Warm, melted chocolate. Fresh, tarty strawberries. Hmmm....
Lost in thought but oh so worth it. Fondue has made it's comeback. From About.com, I learn that fondue is very popular in the fifties, sixties, and seventies at dinner parties. Without devouring a heavy meal, yet creating a similar ambiance, we replicated our own Melting Pot at a reasonable budget.
Making fondue is worthwhile, fun, and definitely a team activity. For those who does not like chocolate, we also had melted caramel. Our fondue pots were brought in by staff. It is easy to borrow from a family member or friend if you do not have one. Most sets can be purchased for under $20.
On the dipping side, we have bananas, apples, strawberries, cookies, marshmallows, and other snacks that are easily found at a local supermarket. Here is a recipe for the chocolate found at Recipezaar.com: http://www.recipezaar.com/Chocolate-Fondue-23054.
Remember that the chocolate can be hot so cool the food a little after it has been dipped. Try to divide everything evenly between clients so each person can have a little taste of each item.
http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/fonduehistory.htm
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Going in Pairs
A question I got the other day was, why do women often go to the bathroom together? Pondering about that was difficult when I rarely partner up to go to the John. However, I see it as being a companion for someone, to keep them company while they finish their business.
At our center, taking someone to the bathroom is more a necessity than a reason to gossip. Our clients are elderly clients who rely on walkers, wheelchairs and a helping hand to complete daily tasks. More than half our clients need assistance in the restroom. Some needs changing while others need guidance. Usually, we assist our clients at least twice daily. Some can go as much as five times. We have clients who uses Depends and some who do not have it. Although I appreciate Depends for developing products geared towards elderly clients, we have recommendations that we hope will market the item better.
-Create designs or colors to make them look less like diapers
-Make materials biodegradable
To make changing easier, I would also recommend that family members could be instructed to dress their loved ones in loose-fitting pants that either have an elastic waistband or strings to tie. Furthermore, for those clients who are difficult to change because they hate having us take off the shoes, perhaps the bottom can be wider so it can be easily pulled on and off.
Safety is the main concern. As a staff member, we feel no clients should be rushed to sit down or to finish. If some clients have a hard time using the bathroom, one method is to turn on the faucet. Hearing the water increases the urge.
So, there are plenty of reasons to use the bathroom together. While some prefer privacy, others may need something or someone. So the next time someone ask you to escort them to the bathroom, it is very kind of you to grant their request.
At our center, taking someone to the bathroom is more a necessity than a reason to gossip. Our clients are elderly clients who rely on walkers, wheelchairs and a helping hand to complete daily tasks. More than half our clients need assistance in the restroom. Some needs changing while others need guidance. Usually, we assist our clients at least twice daily. Some can go as much as five times. We have clients who uses Depends and some who do not have it. Although I appreciate Depends for developing products geared towards elderly clients, we have recommendations that we hope will market the item better.
-Create designs or colors to make them look less like diapers
-Make materials biodegradable
To make changing easier, I would also recommend that family members could be instructed to dress their loved ones in loose-fitting pants that either have an elastic waistband or strings to tie. Furthermore, for those clients who are difficult to change because they hate having us take off the shoes, perhaps the bottom can be wider so it can be easily pulled on and off.
Safety is the main concern. As a staff member, we feel no clients should be rushed to sit down or to finish. If some clients have a hard time using the bathroom, one method is to turn on the faucet. Hearing the water increases the urge.
So, there are plenty of reasons to use the bathroom together. While some prefer privacy, others may need something or someone. So the next time someone ask you to escort them to the bathroom, it is very kind of you to grant their request.
Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities
What elements are considered when you think of successful activities for the elderly with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia?
Elements of planning and coordinating successful activities, we believe as activities specialists at the Day Care Center, are based on several aspects including consistent preparations and numerous research. The followings are the fundamentals that are derived from our hands-on professional work experience and we consciously pay attention to them when we plan our activities. Once these basic elements are established, then activities for our clients with memory impaired are successfully carried out. We will carefully look at every element with you here in our blog. Each point will be discussed separately in the series of “Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities.”
