Heather

That is a great program by the sounds.
Tai chi is another fantastic exercise program. I had a Tai chi tutor who is trained through Australian Academy of Tai Chi. She came in twice weekly and within a month I had noticed an improvement in balance and flexibility.

love the tongue twisters. More Please!!

For xmas we cut circles of cardboard, white or theme colour. use fancy edge sissors for a better effect. SIZE, ours were about the size of a dinner plate. Cut the cetre out so that the circle of cardboard is about 7-8cm across. We then get the residents to glue on all sorts of appropriate pieces for the occasion. Xmas, we cut small pictures and words etc off old xmas cards, At the end put blobs of glue on the wreath and sprinkle on glitter. Punch a hole in the top and thread in a piece of ribbon. tie a bow and hang on the door. these are very effective and look great.

On all saints day we had a short service, outside, taken by a local minister, and then released a helium balloon for each person who had died in the facility during the previous year. Also if staff had lost a loved one they would be included in releasing a balloon. Very emotional but a beautiful way of support family members.
Heather

We have a pampering day at least once a year and we get staff and volunteers involved. We have 3 or 4 foot spas going and then give foot and hand massages, someone painting fingernails, a hair dresser doing blow waves, a local masseuse doing neck and shoulder massages and some times we get one of the girls from the local pharmacy to come in for an hour and do facials. Some times we even got some of the local church ladies to come and do some flower arranging while everything else is going on. This day is always a great success. Takes a little time organising.

We need to all get together Michael, and work on giving ourselves a new title, something that can be uniform. I will mention it at our next conference and get some feed back. (not until August)
So come on, lets get some ideas rolling in and then perhaps we can vote on it ( for fun)
Heather Bay of Plenty NZ

Michael, does activities co ordinator appeal to you? We sometimes use that term in NZ, rather than a D/T
Heather