Member Profile:

Susan

Activity Director From Nevada, United States


About Susan: Susan Berg is a freelance writer, retired healthcare professional, retired Activity Director and current writer for several senior care e-magazines with more than 20 years of experience working with Senior Citizens and eight years experience writing for a number of publications. She is the author of a book for those with dementia and their caregivers. Susan has two blogs about activities for seniors and information vital to all wanting to know about dementia. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and North Shore Community College.

Senior Citizens
Susan is an expert on senior citizen issues. She is currently a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant(COTA). In this role, she has worked with senior citizens. Susan is an expert on adapting and modifying activities so that seniors can participate in them. She spent twenty years as an Activity Director in nursing homes. She devised, planned, coordinated, and facilitated stimulating activity programming. Also she designed a program for homebound senior citizens. Currently, Susan shares her knowledge about senior activities on one of her blogs.

Dementia

Susan is also an expert on dementia and related issues. She is a Certified Dementia Practitioner(CPD). She has participated in numerous workshops, seminars and alike where she has gained much knowledge. Her work as an Activity Director and COTA has given her much knowledge and experience in relating to individuals with dementia. Susan is passionate about sharing her knowledge. She is hopeful that people will do what they can to prevent or at least slow down dementia in themselves or loved ones. Susan has shared many tips on how to prevent dementia or slow it down on her other blog.

Feel free to visit and comment at either of Susan’s blogs at
http://activitiesdirector.blogspot.com
http://dementiaviews.blogspot.com

28 Activities


3498 Comment

Susan 28th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Forum

You need to know what she likes and how you can adapt what she likes to her abilities
You can sing together even if she doesn’t know the words she can ham with you or just listen to music
You can read stories to her such as chicken soup for the soul stories because they are short and upbeat there are also other short stories here at Golden Carers
https://www.goldencarers.com/short-stories/
Make it as interactive as possible another words read a short portion of the story and then ask a yes or no question about what you just read
If she likes trivia you can ask a question and then give her a choice of two answers and let her pick the one she thinks is right
If she used to like word searches you can ask her
If she used to like word searches you can ask her to help you make one
Use a large grid and ask her what topic she wants to do the word search about
Again giving her a choice of two is a good idea
Then you can help her think of words giving her a choice of two if necessary
After you put the words in the red ask her about other letters that she wants to put in the grid
Giving her a choice of two again
When you are done you can make copies of the WORDsearch and distribute them to other residents
Here is an example of a grid you can use
https://www.goldencarers.com/blank-word-search-grid-for-residents/5160/
You could use a grid that has the spaces if necessary
Let me know if you need more ideas or further explanations
Susan 27th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Forum

We had several angel trees
We had a church who actually had the tree called it a giving tree where they hung angels with the residents first name and then congregants picked an angel and bought a gift for this resident
And another year
We had a tree in the facility where we hung angels with residents names and hopefully each staff member picked a name and brought this resident a gift

The angels were made out of paper
You really can’t for the staff members to buy a present
If there were residents who did not have someone buy them a gift we bought them a gift

It is time consuming But worth it because it made the residents very happy
We had a volunteer Santa come in to actually hand out gifts

One year we had a telephone line where children could call the facility and talk to a resident our staff member about what they wanted

That was fun for the residents and the community it’s a great PR activity for your facility
If you want more details let me know
Susan 26th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Forum

What a great idea
We have done it on a smaller scale if you did not have the room
This works pretty well because it seems like the residents love horse racing
Susan 25th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Forum

Good idea Andrea
Thank you for sharing
Susan 25th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Dreidel Game

This dreidel game is the specially good for those with physical and mental disabilities
https://www.goldencarers.com/adapted-dreidel-game/5312/
Susan 25th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Dreidel Game

I am glad this website is so useful to you I agree that it Is a blessing
Susan 25th Nov 2019 Activity Director

Forum

Hi Jane
I’m not from the UK but this might be a good question to ask those in the golden Carers Facebook group
https://www.goldencarers.com/activities-for-seniors-facebook-group/4782/
Susan 23rd Nov 2019 Activity Director

Reminiscing: How to Create a Memory Board

Sounds great Karine
Help