Posted by Molly5 (64.12.96.75) on September 20, 2003 at 10:08:07:
In Reply to: Re: Busy Boxes posted by Linda Z on September 20, 2003 at 04:36:10:
: I've used most of the things Mary Frances listed from time to time and, while most of the work ok, stuf like magazines, baskets of stuff to fold and
: balls of yarn can make a room look pretty cluttered and beads take a lot of supervision because they look a lot like little candy balls. I did have good success with stocking many of those items and others inside an old med cart with big drawers. That could be rolled from room to room, played with and returned to storage. We made sure we didn't get a lot of stuff that was never sued, because the space was limited.
: Since we are on the salt water, we also had a collection of shells, which a volunteer had filed the edges of to make them safer, as well as other beach gleanings. We also had quite an assortment of smallish stuffed animals, which we washed after each use. A popular item was several feather boas. They vamped like crazy or even treated them like pets.
: : The key thing is to get your CNA's to be on the same page when presenting "Busy Boxes". My feeling is that all that stuff in the catalougs are overpriced and tend to be juvenile. I am fortunate in that my administrator allowed me to turn a stuffy hotel-like lounge right on the unit into a "rummaging diversionary type room ". I have bins filled with all kinds of Safe flea market "junkety junk", Fabric sample books to turn, Baskets of material swatches to roll up, Laundry baskets of socks, laundry, baby clothes, silk flowers to arrange, Yarn to roll on hangers or into balls, Old receipe cards to file, 5 mixed up sets of playing cards with colored pictures on the flipside to sort and straighten out, Wooden bowls or blocks with sandpaper, Magazines strewn about, Coffee table books whose pages are torn out and sandwiched between clear contact paper piled up in a stack so that they are easy to hod and look at (good job for volunteers to prep) Beads to sort by color in plastic sorting boxes, pot holder loops (assorted colors) to sort, Mens ties in a basket that have several knots in them to "undo" , Adult like coloring books or those back velvet coloring boards......................ON and ON......the beauty is that if the stuff disapears, Oh well, so what,,,,,,,,,,,the trick is you have to sort of "disorganize" it all so that the residents will "organize " everything. All of these items are not expensive, they should be safe, and they should be real and familar (actually the older the stuff is the better!. You should have an inservice to show CNAs how to present these "tasks" to residents with dignity and credibility. Hope this helps.
The important thing is to not only get your CNA"S to understand about "diversionary activities" or Diversionary rooms..BUT to get housekeeping on board to. Yeah, the room can be cluttered from time to time. (Whose "home" is'nt ) Actually the reality of "clutter" makes it more "Home-like", not institutional. Again, the housekeeping aide on my floor is a gem and she "gets It" So..........I guess I'm lucky!