The Series: Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities
1. Daily Routine (is discussed earlier in “Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility” on 9/11/2009)
2. Quick Morning Meeting
3. Assessment of Participants in Activities
4. Quality and Meaning of Activities
5. Combination with Staff Members and Participants in Activities
6. How to Use Our Staff Members’ Strength and Their Interests
7. Preparation, Time Frame, Safety Issue
8. Tasks in Activities
9. Extra Time for Necessary ADLs (activities of daily living) Cares (including toileting, feeding, and transferring)
Elements of planning and coordinating successful activities, we believe as activities specialists at the Day Care Center, are based on several aspects including consistent preparations and numerous research. The followings are the fundamentals that are derived from our hands-on professional work experience and we consciously pay attention to them when we plan our activities. Once these basic elements are established, then activities for our clients with memory impaired are successfully carried out. We will carefully look at every element with you here in our blog. Each point will be discussed separately in the series of “Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities.”
The Series: Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities
1. Daily Routine (is discussed earlier in “Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility” on 9/11/2009)
2. Quick Morning Meeting
3. Assessment of Participants in Activities
4. Quality and Meaning of Activities
5. Combination with Staff Members and Participants in Activities
6. How to Use Our Staff Members’ Strength and Their Interests
7. Preparation, Time Frame, Safety Issue
8. Tasks in Activities
9. Extra Time for Necessary ADLs (activities of daily living) Cares (including toileting, feeding, and transferring)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility
The Series: Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities
1. Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility
“What are we going to do today?” This is the question from some of our clients every morning.
Our morning starts with socialization with coffee/tea and small breakfast, followed by sharing current news and 45-minutes exercise. Date and time orientation is necessary to start our day with clients. Our staff and clients complete our fill-in-the-blank white board together while clients finish their breakfast.
Various afternoon activities are accompanied by physical stimulation (e.g., physical games, outdoor stroll, etc) in order to keeping them alert after lunch. We occasionally switch morning routine from afternoon routine due to some inevitable reasons (e.g., entertainment, cooking and baking schedule, guests, etc). We call the switched day as “the Backwards Day.” Excepting the backwards day, we try to follow our daily routine.
It is important to consistent with our daily routine at our Day Care Center. The first reason is that our clients with memory impairments tend to feel comfortable to follow set-up basic routine. They would be panic when the routine changes subjectively. The panic and confusion can be avoided by reassuring them repeatedly.
The second reason is that some clients with higher cognitive functioning remember and expect to enjoy the activity mentioned on the calendar. We don’t have to disappoint them by changing activities without mentioning to them.
However, it is also essential, I believe, being flexible regarding planning and coordinating activities. As nobody knows what will happen next with memory impaired clients, unexpected incidents or happenings could occur. Here is the time that flexibility comes in. When planned activities need to be switched from one to another, we respect our clients and tell them immediately if possible.
For instance, we plan to do baking activity after lunch; however, one client has an emergency at lunch table. Before the panic attacks the rest of our clients, we immediately call the paramedic to take care of the client and switch from the original plan of baking to sing-a-long activity in the other room in order to distract them and have a quiet moment until an emergency is taken care of. Emergency scenes need to be taken away from the rest of the group.
Or sometime, the day just doesn’t work at all with anything. It could be because of clients’ mood and frequent care in the bathroom and so on. Staff members’ frustrations to handle with these emergencies are very contagious to clients. Then we can be flexible to do something more calm, mellow, and therapeutic (e.g. coloring, short movies, sing-a-long, trivia, etc).
Due to being consistent with some levels and flexible towards our daily routine, at the end of the day, clients fortunately forget our hectic moment at the Center but remember their laughter from happy activities.
1. Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility
“What are we going to do today?” This is the question from some of our clients every morning.
Our morning starts with socialization with coffee/tea and small breakfast, followed by sharing current news and 45-minutes exercise. Date and time orientation is necessary to start our day with clients. Our staff and clients complete our fill-in-the-blank white board together while clients finish their breakfast.
Various afternoon activities are accompanied by physical stimulation (e.g., physical games, outdoor stroll, etc) in order to keeping them alert after lunch. We occasionally switch morning routine from afternoon routine due to some inevitable reasons (e.g., entertainment, cooking and baking schedule, guests, etc). We call the switched day as “the Backwards Day.” Excepting the backwards day, we try to follow our daily routine.
