Posted by Melanie (68.200.16.10) on September 20, 2003 at 13:35:17:
Hello,
I am not sure if anyone on this board can help me, but I thought it might be a good place to start. My mother is a resident at an assisted living facility, in the secured Alzheimer's section. She has been there about 9 months. I am concerned because few activities are offered in this section. The facility has an activity director, fulltime, Mon-Fri., but she conducts activities mainly for the assisted living residents (those not in the Alz. section). They have what I guess are all the typical activities...bingo, monthly parties, games, etc. However, little goes on in the Alz. unit. Occasionally an entertainer that performs in the main area will then come back to the Alz. section and perform for a little while, but that's it. The Alz. residents just spend their day sitting around, watching TV, napping, etc. The CNAs are very caring and I feel that they do take good care of my Mom (she's always clean, seems content), but I just wish they could be doing more during the day. And it's not that I'm missing the activities; the CNA confirms that they don't do much there. Is this typical? I know my Mom would enjoy and is capable of some simple crafts, puzzles, that type of thing; of course she'll forget that she even did it a few minutes later. Perhaps this has something to do with why they don't do more with these residents. I don't know. Are there any legal requirements for activities in facilities? Should this be reported and to whom? This is in the state of Florida.