Cancelled Activities

[Ella 0]

When you have an activity that has to be cancelled for whatever reason, outdoor activity cancelled due to rain, volunteer doesn't show up etc. What activity do you use in place of the scheduled activity? I am running into the problem of my staff using the same activity over and over when one has to be cancelled, or if there is one on the calendar and there is a small turn out. For example: if I have an out door activity planned and it rains, staff will play card bingo or po-ke-no, if I have dominoes on the calendar and they "can only get 3-4 residents" they will change the activity to card bingo or po-ke-no.

 

I realize we can not do anything about the weather, however we can do something about "only getting 3-4 residents" to an activity. I work M-F and have left specific instructions to call me if changes need to be made, this seems to be forgotten quite often especially by one staff. When I question her, she states reasons why such as "no one wanted to play dominoes, I could only get 3-4 people to come down so I played card bingo, then I had 12 people". When speaking to other staff in my department I find that she didn't want to play dominoes and persuaded the residents to do an activity that she wanted. Of course this is all hear say.

 

My question is, what activities do use as backups or alternatives in case you have cancellations. I would like to have a backup plan on days this staff works. I want to have a small list of alternate activities for her to pick from in the event one has to be cancelled because we already have card bingo and po-ke-no on our monthly calendar and don't want to utilize these as backup activities.

 

I welcome all your suggestions!

 

Thanks!

Ella

[Jill88 0]

We make a list of things to do and post it in the activities closet as a backup list. We have Keno and bingo on the list, but we also have hot potato, kickball, ball toss, sing along, sorting games, a simple dice game called "shake and roll", watercolor painting, puzzle time, and a number of other activities. I work at a day center, so the activities might be different than for a nursing home or other facility, but that's the gist of what I do in those situations. I usually try to get a feel for the room and what they're up for. Sometimes I just do a few smaller group activities if I can't find something to accommodate everyone.