2 or 3 tags, dependent on the enforcement team. They're all buliding issues, none major, well possibly one semi-major, but all "fixable" for the most part. We had no activity tags nor nursing tags. The inspectors really had to dig to come up with what they found (yippee hehe). On the plus side -- I found a friend I had lost 20 years ago! One of the inspectors and I used to work together, so at the beginning we did our hugs, then did our work (she's got a ton of integrity so I know our sort-of-relationship had no bearing on her findings). After it was all over, I gave her my card, she gave me her card and we'll meet and have lunch or a coke or something to catch up. I also knew, since she was on the team, that she'd be very fair and impartial (it's her nature to be that way). One more plus (sort of) ... I'm taking the AD course, and taking my final tonight. My scores to date are great, so I'm not worried about that ........... then I can figure out what the holy heck ceu's I need to do LOL. Life goes and and isn't it great???? Edited to add: Oh, I overheard her say to another surveyor that "with Sara around, things will never be dull here!!" hehehe

I'm awaiting my first survey .... I'm also interested in the Activity Log mentioned above. If you have time and the inclination, my email is sara_elaine1955@hotmail.com. Thanks

I'm a fairly new AD in Texas. I'm in a smallish facility (we average just under 30 residents most of the time). How many activities per day am I required to do by the state (I currently do 4/day). Also, does anyone know how many "evening" activities I'm required to do per week or month? I "think" evening starts at 5:00 but I could easily be wrong. I've been looking through all my paperwork and P&P manuals to find this and haven't yet. Thanks for all your help

I'm an AD for a 47-bed facility, although we usually have about 2/3 of that filled. I also do medical records for the facility. Off the job -- I'm an independent beauty consultant

I set up a "bowling lane" in one hallway of the nursing home I work in. The pins are empty 2-ltr bottles (painted so they can be seen on the white floor). I'm the pin-setter, score-keeper and ball return. Just for kicks, I line up the bowlers LOL. So far, I have no volunteers or other help, but hopefully that'll change ..... I get darn pooped!!! I use those long foam things that kids use in pools (about 4-5' long) and set up the gutter guards with those (that way most balls get at least one pin). Our main concession is that ALL bowlers have to sit and bowl. The "lane" is naturally not as long as one in a bowling alley. I use a kickball/4-square ball for the bowling ball, so that stroke residents can more easily "bowl". Sometimes the ball bounces, but that's life! We have both men and women who bowl, some who have never bowled before. One resident is blind, so I stand behind the "pins" and talk to him so he has a sound to aim at. I'm still working out the logistics to have something that makes sound for him, rather than me standing there. Each week (we just had our 2nd week) the participation grows. I'm in a nursing facility with 27 residents. Week 1 was 2 men -- we just "learned" that week .... worked out the kinks, etc. Week 2 was 3 men and 1 woman -- the woman had never before bowled. Due to contractures of both arms, she couldn't get the ball to the floor, so it bounced most of the way ............and she won (woman power!!! LOL). We had approximately 4-5 spectators (residents) too. Lots of laughter and cheering and encouraging each other .... the residents STILL talk about it and are looking forward to our next bowling night. We bowl at night so that the hallway we use is less occupied. I can't tell you how long the "lane" is, other than about 16', or more, long. I haven't measured it. We're thinking about setting up in the dining room next time so that more can participate and more can watch. So far, we only do 5 frames per game .... that lasts long enough this AD doesn't fall over from exhaustion (lol) and the residents are building up their strength to last longer. This is really the most physical they are, and they're loving it!! I feel really good about this activity ............ beats the Gardening Club all to heck (they're not interested LOL).

I love the idea of the root beer in a bottle!! We have one fella' who's a recovering alcoholic, so serving alcohol (or even no-alcohol beer) is a horrible temptation for him. The other gentlemen don't really care one way or the other, so the root beer is an excellent idea~~

I'm in west Texas, and the primary language is English although the majority of our staff is of Hispanic origin. Today, something came up .... we were in a meeting (conducted in English) and some of the staff began speaking Spanish. This is not a rare occurrence. I piped up and said that it's rude to speak a language not understood by all in the meeting. Of course a big hooha ensued, and some of the staff (people who enjoy stirring up trouble) continued it into the main area by speaking to staff members that were NOT in the meeting and. Oh ... the meeting was attended by the Attending Physician and Department Heads, no floor staff. From that point on, I (more me than others because I spoke out) was treated shabbily. I've since spoken to the Admin. about it, explaining that I have no problem when speaking to Spanish-speaking residents or family, I don't even have an issue if the Spanish-speaking staff members speak in Spanish in the break room, whether I'm in there or not ... it's just rude and inappropriate in a meeting. Is there a state regulation regarding this? I've heard there is from other staff addressing whether or not to speak out in Spanish in front of English speaking residents/family and that we can get a citation for it, but I'm not sure about in staff. My Admin. said she'll take care of this so it doesn't get blown up too big (she was out of the office during this situation). Truly, I don't think I'm being unreasonable .... I do speak languages other than Spanish, and make certain that if I'm speaking another language that I include others by speaking Language A and then translating it ino English for other listeners. Any help or suggestions?

We only allow teen court community service (usually speeding tickets) at this time. I will judge on a case-by-case basis if requested by others. In our county, the adults can only do their community service doing non-profit organizations, such as cleaning parks, highways, etc. Prior to accepting any one at all, I will speak to their probationary officer to see what I need to know about the person, and then either approve or disapprove. It's not up to me to make the probationer feel good, they're paying a price by doing community service, ........... much easier than doing their time behind bars. As another poster said, the protection of my residents is up to me (and the rest of the staff); giving a 2nd chance is done only if I have a good feeling about it after knowing ALL the facts.

I'm a Texan! Lamesa, Texas

I'm new to the AD field. I'm in west Texas, at a small nursing home (current census 29, with a few empty beds). I'm earning 6.50/hour. I also handle the medical records and am a one-person activities department (thank heavens for volunteers LOL). Actually, my past life was in the oil & gas field, I made a nice salary (significantly more than I make now), but for the much less significant stress and the 7 minute drive as opposed to the 1 hour drive I had before ..... this is heaven!

Hi. I'm Sara from a very small town in west Texas. I'm a new AD (1 month now) and am currently doing a distance education AD course. They say I'm a department head ...and I like my staff (okay, I'm my own staff LOL). I have a good sense of humor which really helps in this job. So far, I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to good ideas and the exchange of ideas.