At ActivityPro, we care deeply about giving you the ability to accurately track the quality of resident engagement in your programs. This is why we use the 3,2,1 scoring system rather than assigning residents as “Active/Passive” or “Present/Absent”. By giving residents a number score, you can do so much more with the data than simply…
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The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation changed their rules in 2016 and a lot of nursing homes are finding out the hard way about the implications to an all-time favorite activity: showing movies. Under the previous rules organizations like libraries, schools, and senior living facilities were exempt from requiring a license to show movies. Now that…
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Do you sometimes wish others would just leave you and your staff alone, so you could get on with interacting with your residents, and provide great programs for them? Sure you do. However, like everyone in the care process, we are accountable. So whether it is your manager, your care team, family members or inspectors,…
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I am the Activity Director in a small Skilled Nursing Facility in Texas. We have many Alzheimer’s and Dementia residents, in varying stages. We recently had the privilege of having a beautiful 3-year-old beagle in our facility named Rudy. This was the first time we have had a large therapy animal come to us. We…
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As a recreationist, you are committed to providing a wide range of programs that are relevant to your residents’ needs and interests. At the same time, many of your clients also engage in other leisure time pursuits that are not on your calendar (we call them self directed activities) – and that is fantastic. Some…
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For too many years, recreationists have simply relied on tabulating the frequency of resident participation in programs to validate success. In other words, the more often a resident attended programs, the better. Unfortunately such a measure doesn’t represent the quality of engagement, particularly if the resident sleeps through the program, or is distracted and disruptive.…
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Considerations for Both Tech Adopters and Luddites There are two very different types of technology users today: (1) those who love all things “tech” and don’t understand how anyone could exist today without looking at a device (including laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) at least 23 times/day; and (2) those who wish they could revert to…
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When residents are experiencing limited success in a program, it is our job to modify our approach, and perhaps the program, to meet them where they are (see the previous post called “Person-Centered Programming – Meeting Residents Where They Are”). We do this to ensure the residents are having a positive, rewarding, and successful program…
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As recreation specialists, we know that it is our responsibility to provide programs that residents want and need. However, there are times when we find a resident is not suited to a particular program – they are unable to do what is is being asked (it may be because it is an unfamiliar task, or…
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You have created your new program, carefully selecting the appropriate expected outcomes relative to the abilities of the residents you have invited to the activity. You are vigorous in your efforts to ensure that you are “meeting the residents where they are” relative to matching residents to programs in which they have the ability to…
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