How Chaplains Help Nursing Home Residents

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

AC Content

Nursing homes should have a chaplain who is knowledgeable in counseling for the elderly population. Quite a few folks that live in these places suffer from grief, frustrations, and pain. Nursing home chaplains can help people needing help in these areas. The chaplain can establish a dialog between the local churches and the residents at a nursing home.

A variety of religious practices can be enhanced with the help of a chaplain.

First the chaplain can meet with the resident's one on one to visit, counsel and comfort each resident in immediate need.

The chaplain can facilitate monthly religious services for all denominations of residents living there. Most elderly folks feel that religion is extremely important. Some folks are set in their ways and want to attend the traditional services of their faith. Others believe that there is one God so attending all types is desirable to them. Many are eager to learn about faiths and religious practices other than their own.

Local churches may have volunteers who are willing to conduct services traditional in nature that last thirty or forty-five minutes.

The chaplain can....read all of How Chaplains Help Nursing Home Residents.

Why you Should Recognize Volunteers

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity




AC Content

National Volunteer Week is in April.. This is an ideal time to honor your volunteers in some way This week is about recognizing those individuals who have engaged in their community. It's about showing the nation that we meet our challenges not as isolated individuals but.....read all about volunteers 

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity



 Person centered activities take into account the whole person. You should consider everything from persons' interests, backgrounds, likes, past family dynamics, limitations, special behaviors, and cultures.

Involve family, friends, staff caregivers and, of course the person in question in this process. Sometimes careful observation can give you clues as to what a person's preferences are. Sometimes things change from day to day.

Your workforce should be a unit of highly creative caring individuals. with unique characteristics such as: creative, quick thinking, adaptive and modification skills, exceptionally positive attitude, enthusiastic, flexible, self esteem boosting, intuitive, and extremely patient. These are sometimes difficult attributes to maintain but this kind of staff or caregivers can best provide person centered care.

Your staff or caregiver should be able to take ordinary activities and turn them into extraordinary events. Again this is not easy to accomplish but qualified staff members are able to do this.

Examples of this might be a ball game where use of a wide variety of balls with many special qualities that certain individuals that are part of the group may especially enjoy. Some people like soft balls. Some like balls with easy to catch adaptations. Some smile when they see highly colored balls.

Balls and other sensory items can be used for unique purposes such as: grounding a low functioning resident

Another person centered activity is.....read all of

How Can You Use Person Centered Activities

Improve Communication For Dementia Victims With Storytelling

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

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

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

SIFY

A University of Missouri study has found that creative storytelling improves communication skills and has a positive affect on people with dementia.
Lorraine Phillips, John A. Hartford of the Sinclair School of Nursing, found that participation in TimeSlips, a drug-free, creative storytelling intervention, improved facilitated positive emotions in persons with dementia.
TimeSlips is a nationally recognized storytelling program for people with dementia that encourages participants to use their imaginations to create short stories as a group.
Rather than relying on factual recall, participants respond verbally to humorous images presented by facilitators who record the responses and read narratives to further develop or end the stories.
"TimeSlips provides rich, engaging opportunities for persons with dementia to interact with others while exercising their individual strengths," said Phillips.
"It encourages participants to be actively involved and to experience moments of recognition, creation and celebration. Meaningful activities, such as TimeSlips, promote positive social environments that are central to person-centered care," he said.
The storytelling program is an easy and affordable activity for long-term care facilities to implement and allows caregivers to interact with multiple residents at a time, Phillips said.
"TimeSlips offers a stimulating alternative to typical activities in long-term care facilities. It is an effective and simple option for care providers, especially those who lack resources or skills required for art, music or other creative interventions," said Phillips.
The study has been published in the journal Nursing Research. (ANI)

Flower songs

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

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Get your subscription to Activity Director Today's e magazine

Here are 7 flower songs

flower drum song, if you wore a tulip, my wild irish rose. sweet rosie o grady, tiptoe through the tulips, my blossom fell, yellow rose of texas, bicycle built for two

Can you name any more?

Get Ready for National Activity Professionals Week 2011

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

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

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

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

January 16-22 is National Activity Professionals Week

Here is a nice poem courtesy of

Cynthia McLean
Social Service Director
Catholic Care Center
Wichita, KS
 and
Alternaive Solutions in Long Term Care

You Light Up My Life

It's Monday morn, the week is before me
Waiting for something to fill up my day,
I'm tired of TV, don't want to nap now
Alone with my thoughts, but then you come along.
And you light up my life,
You take me out to celebrate,
You light up my day
With friends and fun and games.
Red hats and tea, Bingo and music,
Art, crafts and socials; no time to be bored
Laughing and singing, friends all here with me
Your gentle grace, and your smiling face.
And you light up my life,
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days
And help me feel at home
I'm not alone
With you at my side
Cause you--you light up my life.

AULD LANG SYNE

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

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities

Here is a dementia music activity

The song, "Auld Lang Syne," is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scottish tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."

 Here are the lyrics

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!