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
Creative Pursuits That Improve Quality of Life
Cooking Activities for Puréed and Mechanical Soft Diets
Cooking Activities for Puréed and Mechanical Soft Diets
Forum
Here are some other ideas for a monthly birthday party for your residents. Every month has special days associated with it. I talk about these special days discussing facts about them and asking the residents questions about them. Of course, we cheer for those giving the correct answer. I also find songs related to the special days and alternate songs with discussions.
During the month I pass out homemade, resident made or computer generated cards about a particular subject occurring that month with several questions about the topic. I invite residents to answer the questions with space provided on the card. Then I and other staff members collect the cards. During the party I have several residents pick a winning card from those that have been turned in. The more residents that turn in the cards, the more prizes I give out. I also give out certificates to those who turned in a card but did not win a prize
I have a hanging pocket organizer hanging on a wall in a central location with these special cards and various other independent activities the residents can do when no activity staff is around.
Anyway back to the party. We always serve the cake and ice cream last because it seems like once the residents have something to eat, they want to leave.
I find that I can fill up an hour of time pretty easily with this strategy. I then can have entertainment on another day thus stretching my activity budget.