7 Top New Year’s Resolutions For Nursing Home Residents

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Sadly, many people think of nursing home residents as simply biding their time. But everyone deserves opportunities to grow and learn, no matter what their age.

This week, I hope you’ll help your residents explore their goals and dreams, then create a couple of resolutions for the new year. Here are some possible categories as well as tips you can use to help your residents keep those resolutions.

• Exercise more

This common New Year’s resolution offers a myriad of benefits to nursing home residents. These include improved circulation, fewer falls, increased endurance, more flexibility, and improved mood—just to name a few.

You can make exercise fun by offering sample classes featuring a variety of exercise options. Consider chair yoga, balance exercises, dance, stretching, strength training, or a walking group. Let the residents choose their favorites, then offer them regularly.

This is a great time to recruit college students to help. Often, students majoring in exercise science, physical therapy, nursing, or gerontology can fulfill class requirements by planning and leading exercise programs in nursing homes.

•  Deepen their faith

Sometimes residents lose contact with their faith community when they enter the nursing home. Find out who wants to get back in touch with their home church, then contact the congregation for help. Parish nurses can often assist with communication.

Congregations might provide rides to services or special events. If that’s not possible, many churches offer services by live-streaming or podcasts. Frequently, they’ll also provide volunteers to visit or provide communion for residents.

You can also help organize a weekly Bible study or prayer group for interested residents. Another possibility is to provide a plan so a resident can read through the entire Bible in one year. Audiobooks of devotions or scripture readings are also good options.

• Take up a new hobby

Ask residents to tell you what hobbies they’ve considered taking up but just never got around to it. Then provide supplies and opportunities for them to explore these new experiences in 2019.

You can offer ideas such as birdwatching, gardening, painting, dancing, or genealogy. Scout troops are a great source of extra volunteers, as they can often earn badges by helping residents with their hobbies.

Community groups are also eager to help. For example, I’m aware of a garden club that uses a room at a nursing home for their monthly meetings. In return, they help residents with special gardening projects around the facility.

• Check something off the bucket list

Invite each of your residents to make a list of wishes for the upcoming year. It could be something they’ve always wanted to do but never had the opportunity. Or it could be something they’ve done before but would like to do one more time.

Pick one wish from each resident’s list and do all you can to make that dream come true. In my experience, nursing home residents’ wishes tend to be fairly simple and inexpensive.

Community groups and businesses are usually eager to help when they hear about residents’ wishes. There are also national groups that can help make wishes come true. One example is the Twilight Wish Foundation.

• Renew old friendships

Today’s technology offers so many opportunities for residents to connect with old friends. You can help residents locate friends they’ve lost track of over the years, then find out how they wish to communicate.

One option is to help residents write old-fashioned letters. Or you can offer access to email. If they feel comfortable with the concept, you can even set up visits via Skype or FaceTime.

This is the perfect time to invite high school or college students to volunteer. They can teach your residents all about social media and other technologies.

• Challenge the brain

If residents decide to improve their brainpower over the next year, you can provide many resources. Examples include crossword puzzles, Sudoku, word searches, or trivia games. Residents can do them independently or as a group.

Reading is another excellent option. Residents might volunteer to read to visually impaired residents, or they can read to children in the onsite childcare center.

It’s also fun to play challenging board games. Better yet, arrange tournaments such as checkers, bridge, dominoes, or chess.

Be sure to check out educational programs, too. Many colleges allow seniors to attend classes at no charge. Free online classes are also available at sites such as Khan Academy or through MOOCs.

• Help other people

As I mentioned in a recent article, performing acts of kindness does just as much good for the giver as it does for the receiver. If your residents resolve to help other people over the next year, you’ll want to check out my monthly posts where I’ll share lots of creative ideas.

I hope you’ll encourage residents to document their New Year’s resolutions. Then check in periodically to see how they’re doing and if they need any additional resources. It will be exciting to see what goals they reach in the new year!