Randy 0 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 Hello Everyone!! I am an Activity Director in Ohio in the USA. I just joined and am already getting a lot of useful information from this wesite. Our residents are physically and/or mentally disabled. It is a 50 bed facility and I have many challenges. Like funding for one. Our monies have been cut dramatically and I seem to be working on a shoestring budget. But I still manage to meet the requirements for the state. Yet when I came into this - I did not want to just meet requirements. That's why I have begun plenty of wonderfully off the wall things ( I think ) that our resident's just love. I have lots of ideas that I would like to share and I would like to gleam from anyone with unique ideas as well. Our people range from early twenties to mid seventies. Most in the 40s and 50s. We are religious based and have Christian themed events sometimes but, certainly we do plenty of other things as well. If anyone has any ideas on putting together a resident newsletter, I'd like to hear them. It's been done in the past here but before I was director and it didn't have much success. I do a calendar of my events but not a newsletter. A lot of the residents want to start one. Anyway, Thanks for reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pat8231 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 Hi Randy, I'm looking for a job and when I go to the facilities (sitting in the lobby filling out applications) I take their newsletters. I noticed that they have lots of information about the residents that live there but it's their birthdays. I would put in where they came from, what they did for a living, list their birthdays. I think it would be great to help your residents write part of their own newsletter, stories, articles, something from their past they would like to share. You'd be surprise, when I was working, how many of the residents shared a very similar background. The army, navy, etc., living in the same neighborhood. Perhaps have a "The Way It Was" column and each newsletter have someone write it. Hope this helps you. I have a newsletter in front of me right now, they list birthdays, misc. information but that is about it. As for the mentally disabled perhaps have them "draw" something and put that in, if you have a scanner you can put that right into the newsletter itself Hope this helps a little. Pat 8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gina 2 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 Hi Randy, Welcome to the site!!!I applaude you on working with people with disabilities,i too worked for a short time in that part of this field and i must say, for me it was alot harder than working with the seniors.Anyways,I have created many newsletters for my facilities and here are a few ideas:Resident of the month(include a picture of your resident,where they were born,their work history,family history,etc.)Administrators piece(have your administrator/Director write a short piece each month)Nursing piece(have your D.O.N write up a piece each month),Up coming events(write down all your fun,special events coming up),Last months events(include pictures of your past events),include your Menu,include a small copy of your activity calendar,and then add a puzzle of word search of the month(Give a small prize to the first resident/family member to turn in the puzzle done correctly first!)You could also include an Activity Corner( a piece from you or your assistants, a great way to ask for donations of certain items,old c.d.s,crayons,markers,craft items,etc,also in your piece you could ask for volunteers to help ya out.Well,these are items that have gone in my newsletters,maybe they will help you.also,if you email me with your address,i will send you some of my old newsletters.talk to ya later gina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy 0 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Pat and Gina, Hello and thanks for all of your ideas and support. I didn't think it would come so fast. I really appreciate it. Tonight, I just met with some of our residents and they are really excited about getting the newsletter going. So these ideas of yours will really help. Yes - working with the disabled can be a challenge but I enjoy it immensly. They are the best people I've ever known. My problem here is that I don't know if there are too many resources specifically for my area of activities. I see a lot of you work soley with seniors. But some of the people I work with are a younger crowd who would be bored with senior activities. Only a few of our residents are above 60. So I have to keep things hopping. If any of you know resources for activities for the disabled - I am always on the lookout. Not that I don't do well. I think our program is ahead of a lot of things I've seen. Right now we have a new group that started about 3 months ago called Creation Crew. They get together and come up with ideas of things to create. Currently they are making a video of commercial spoofs, writing a book and now working on the newsletter idea. They have great insight and give most of the input themselves. It is really taking off. Anyway, thanks again. Gina, I will e-mail you soon. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_grumpy Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Good evening everyone! My offical name is Mary Beth but oh I do live the little guy. I have been with the same facility for 13 years here in Indiana. Countryside Place Nursing Home is rather small with only 90 beds. Each job I have held since college seemed to the 'the job' until I went down a different path to activities. I must say I would not trade my position for another. Looking forward to sharing ideas and learning from each of you! mb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel 4 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 Welcome Randy... Hmm Newsletters can be fun, Go wild, be creative. I have put together a few in my short life.... Hmm I would suggest an area of Resident spotlight.. A place where you can have your resident council vote on a resident who stands out.. In a good way of course lol.. Alos a staff spot light, have residents choose a staff member they really appriciate.. Creates a better working environment between activites and other departments, Inform residnets of Mens/Womens groups, Spotlight outings tha may be coming up, Spotlight recent outings get resident feed back, The idea Gina had about Admin/Director section is great to, Put a section where you can let the facility know what new things you and resident council have decided on doing.. Make them fun.. As for money.. This can be a touchy subject... Depending on Admin. If you have an admin who does not mind you seeking donations I would suggest contacting local high school groups and church. An idea I plan to use is have them sponsor a holiday or theme, Get your local high school Key club to sponsor your birthday parties, have your local Kiwanis sponsor one of your monthly themes, High school kids are willing to help if informed properly on what to do, Clubs are always willing to help, when I was in High school and president of my Key Club we would always fundraise for different things, I dont see how hosting a birthday party would hurt.. Seek donations from the community, Flower shops, Goodwills are sometimes willing to help,, Closed mouths dont get fed.. I think thats how that saying goes.. lol If your facility cannot afford many of the extras you wish to provide to enrich the lives of residents.. Get it from your community.. The one thing I suggest is if your director has a problem with seeking donations, kinda keep it on the down low.. 8-) I hope I have been able to help Randy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy 0 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2004 Miguel, Thank you. Great suggestions. I will definitely use them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane 0 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Hi Randy.... I too am from Ohio. Where are you located. I am right at the Ohio, Michigan and Indiana line in Northwest Ohio. I love my job. We have 189 beds and have no complaints. My budget is good. My staff is wonderful and my volunteers are fantastic. Welcome aboard Randy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margi 0 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 I am not sure how the privacy act works with newsletters. We are not allowed to post or announce our residents full name for birthdays in our facility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marian 0 Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 Hi Everyone, Greetings from Oz My name is Marian and I work in a 30 bed facility in Melbourne Australia. I look forward to getting to know you all and sharing interesting ideas. Just a point about the newsletters and privacy, I get my residents and family members to fill out a permission form when they arrive, and this gives permission to use their photographs etc in the newsletters. This is their choice and they may choose not to give their permission. Has anyone got any special or unusual ideas for fathers day celebrations. Our residents are high care and a lot of dementia residents. Regards Marian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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