Hello everyone, We encourage you to celebrate Active Aging Week, held from September 23rd through the 29th and sponsored by the International Council on Active Aging. The event will have “theme days” that focus on different aspects of healthy aging. This year they include: The WALK! With Aegis Therapies Wellness with Water (Aquatic Yoga or […]
Tag: Activity
If at first you don’t succeed…
Hello everyone, If at first you don’t succeed…well, you know the rest: Try, try again! How often do we ask residents to join us for exercise class or another activity, have them say “no”, and we say “ok” and move on to the next person. Then after a few no thank-you’s from them, we give […]
Aligning patient-centered activities with CMS guidelines
Most have you have probably been paying attention to the new CMS guidelines for 2017. One of the new guidelines (f-tag F679) relates to activities: “The facility must provide, based on the comprehensive assessment and care plan and the preferences of each resident, an ongoing program to support residents in their choice of activities, both […]
Decreasing use of antipsychotic medications….
We thought you would find this recent article interesting as you and your staff work to improve the lives of your residents with dementia and decrease the use of antipsychotic medications as much as possible. The article discusses the results of several research trials and offers some approaches you may like to try: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/19/537907127/for-dementia-patients-engagement-can-improve-mood-and-quality-of-life In […]
Care plan snapshots: Making care plans useful
Developing and updating care plans to ensure they include the required information takes a lot of staff time and attention. Unfortunately, they don’t usually live up to their potential for day to day usefulness and practicality. To help address this, we’ve developed a Care Plan Snapshot…a “Readers Digest” version of a care plan that highlights […]
Going outside: Residents need fresh air and sunshine
We hope you all had a chance to spend at least a little time outside over the July 4th holiday. Did your residents? Fresh air and sunshine can do wonders for people’s spirits, especially for people with dementia. Research has shown that when people can freely use outdoor areas, agitation and aggression reduce, independence is […]
Increasing resident engagement in activities
We’ve talked about how encouraging residents to participate as much as possible in their own care can help maintain or even increase function and decrease negative behaviors. Let’s remember that residents with moderate to severe dementia can have fun too! How often do we see a group of residents participating in a recreational activity, but […]
Educating family members on person-centered care
Educating family members of your residents about your efforts to reduce the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia through person-centered behavioral approaches is critical. Family members can support staff and be a useful resource when determining what may motivate a resident to participate in his/her own care and engage in activity, and thereby decrease agitation, […]
Environmental influence on resident behavior
As promised, here is the first of the “Weekly Tidbits” we’ll be sending every Sunday to provide ideas and motivation to you and your staff as you work to address behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) with your residents. If you’d like additional members of your staff to receive the tidbits, please email Erin […]