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Hi!
I've just joined the forum.
I've been working as a carer in a nursing home for people with advanced stages of dementia for 3 years now (my first care position). I have been given the opportunity to start as an activities co-ordinator at our home as we have difficulty at times to engage the residents in more absorbing and interactive activites recently with lack of staff and attention to some very challenging residents we have had in the past.
I'm waiting for my manager to sign me up to training and I am basically making this job my own by trying to come up with activities with what we have at the moment or what I can get when I can get the funding. In the planning I have to collect some items for a rummage/ memory jogger boxes, make some Fidget aprons when I get time (Really good idea for a few of our residents, especially one lady that tears her clothes every day) and looking into getting some trips booked.
I am good with arts and crafts (my 2 art degrees coming in handy!) but I want to find more ideas to work with residents that are pretty much unresponsive to most things where sensory stimulation is best used. They mainly stay in a particular lounge and so far bubbles, reading and pictures, sensory machine and music as well as textured items have helped. We did have some tiny tupperwares of smelly stuff like cloves and curry powder which have disappeared, id like to make something similar that is more practical in the environment like lavenderbags, but for all sort of smells like essential oils. Any ideas?
Many thanks to any suggestions, I'm battling hard to get some residents to join in!
