Enhancing the Lives of Nursing Home Residents One Volunteer at a Time
Someone posted this terrific video on LinkedIn the other day. I hope you’ll take just 3 minutes out of your day to watch it.
Isn’t this a fun idea? But, I’ll bet you’re wondering what this video has to do with nursing homes.
Well, I think it would be a hoot to invite a group of residents to load up your facility van, then go out and do what these people did. Residents would love this opportunity to brighten someone’s day, and I know they would enjoy being a part of a big surprise.
It’s so important for our residents to experience fun and laughter just like the rest of us. That’s why I like to share little known holidays for your residents to celebrate. This month let’s look at activities for National Wiggle Your Toes Day that’s coming up on August 6.
Create a foot spa day and pamper those hard-working feet. One of our activity staff set this up a few months ago and the residents loved it. I was surprised by how many men were eager to participate! (Of course, you’ll want to check with the nurse to be sure a resident doesn’t have any medical contradictions to these services.)
I’m always on the lookout for news articles that I believe will be of interest to my blog readers. Recently, something that’s showing up over and over again is news about the MIND diet.
When we hear the word “diet” we think of weight loss. But this diet is meant to help keep our brains healthy as we age.
First, you need to know that I’m not one to jump onto the latest fad diet. But after researching the MIND diet, I truly believe it’s something worth considering. I started following the MIND diet about 3 weeks ago. Today I’ll share more information about this eating plan, as well as my experience with it.
Several months ago, I published a post about Understanding the Dying Process in which I mentioned a program at our nursing home called Garden Angels. A reader recently asked for more details about our program, and I’m happy to share that information with you today.
Someone at our nursing home came up with the name Garden Angels several years ago, but there are similar programs across the country. We are simply a group of volunteers who keep vigil at the bedside of residents who are actively dying.
We hope that a dying resident will always have a family member or friend at their bedside when they leave this life. However, this is not always possible.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that I post activity ideas at least a couple of times each month. Recently, I received a question from a nursing home volunteer. He asked if I can provide more information about how to adapt activities for residents living in memory care units.
I believe nearly any activity is adaptable for people living with dementia. How to do this depends upon the interests and abilities of the individual resident. With this in mind, I decided to share a few general principals for creating memory care activities.