Members Forum

When I download and print the St. Patrick's Day file it cuts off the bottom.
How can I prevent this?

My mother is 95 and is legally blind. One activity I have found that she loves and keeps her occupied is making a fleece blanket with tied knots. I prepare the fabric by cutting the strips around two pieces of fleece and she ties the knots around the outside edges. She makes them for her Great Grandchildren.

This site is my lifeline for work especially now as I need to reach out to so many isolated at home , keeping them happy and stimulated. Many thanks and keep up your wonderful ideas

We did some patchwork using paper.
Over the course of a couple of sessions, we painted the flowers (about 10cm square of white, 6 to an A4 page).
The next session we centred the flowers on a background page using glue.
Then the residents helped to choose four pieces to join together to make another square using sticky tape on the back.
Finally, I put the medium size squares together to make a large "quilt" to adorn a wall in our dining room.

Oh George how awful, it makes the job horrible.

Yes, its a very important question, high risks when lifestyle staff are left with large number of residents and no support.

YES! This is an awesome quiz. Thanks so much!

I feel poetry is not used enough in Aged Care: I would place on my daily program at least one poem to read before some activity.
It may not have been a significant poem for that day, but residents enjoyed it

Plus, looks good on your program
Kerry

Hi im a caregiver i love doing activities brand thing with my clients i just started to use this. Alot of stuff i can use. Need more in parkinsons activities. Anybody can help

my lifesavers

Brilliant and so short and sweet too.. Perfect to list any mood thanks again

Different Languages works well with our Lifestyle activities, acknowledging our residents from different cultures and reaching out to connect with them.

So happy to have joined and just finding my way around the activities... Loved reading these jokes and stories... Definitely so worth joining... Looking forward to getting stuck right in... Thank you

Hi. Have been reading the animal jokes and shared them with my family before printing. They haven’t stopped laughing. I love them and I always try them on my family before sharing with the clients.

Hey there!

Most printers have an option, "Scale: To Printable Area". If you're having trouble with any content being cut off that will generally fix it.

Let me know how you go :)

How do you print the word search without the bottom words cutting off?

This is a wonderful tool! Thank you

Great

My residents love the short stories, sometimes i just read them to them and then they actually come up with their own stories, and the jokes are really funny to them, especially the tongue twisters, we have fun with that one.

Herein lies the struggle, each employee gives what they can. Some give 45%, some give 80%, some give 110%. As a manager, recognizing what an employee is capable of giving on any given day. A casual employee may give 110% on a one day fill in, but give the residents 65% when given 2-3 weeks worth of steady work (or a position). I find it is not for lack of trying to come up with creative ideas, but too much full time causes energy to diminish - a complacency.
In addition, illnesses, medical leaves, and "sick time" awarded without coverage can cause those taking on extra duties or double duties stress and discouragement.
Perhaps this thread will not be posted, Please keep the views in mind for future articles.

Bahahahaha!!!! That's hilarious. Looking forward to facilitating this one. Thanks for the giggle
Cheers
Eryl AKA Pix. Activities Coordinator Western Australia

I would like to comment when I return home from work today. All your challenges are familiar. after reading Haley's article, I go to work and rethink how we plan and implement programs - particularly during these covid times.

That is such a great idea. And I would love to do this for our participants, but unfortunately we are a Non-profit organization and it would be very difficult to be able to do things like that individually with 32 participants. Also a suggestion which im not sure if anyone else does this, but every year we host a different themed Prom for them. We have food, dancing, raffles, and Prom King and Queen. All of their families are invites and they have such a good time and seeing them all Dressed up.

Fly swatters ordered from Amazon
Pack of balloons purchased from local shop
Stack of newspapers to use and roll of sticky tape to make bats
Cant wait to try this out ............
Some fab ideas for bats we have a couple of table tennis bats and I can visit our kitchec department too of course.
Steve

What a great idea. but do you have any examples of this?
sophie

Hi Pam, welcome! We hope your stay is enjoyable and long. February is a great month, with awesome celebrations that include World Radio Day, St. Valentine’s Day, World Radio Day, The Oscars, and many more activities.

I love this idea. Will try it with my readies they love a good joke and laugh.

What an awesome game to play. Can't wait to try it out with our readies this week. Am sure they are going to love it. Thanks for sharing

While giving care to one of your clients, what are the main aspects you look for to establish a personal history of your client and what is the approach of care you will provide to meet the clients need.