It is important to consistent with our daily routine at our Day Care Center. The first reason is that our clients with memory impairments tend to feel comfortable to follow set-up basic routine. They would be panic when the routine changes subjectively. The panic and confusion can be avoided by reassuring them repeatedly.
The second reason is that some clients with higher cognitive functioning remember and expect to enjoy the activity mentioned on the calendar. We don’t have to disappoint them by changing activities without mentioning to them.
However, it is also essential, I believe, being flexible regarding planning and coordinating activities. As nobody knows what will happen next with memory impaired clients, unexpected incidents or happenings could occur. Here is the time that flexibility comes in. When planned activities need to be switched from one to another, we respect our clients and tell them immediately if possible.
For instance, we plan to do baking activity after lunch; however, one client has an emergency at lunch table. Before the panic attacks the rest of our clients, we immediately call the paramedic to take care of the client and switch from the original plan of baking to sing-a-long activity in the other room in order to distract them and have a quiet moment until an emergency is taken care of. Emergency scenes need to be taken away from the rest of the group.
Or sometime, the day just doesn’t work at all with anything. It could be because of clients’ mood and frequent care in the bathroom and so on. Staff members’ frustrations to handle with these emergencies are very contagious to clients. Then we can be flexible to do something more calm, mellow, and therapeutic (e.g. coloring, short movies, sing-a-long, trivia, etc).
Due to being consistent with some levels and flexible towards our daily routine, at the end of the day, clients fortunately forget our hectic moment at the Center but remember their laughter from happy activities.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Artist of the Month
To enhance our programming and to introduce an element of surprise and wonder, we feature an 'Artist of the Month'. Our first artist is Andy Warhol, who was born on August 6th, 1928.
We dedicate one of our wall panels to this theme and decorate it with a short biography, quotations and reproductions from calendars and internet sources. The public library provides colorful books and catalogues, which we display on a table nearby. We design an easy coloring activity with a coloring page that features Marilyn Monroe in a pose reminiscent
of Andy Warhol's work.
And 'voila!', a mini museum is born at our center.For the month of September we choose Grandma Moses, because of her self taught charm and the potential to inspire the late-blooming artist in all of us. Once again, the public library sends the biographies and colorful picture books to a nearby branch, and with today's internet library catalogues, picking the right publications is done in a cinch. With Grandma Moses' work, looking at the paintings, naming and remembering landscapes, houses and farms is a delightful activity.
The artists are chosen from handy website, where the birthdays of a number of famous American and international painters and sculptors are listed:
www.arts.ufl.edu/ART/RT_ROOM/artist_birthdays/birthday.html
Go with the Flow
Our Day Care Center has a full of surprise, amusing moments, and small happiness with some hectic occasions. Taking care of over twenty clients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia per day is a quite handful work. Their functioning levels are various from mild to late stages. Someday this activity works, someday this doesn’t but the other activity works. It does completely depend on the flow of our day.
When we coordinate and plan our daily schedule, we look at our daily routine, preparation and quick morning meeting, participants’ functioning levels, their interests and traits, purpose/goal of activity, quality and meaning of every activity, combination with staff members and clients, how we use our staff members’ strength and their interests, time frame, and extra time for necessary ADLs (activities of daily living) cares including toileting, feeding, and transferring. (Each of these elements regarding coordinating activities will be discussed separately in the series of "Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities.")
Even though our day is completely planned well, nobody knows what will happen next. It is fine if the daily schedule doesn’t go well. It is fine if our activity ends in failure. Everything is an experiment. Even though it is important to follow our basic routine (will be discussed the next posting in "Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility"), go with the flow. As long as our clients are happily entertained, actively interacted, physically and mentally stimulated, and safely protected, our day becomes one of the successful days.
Still, our clients gain something important and meaningful moments from being with us, participating in activities, having meals together, touching their hands and smiling, and talking and listening to others in the group setting. In return, we, as staff members, are given valuable and precious lessons by them.
When we coordinate and plan our daily schedule, we look at our daily routine, preparation and quick morning meeting, participants’ functioning levels, their interests and traits, purpose/goal of activity, quality and meaning of every activity, combination with staff members and clients, how we use our staff members’ strength and their interests, time frame, and extra time for necessary ADLs (activities of daily living) cares including toileting, feeding, and transferring. (Each of these elements regarding coordinating activities will be discussed separately in the series of "Elements of Planning and Coordinating Successful Activities.")
