Sunday, June 29, 2014

Making a simple clown hat

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

About.com
 
Materials Needed:
Instructions:
Cut a large triangle shape out of card stock or poster board. Make sure the bottom edge of the triangle shape can fit around your head. The bottom edge should be rounded and the top point should be cut off. Experiment with it until you can roll it into a cone shape to form the hat.
Lay your triangle on your work surface and decorate it using crayons, markers or paint. Once decorated, roll the paper triangle into a cone, fit the bottom edge around your head and staple or tape the sides together.Staple or tape both ends of a piece of elastic onto the bottom edge of the hat so it fits under the chin. For a finishing touch, glue a pom-pom to the point of the hat.

Friday, June 27, 2014

The activities challenge - forecasts for nursing home activities professionals

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be


Kathy Hughes

Residents - and all of long-term care - are changing. And so will the activities profession

Twenty years ago nursing home residents could remember a time when there wasn't electricity, when the horse and buggy was the mode of transportation and a man on the moon was still the "man in the moon." Now our residents fall more into the group just preceding the "baby boomers"; they're accustomed to and comfortable with the new technologies. Their memories and leisure skills are different from those of people who entered old age 20 years ago.

A simple bingo game that was offered for socialization just 10 years ago isn't quite enough now; many of our residents want to go to the nearest casino and play "high stakes" bingo. For them, going out to lunch, means spending the day at the movies and eating in a food court at the local mall. Shopping no longer needs to be done at the five-and-dime, but can also be done on the 24-hour Home Shopping Channel. Tatting - a highly intricate form of lacemaking - has now made room for residents who learned how to knit on a machine. Gentlemen living at the facility would rather watch "Monday Night Football" than get together, drink coffee and have the newspaper read to them.

Activities will become smaller; more emphasis will be placed on specific group programs that serve to educate rather than entertain. Individual activities, with two or three residents gathered in an area to learn a new craft or to learn all about Sony PlayStations, will be the norm. Residents will opt to e-mail their great-grandchildren from their rooms or to order holiday gifts via their televisions

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Reminiscing and dementia:The importance of objects

Activities directors and other healthcare professionals here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Benevolant Society

Reminiscing Kits

Reminiscing kits are a great resource. When creating kits keep the following in

mind:
Older people should be familiar with most or all of the items in the kits.
The objects need to be carefully selected so that they relate to specific The objects need to be age and experience appropriate and safe for older Don’t forget about kit maintenance by replacing all objects in the kits after Reminiscing Manual version 1,
Creating a Kit
Follow these tips for creating a reminiscing kit:
Ask the experts: talk with the older people about what is important to them Start with a theme: center your kit around a similar experience or activity
Select an era: what year or vintage is appropriate for the older person
Remember the senses
Other types of activities/ reminiscing materials
Where to get resources: many items can be donate or found in second Make the container part of the theme and think about how it will be used. Write a help sheet for the kit: leave some prompts for conversation or
Sensory rooms.
Sensory stimulation, multi sensory environments.
Soft toys, life-like dolls and toys.
Sensory boxes.
Cooking/ Art.
Other opportunities to reminisce
Tactile boards / mats/ wall sculptures.
There are many ways to reminisce. Using objects is a powerful way of
touching the senses and stimulating memories however using themes in
conversation during everyday activities can also provide positive engagement
with an older person.
One researcher notes it is about engaging older people throughout the day
with positive interaction during routine care (Spencer and Joyce, 2000, p 20).
Every day activities to use reminiscence
Meal times.
Bed times.
Bath/shower times.
Morning/ afternoon tea and supper time.
When assisting someone to walk to another area.
When giving medication.
Themes
Reminiscing Manual version 1,
Below are a number of themes you could use in conversation during daily
tasks. These types of questions can be useful to build up a personal history
‘life history’ of the older person or as a way of allowing the person to express
themselves.
I was born
My mother
My father
My brothers and sisters
Other relatives
First memories
My childhood home
Favourite rooms, things
In the backyard
Our neighbours
Our childhood games
Childhood pets
Our town
Childhood disasters
Childhood illness
Childhood fears
Childhood songs, street games
Family life
Sundays
Toys and treats
Christmas day
Favourite food
Heroes
Radio, music
Turning 21
Cars
The great depression
During the war
Child, other commitments
Love, marriage
Work
Special friends
Hurdles, heartbreaks
Regrets


Providing a focus for reminiscing can be best achieved through objects. The
objects are usually collected within a theme and can be used as a structured
activity to support reminiscing. Objects can also be left with an older person
for them to sort through and engage with.
One researcher notes multi sensory triggers help compensate for different
cognitive impairments and objects which can be touched, handled and passed
around seem to be particularly important (Coaten, 2001, p20).

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Action poem about family for those with dementia and others


Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information


Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,


Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire


Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be




Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two



Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

Family

Our family comes
From many homes,
Our hair is straight,
Our hair is brown,
Our hair is curled,
Our eyes are blue,
Our skins are different
Colors, too.
We're big and small,
We're young and old,
We're short and tall.
We're everything
That we can be
And still we are
A family.

We laugh and cry,
We work and play,
We help each other
Every day.
The world's a lovely
Place to be
Because we are
A family.



What is a family?
Who is a family?
One and another makes two is a family!
Baby and father and mother: a family!
Parents and sister and brother: a family!

All kinds of people can make up a family
All kinds of mixtures can make up a family
What is a family?
Who is a family?
The children that lived in a shoe is a family!
A pair like a kanga and roo is a family!
A calf and a cow that go moo is a family!

All kinds of creatures can make up a family
All kinds of numbers can make up a family
What is a family?
Who is a family?
Either a lot or a few is a family;
But whether there's ten or there's two in your family,
All of your family plus you is a family!


Mary Ann Hoberman