2. As a care assistant, hoew would you record information and findings and how would you assist these patients ,how woulds you share this information with others e.g superior,colleague, relative and residents herselfs
Mrs Borg suffers from diabetes melitus

Hey, I'm new I just join I need some ideals for February 2021

Thank you for sharing

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: The jokes on me!

I love creating my own crosswords I can make them easy or hard and I can have an extra activity to go with a theme or topic that I am presenting to our residents.

You are absolutely right Linda, I have had the same experience.

Hi There,
I don't know what part of the US you are in, but I know it is so difficult to keep activities going at the level we are used to during this time. We are taught to engage residents, get them out of their rooms, socialize, socials, parties, music groups, church groups, etc. We aren't able to do any of that now and for a lot of people it has been difficult to adjust. It took us a good couple of months to really get into the swing of things and establish a new norm. And yes, the residents do want to sit in their rooms. Think about why. They are scared too. For months they've been hearting about a terrible virus and their room/home is safe. I think we are all up for a major challenge to return to normal activities, whenever that will be.
Have you tried providing her with materials? Do you have tablets/iPads for use? There are TONS of things on this site you can use for one on one visits. We started a new program this month called "This Week In Music History", all info is taken from the GC, highlighting music events/songs from that week. You can use the tablet/iPad to play the songs for the residents. This opens up reminiscing, recall of song lyrics, etc.

I love your idea Cathy! going to try this out on miy residents !

I make it a point to put together a "formal" invitation for special
events or presentations. Makes the activity sound more special
and being from the "old school" they have a tendency to respond.

After talking about the different flowers and presenting them the big vase with mix flowers, this word search went very well. Lots of giggle and chats.

I am not a ‘ professional aromatherapist’ but the benefits of these amazing smells alone to a resident with dementia can be immediately beneficial through just smell alone. I myself can feel instantly less anxious or stressed if I have certain ‘smells’ around me. We are about to introduce massage therapy to the home I am managing now as I feel strongly that especially someone with mid to late stage dementia benefits so much from the two senses of touch and smell. We will obviously ensure a risk assessment is completed for each resident prior to carrying out any massage and check for any ‘dislike to a smell’ ‘irritation’ or other contraindications. We must always ensure that we are following instructions to ensure correct amounts are used etc. Thank you again for another valuable source of information on your site Solange and also Thankyou to Angela for all your information as an aromatherapist. Keep well keep safe

Hi Amy!

Oops sorry about that - we've just fixed the date so it now shows in February 5th :)

Just so you know, you can always click and drag both the icons, and the dates, and move them whereever you like, or remove them entirely if you don't want any specific ones.

Attached is an exxample of what I mean.

Let me know if there's anything else we can do :)

My residents love word searches. Thanks for making a hard and easy version so that more of them can do them.

Quick Question. I love the calendars and the icons for the recognized days. In February it says World Read Aloud day is on the 5th but it is actually on the 3rd is there anyway I can move that icon to the 3rd? I love these calendars. Looking forward to more backgrounds and options in the future.

To "roll" the die you shake the container and set it down. whatever number is facing up is your number

I have a staff member who came onto the team very excited and has lost momentum. I think it's a combination of pandemic burnout and possibly a few other things, but the activities have seemed to have been a bit lacking on her floor.

I have provided suggestions on activities and she always gives an excuse that she asks the residents and they say they would rather sit in their rooms. She always has the excuse that "the residents don't want to do anything". This particular floor has always been a bit challenging, but it is part of her responsibility to be a cheerleader for them and encourage them to get out and try something new. Anyone else experience a situation like this?

It sounds like an awesome idea!

Hy Carolyn, it seems to me that she is lacking enthusiasm. Lack of enthusiasm leads to a lack of attitude. Then again, it could be that she is just feeling temporarily out of depth with her tasks. It happens. - it is not easy to motivate residents. Perhaps if another staff member would help her to organize a group activity she would feel supported and change her frame of mind. After all, we all want to be proud of the work we do and be acknowledged for it. As you said the floor is challenging and she must be feeling drained and frustrated. If staff is not available perhaps a volunteer could help her out.

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Memory support: Adding a dimension to tactile stimulation to benefit aged care consumers

Name the flowers visuals are brilliant for all residents. They are a bright and cheerful activity especially during the present difficult time. This activity is a great group conversation stimulator.

Love it!

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Dice