lkelley

Sue, I’m not aware of a bowling system that is affordable with automatic pin set up. There are many different bowling games available from S & S Worldwide but none seem to be automatic. You might want to consider adding some type of barrier so that the pins do not scatter as far making the task a little easier. Lori

The first thing I would do is to speak with your administrator about their position concerning the mens request. I think you should try to encourage the men to plan their outing to a place similar to Hooters if that is the type of entertainment that they are interested in. If they continue to request an outing to a strip bar explain to them that you do not feel comfortable hosting this outing and if they wish to move forward with the planning of the trip they will need to find a male to accompany them. If you allow the men to make the trip to the strip bar it is important that they have appropriate behaviors with the women in the facility (residents and staff) after their return. Lori

Dani, In our facility one wall of the activity room has a beautiful mural of the Texas hill country with wild flowers. The other walls are a pale yellow. You might see if you can find someone in the community that would be interested in volunteering their time to paint a mural. Murals add interest to the room, making it more inviting. I like the hill country mural because it brings nature inside for all to enjoy. Lori

Robin, This seems to be a very common problem. The best advice that I can give is to befriend your co-workers and offer an incentive for their help. My suggestion is to start a program to reward the staff that work to get residents to the activities. For every resident that a staff member brings to an activity they will be given a chance to win a prize at the end of the month. You choose what that might be, it could be a gift card to a restaurant, movie tickets or anything that you feel they might enjoy, you can even ask their opinion. The more residents that they bring the greater chance they will have to win the prize. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they are willing to help. I realize that this will be an expense for your budget but it will be well worth it when you have better resident participation. Good Luck! Lori

You might want to try changing the positions to shorter serving terms. Another suggestion would be to do something to entice residents to run for positions. Special incentives or acknowledgement on the day of the meeting for residents that hold positions on the resident council.

This seems to be a common problem at a lot of facilities, being new to the job probably doesn’t help. You need to try to befriend the CNA’s so they will help you with getting the residents to the activities. You might try answering a call light for the CNA to see if the resident needs something that you could help with, this frees up time for the CNA. If you plan a party or cooking event for the residents plan to share leftovers with the CNA’s. You might try asking their opinion of an activity idea. One idea that I think is great is to purchase a gift card monthly or weekly to give out to the staff that helps get residents to the activities. For every resident that the staff brings they get their name in the drawing. You can use gift cards for restaurants, movie tickets, etc. Ask their opinion to see what they would like to see in the drawing. You will have to budget for it and you wouldn’t want to use anything to expensive but it is amazing how quickly someone will help out if there is something in it for them.

The facility I work at has a dog that lives on site and most of the residents enjoy visiting with him. The dog has learned who wants to visit and who does not. I would like to see our facility adopt other animals in addition to the dog. I think having the pets on site allows the residents to bond with them and participate in their care. Pets encourage the residents to come out of their rooms and interact. They can be given very small tasks to help with the animals care, for example, brushing, petting, or assisting with feeding. I would like to see a variety of pets added to our facility, an aquarium for fish, a bird and a cat would be nice. Having the pets on site help the residents feel like the pets belong to them, they are not just visiting. Residents who owned a pet prior to moving to the facility are encouraged to have a family member bring the animal for visits as often as possible.

Here are a few ideas to help with your July 4th celebration: 1. Have a picnic or parade, inviting friends and family to help celebrate. 2. Let the residents decorate ball caps with red, white and blue paints. 3. Let them make pom pom like streamers to wave at the picnic or parade. You could use red, silver and blue mylar attached to something that would be easy to hold. 4. Let the residents make and decorate cupcakes with a July 4th theme to serve at the picnic or parade. 5. On the day of the parade or picnic let the residents decorate wheelchairs, walkers, etc with crept paper and construction paper; you could offer prizes for the most creative.