An Activity for Residents Rights Week

Next week is Nursing Home Residents Rights Week(October 5-11)

Here is an activity you can do

Create a recipe for a good life

Super Mid Fall Activity Brain Boosters for Those with Dementia

More Ways to Keep the Mind of People with Alzheimer's Disease, Related Dementias, Long Term Care Residents, and Others, Active This Fall
By alzheimersideas, published Sep 24, 2008

As with the early fall activities and discussion topics, the ones for mid fall also stimulate the mind of those with Alzheimer's disease, related dementias and other long term care residentsKeeping these people engaged in activities and conversation help to slow their loss of function. Having them keep a positive attitude also is a must.

Mid fall activity topics include more about... read the whole article

Activities for Rosh Hashanah

Even though the article, Four Easy Ways to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with Loved Ones Who Have Dementia was written over a year ago, it still had some great activity suggestions for a Jewish person with dementia whether he/she lives at home or in long term care.

Carry on a family tradition

All families have something special they do during the high holidays. Of course, most families go to a synagogue. What about after that? Maybe you went to Aunt Betty's. Aunt Betty may no longer be around, but you can recreate the atmosphere that was there. Invite one or two understanding friends to help you with this. The memories of visiting Aunt Betty will be there

Related to this is talking about past experiences on Rosh Hashanah or other holidays.......read the whole article

Another post describing different ideas for Rosh Hashanah and other fall activities to follow

More About Making Music to Deal with Dementia

Medindia.com

Australian researchers have revealed in a new study that dementia sufferers may be helped by music therapy.

They theorize that people whose memories are failing may be able to recall certain things if they hear a song from their youth.

Dr Felicity Baker, a senior lecturer from the University of Queensland (UQ) School of Music, is looking to conduct a study of 100 volunteer couples who will allow music therapists to visit their homes and show how to use music to increase communications.

"Thousands of people care for partners with dementia and take on a lot of burden, which means they are more prone...read the whole article

Making music to deal with dementia

UQ NEWS online

Dr Felicity Baker, from UQ's School of Music, is investigating how music therapy might improve partner satisfaction by providing opportunities for the sharing of memories associated with certain songs.

The project will involve having a music therapist go into the home and show the spouse how they can use music as a way of creating meaningful experiences with their partner with Alzheimer's or another dementia.

People with dementia have difficulty with short term memory and lose the ability to communicate verbally. However, research shows that they really respond to music because it taps into automatic memory

When they listen to a piece of music that they have used in their past, it can stimulate the recall of those memories, which then helps them to talk about those memories which then helps with interaction.
.....read the whole story

Top Early Fall Activity Brain Boosters for Those with Dementia

Associated Content
September 20
There are many types of activities that can be done in the fall with those who have dementia. Many of the activities can be done with other long term care residents as well. Remember any activity that makes people think will go along way in slowing the decline of dementia. In addition sparking conversation as these suggested topics do, also helps to keep a dementia person's mind active.

In part one, suggested activities are related to school, trees, harvests, and apples. All of these subjects are things that are associated with early fall

School begins in the fall.
There are all sorts of activities related to going to school. The song School Days is a nice way to begin an activity based on going to school. You can also
Talk about favorite school subjects
Have a spelling bee. (You would be....Read the whole article

Community-Based Participatory Research in Disability and Long-Term Care Policy: A Case Study

redOrbit
By Minkler, Meredith Hammel, Joy; Gill, Carol J; Magasi, Susan; Vasquez, Victoria Breckwich; Bristo, Marca; Coleman, Diane
From 1997 to 2003, Illinois was spending approximately 80% of its long-term care budget on nursing homes and institutional care and was facing significant challenges to its long-term care delivery and the need to rebalance toward community-based supports for people with disabilities. A case-based program evaluation was done to analyze Moving Out of the Nursing Home to the Community, a community- based participatory research (CBPR) project. The Chicago-based project documented the experiences and concerns of 200 disabled people attempting to transition out of nursing homes to least restrictive community living, actively involving participants in an empowerment and systems and policy change program. The authors describe the partnership between the University of Illinois at Chicago and two centers for independent living; the project's research, policy-related goals, and activities; and the outcomes realized. Barriers and facilitating factors to long-term care systems change are described, as are implications for other CBPR partnerships focused on disability public policy. Keywords: community-based participatory research; disability policy; long- term care policy; community living; nursing homes; community integration; community participation

When the Supreme Court issued the Olmstead v. L.C. decision in July of 1999, it challenged states to provide services to people with disabilities "in the most integrated setting appropriate" to their needs (Olmstead v. L.C., 1999). Although many states have moved away from institutionalization and toward community-based supports, a number of states, including Illinois, have only begun the systems change needed to rebalance long-term care to offer real choice and access to community living with supports. The number of people with disabilities...read the whole article

This article is extremely interesting, maybe a little long. Let me know what you think

A touch of compassion

Activities directors have you ever contacted a group like this?
Twice a week, patients at the Barbara McInnis House, a healthcare facility in Boston, are treated to an unusual kind of therapy. They have their hands massaged. Most of them are recovering from a serious illness or injury or fighting a life-threatening disease, but when the time comes for their “hand rub,” high-tech medicine is put aside in favor of a soothing, intimate connection.

