Enhancing the Lives of Nursing Home Residents One Volunteer at a Time
Today I’m sharing a beautiful example of people having fun at work. It involves a video produced by a group of residents and staff at the Golden Life senior living community in Canada. Check out this great spoof on Pharrell Williams’ version of the song “Happy.” You can’t possibly watch this video and stay in a foul mood!
Today I’m excited to tell you about another fundraiser that works very well at our nursing home. As I mentioned in my previous post about yard sales, it’s always great to have money available to buy those little extras for your residents.
Did you know that an organization called Independent Sector calculated the value of a volunteer at $29.95 per hour? When I first read that figure, I thought it seemed high. But let’s consider the fact that volunteers don’t receive a salary, insurance benefits, or paid time off. I think you’ll agree that volunteers are worth at least that much!
Besides the monetary value, let’s look at other ways volunteers benefit our nursing homes:
Animals have been living at our nursing home for many years. Our littlest residents included dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, gerbils, fish, and even chinchillas. A group of employees and volunteers care for each type of animal. Several years ago, I was on the rabbit team. We made sure the two bunnies had food & water, brought them outside to play, and cleaned their cages.
One of our residents (I’ll call her Mary) grew very fond of one rabbit (I’ll call him Charlie). Mary’s room was right across the hall from Charlie’s cage. She spent many hours talking to him, petting him, and feeding him treats. Whenever I cleaned Charlie’s cage, Mary always appeared out of nowhere to supervise and to make sure I did everything correctly.
Does it ever seem like health department regulations take some fun out of activities involving cooking or baking? While these rules are necessary to help prevent food-borne illness, the gloves and hairnets don’t feel like home. I find this especially true in our memory care unit.
We’ve discovered a few fun cooking activities to get around these regulations. One of our favorites is making dog treats to send home for employees’ pets. While we’ve tried several recipes, this one is always the favorite: