Forum Discussion

Hi Kymberly, there are some activities that sometimes alert the interest of clients and don't need a lot of supervision.

Depending on stage of dementia you could chose from these activities:

Word Search, Picture Puzzles, Sorting Colour and Matching Shapes Games, Spinning Tops, Pairing and Sorting, cutting pictures from magazines (safety scissors required), Fiddle Boxes, Doll Therapy, Speciality books (cars, boats, caravans, trains), Colouring, Scratch & Sniff stickers, Spot the Differences.

All you do is show them and perhaps start the activity for them to continue.

Regarding the men not wanting to do anything; it is so true, memory clients are forever nodding on and off during the day. On the other hand, excessive nodding during the day (falls asleep while watching TV, reading a newspaper, or sitting on a sofa or during a conversation) could be caused by disturbed sleep and may be treatable. Inform clinical staff of your concerns.

Best wishes.

Hi , I am currently working as a lifestyle assistant. Can anyone please give me idea related to themed fiddle boxes.
Thanks

https://www.goldencarers.com/sensory-boxes-other-ideas-to-stimulate-the-senses/4380/
https://www.goldencarers.com/comments/7509/
I think these articles will help you with themed fiddle boxes
Kirandeep
If you need more ideas let me know

Hi could you help me out, I am the Lifestyle Co-ordinator for a 81 bed eldery care home. We have two floors in the main building (upstairs nursing and end of life) for 30 people, downstairs 30 residents and a separate dementia unit for 20 residents. We have 2 full time activities and 1 part time (2 days a week).
I introduced different clubs I.e gardening g, cooking, arts and crafts at different locations around the house for each floor to take part in. Which has worked. However the dementia unit want us to do 4 hours a day in there unit as they feel they need more going on over there on a daily basis. How would you co-ordinate the 3 units, would you have an allocated person on each floor or continue to mix them up so they can enjoy like minded people and different locations. I'm feeling frustrated as I feel we need more on our team, but that is not possible at the moment. Thoughts and ideas please. Thank you.

Does your facility use hospice care because they could be very helpful in the end of life unit??
Often hospice will offer you extra activities so you will use their service
They could also help on the dementia unit because I’m sure some of those folks are end of life even though they are not on the end-of-life unit
Another idea is to get volunteers
Often family members are willing of asked
However they really cannot take the place of staff but could fill in our help out the staff
I would use one of your full-time staff members on the dementia unit
Do they want four hours a day seven days a week??
I think CNA’s could help on the dementia unit if given proper training

Do you have entertainment??

I found that most residents like entertainment so residents from all units could
participate
Also most residents like to engage in religious activities and often the church may be able to provide you with volunteers
This article may help you with spiritual activities
https://www.goldencarers.com/10-spiritual-activities-for-people-with-alzheimers-disease/4271/
It’s amazing how many free things you could get for your facility

https://www.goldencarers.com/optimal-activities---marketing-fundraising-sourcing-free-resources/5105/
I know this is a lot of material to digest
if you have anymore questions please let me know

Hi Donna,yes, in an ideal world you would have your activity staff increased. Failing that, you will need to recruit a couple of volunteers. Having volunteers will leave with time to dedicate to the dementia unit. The volunteers would have to be trained and supervised for a couple of weeks before being able to lend a hand. You still are expected to coordinate the three units but your workload would be less.Take a look at the following link to get some ideas on how to recruit volunteers. I wish you all the best.
https://www.goldencarers.com/how-to-establish-a-volunteer-program-/4

Thank you for your kind suggestions it really has helped. We do already have entertainers coming into the home where the whole house comes together and our local church service comes once a month and gives a service in house which is popular.
I will definitely find out more with respect of hospice services as I wasnt aware of that and agree volunteers would take the pressure of.
Can I say that Golden Carers have helped me on so many ways to date, it is a fantastic resource and gives reassurance to know we are one of many activity organisations who can sometimes feel quite alone at difficult times. Many thanks for your suggestions.