For a quarter hour, they sit with a graduate student from Simmons College who has been trained in hand massage. Sometimes they sit in silence; sometimes in quiet conversation, as classical music plays in the background....read the whole post

Need volunteers

Activities directors are always looking for volunteers. this blog Dancer blog has some interesting thoughts.

I posted on this blog. Hopefully it will help get a volunteer or two into my facility
Susan's post

Leave a comment with your ideas

Care homes providing best activities to be rewarded

Caring Business
Sept 16, 2008
Innovative care homes are to be rewarded at a gala party at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea tonight.

Prizes will be given out to the five winners of the National Association for Providers of Activities for Older People (NAPA) national 'Breath of Air' challenge by Baroness Neuberger.

The five top prize winners, out of 350 entrants, are Ashley House, Berrystead Nursing Home, Marlborough Lodge, Wellesley Road and Whiteley Village. The overall winner, to be revealed on the night, will receive a cheque for £3,000 towards activities with an outdoor theme for their residents.

The winners demonstrated a creative approach to enabling older people to enjoy the outside. One of the care home finalists helped Harry, an ex farmer in his eighties to have the pleasure of mucking out the stables. Another care home organised some star-gazing in the garden at....read the whole article

Does anyone know a place that does this in the US?

Alzheimer's and massage therapy

for an excellent visual on how to give a great hand massage to someone who has Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia click here

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand word

Thank you Margaret Arlt, Activities Director

Margaret is the activities director at Kentmere Nursing Care Center. One of her staff members used the photo on the right. Margaret devised some questions.The staff member used the questions to help the residents write a story about the photo The residents enjoyed the activity and will do it again.If you missed the story in Activity Director Today click here
Margaret and her residents will be receiving a free copy of Adorable Photographs of Our BabyMeaningful, Mind-Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones, and Involved Professionals,flash cards
Thank you Margaret
For more information leave a reply to this post

Activities directors and residents accept visitors with open arms

Residents of long term care facilities always welcome visits from kind people from the outside. It also makes the job of the activities director easier Here is a case in point
A Little Blood and Guts Does a Body Good
September 11, 2008

One Wednesday night a month, The Paseo Gathering commits to some sort of community outreach, and this past Wednesday we made our first visit to Grace Living Center, a local nursing home. When I made the arrangements with the Center’s activities director, she recommended an agenda for the evening and said she was looking forward to it.

We arrived at the nursing home lugging bottles of soda and fingernail polish and a small selection of movies; all the makings for a cozy movie night complete with popcorn. From my home collection, I had picked a couple of movies that I figured would be perfect for those nice, sedate, elderly folks who had entered their twilight years and were happy to shoot the breeze until their “time” had come. I couldn’t help feeling that feeling; the one that says, “I’m going to make someone happy, and that makes me happy.” (I’m still not completely sure how to “do good” without feeling a little proud that I’m doing good. Quite a conundrum, I know.)

One of the women who joined with me also brought along a few movies...read the whole artivle

What can you learn from Susan Berg about Alzheimer's disease and other dementias?

Sept 11
Author and Alzheimer's and dementia specialist,Susan Berg has just started a blog, htttp://dementia.today.com She is going to discuss everything about Alzheimer's disease and other dementias,after sharing the basics with her readership.Visit often

click here to read all about this blog

Late stage dementia and activities

Two great activities for those in late stage dementia, agitated residents and low functioning residents are music and hand massages

click here to read this

Free product opportunity for activities directors and others

Have you seen the article, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words in the September Activity Director Today
The article discusses how to do a creative writing activity with dementia long term care residents as well as others.
I would like to give the first two people who try the activity and email me the story created, a free set of Adorable Photographs of Our Baby-Meaningful Mind Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones and Involved Professionals , flash cards.
You can use the picture on the Alzheimers ideas website ' your own picture, or I can email you another picture from the flash card set
Please email alzheimersideas@gmail.com if you have any questions
I look forward to seeing your submissions