Even though our day is completely planned well, nobody knows what will happen next. It is fine if the daily schedule doesn’t go well. It is fine if our activity ends in failure. Everything is an experiment. Even though it is important to follow our basic routine (will be discussed the next posting in "Daily Routine: Consistency and Flexibility"), go with the flow. As long as our clients are happily entertained, actively interacted, physically and mentally stimulated, and safely protected, our day becomes one of the successful days.
Still, our clients gain something important and meaningful moments from being with us, participating in activities, having meals together, touching their hands and smiling, and talking and listening to others in the group setting. In return, we, as staff members, are given valuable and precious lessons by them.
Questions to ask after Labor Day
When you're in school, you may hate taking tests. All those questions about historical events and famous buildings may not be something students would want to answer when they come back to school after a long weekend.
We love trivia at the center. After Labor Day, one of the activities we had our clients participate in was Trivia & Auction. There are many websites and books where questions about Labor Day is easy to answer and our clients love to yell out the answers before we give it.
You can visit this link:
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz30563122fd590.html
The way our trivia and auction work comes in two process. The first process, we ask them multiple choice questions, True/False, and fill-in-the-blank. I wait awhile after each possible answer and give them a chance to raise their hand if they think it is the correct answer. Those who answer correctly, we would give them ten dollars in "funny money" that resembles "Monopoly" money. After all the questions are asked, they count up their money, and we auction off donated items. These items include: chocolate, clothes, jewelry, photo albums, and other accessories.
There are problems that we do fun into. Sometimes, a few clients raise their hands on every possible answer and other clients may be upset. The way this was handled is that you keep reminding them the rules. Just raise for one answer. Another way is to not wait until all the options are given but stop after the right answer.
For example,
Question: What is an owl?
Answer: 1. Plant
2. Animal
3. Food
So stop after number 2. You do not have to read number 3.
My experience from going through the trivia is that I found some of the questions may be hard. Therefore, feel free to make up your questions if you do not find simple multiple choice. For Labor Day, there were not many questions. So I made up these questions.
1. What does an optometrist specialize in ....
a. Eye
b. Nose
c. Chin
2. Does a photographer take your ...
a. Wallet
b. Picture
c. Curtains
3. What does a podiatrist examine ...
a. Feet
b. Hands
c. Hips
Those are a few examples. Be creative and when someone answers correctly, they feel better and smart. Trivia questions serve to engage cognitive processes and improve analytical skills.
We love trivia at the center. After Labor Day, one of the activities we had our clients participate in was Trivia & Auction. There are many websites and books where questions about Labor Day is easy to answer and our clients love to yell out the answers before we give it.
You can visit this link:
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz30563122fd590.html
The way our trivia and auction work comes in two process. The first process, we ask them multiple choice questions, True/False, and fill-in-the-blank. I wait awhile after each possible answer and give them a chance to raise their hand if they think it is the correct answer. Those who answer correctly, we would give them ten dollars in "funny money" that resembles "Monopoly" money. After all the questions are asked, they count up their money, and we auction off donated items. These items include: chocolate, clothes, jewelry, photo albums, and other accessories.
There are problems that we do fun into. Sometimes, a few clients raise their hands on every possible answer and other clients may be upset. The way this was handled is that you keep reminding them the rules. Just raise for one answer. Another way is to not wait until all the options are given but stop after the right answer.
For example,
Question: What is an owl?
Answer: 1. Plant
2. Animal
3. Food
So stop after number 2. You do not have to read number 3.
My experience from going through the trivia is that I found some of the questions may be hard. Therefore, feel free to make up your questions if you do not find simple multiple choice. For Labor Day, there were not many questions. So I made up these questions.
1. What does an optometrist specialize in ....
a. Eye
b. Nose
c. Chin
2. Does a photographer take your ...
a. Wallet
b. Picture
c. Curtains
3. What does a podiatrist examine ...
a. Feet
b. Hands
c. Hips
Those are a few examples. Be creative and when someone answers correctly, they feel better and smart. Trivia questions serve to engage cognitive processes and improve analytical skills.
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