THIS ISSUE - Aug 12, 2003

Resident Council Book

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

Senior Housing Newsletter

GREAT WEB SITES

NCCDP

National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners provides certification for Health Care Professionals as a Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP). If, you have completed an Alzheimer’s and Dementia seminar by an NCCDP “approved instructor”, than you are eligible to apply for certification. It’s easy to do! Visit the www.nccdp.org web site, down load the application and attach the required documents. Many health care professionals are qualified but not certified as Certified Dementia Practitioners. Instructors of health care education courses and In –Service Directors who have not developed a curriculum for dementia can attend the “Train the Trainer Program” that provides hand outs, overheads and resources to teach a 8 hour seminar. The Train the Trainer Program is being offered one last time for 2003, November 15th in N.J. Seating is limited and you will need to book early to guarantee a seat. If, you know of an instructor who already has a Dementia Curriculum and would like to apply as an “approved instructor”, please have them contact the NCCDP. We are beginning the climb of what is expected to be a senior population explosion and one, which will last until the year 2040. The main diagnosis within the senior population will be Dementia. Your staff needs to be trained but also certified to deal with the demands of working with the Dementia population. There are many companies teaching Dementia and offering certification. The National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners has set the criteria for a dementia curriculum and standardized the requirements of a Certified Dementia Practitioner. It is recommended that health care professionals receive extensive training in disruptive behaviors, communication and wandering interventions. Please take the time to visit their web site at www.nccdp.org and certify your staff.

Dementia Calendars are now available on the www.activitytherapy.com Web site. The Dementia Calendar provides programming 7 days a week and 7 nights a week and changes on the half hour. The Dementia calendar provides music, reminisce programs, exercise and theme related innovative ideas.

Sensory Calendars will be available for sale for September. The sensory calendar is for residents who can no longer participate in planned group programs due to cognition. The sensory calendar will have activities that utilize the remaining senses, sight, touch, hearing and smell. www.activitytherapy.com

We have many relaxation videos for your dementia population and will appeal to women and men. Two popular videos are Digital Aquarium and Snowfall Serenade.

Spirituality and Aging

As we age, for many, religion and spirituality become much more important. For many, the religious service becomes one of the most important weekly events.

“Spiritual well being is not something achieved once and for all at a younger age. Instead we constantly must work to maintain spiritual health.”

“Just when you think you know what you believe, you find there is so much more. Edward Powers.”

There are other religious / spiritual activities that should be added to the calendars and services offered by the facility.

1. JCAHO requires a spiritual assessment but even if your not joint commission, every facility should be conducting spiritual assessments.
2. If the religion is not documented on the chart, the staff should go back and interview staff. If you conducted an audit, statistics show that about 25% of your charts have no documented religion. There should be a strong attempt by administration to find out all religions for every resident.
3. The calendar should offer Group Study and Educational Opportunities.
4. Offer taped sermons for those who are unable to make the weekly services. You could tape the sermon each week.
5. Prayer, Meditation and Personal Reflection. Do you provide a place for this? It could be a garden, chapel or a quiet room.
6. Church services to fit all the needs. Do you offer services for the different religions in your building? You could contact the church and ask for a volunteer, even if they only come monthly, would address the needs of those who are not attending church.
7. Add Bible reading, Bible Study and daily affirmations.
8. Are their Bibles on Tapes, Bibles in the rooms and other reading religious materials offered. There are many organizations that offer free religious materials.
9. Bereavement Services
10. Support Groups with your volunteer clergy to talk about spirituality. The support groups could talk about the positives of growing old, such as freedom to pursue hobbies, prayer, study. The support group could provide support for spiritual development.

The facility should post the names of the clergy, their church affiliation and their phone number. The clergy should be provided a list of all new admissions so the clergy can keep an up to date list of residents. It is important that the religious lists be kept current and updated.

It is important to nurture someone spiritual side which can be through gardening, activities, reflection and volunteering.

“God’s gift of long life brings with it gains and losses, both of which can lead to the continued development of our spirituality.”

Population and Calendar Analysis

Unless you conduct a population analysis, you don’t know what your strengths and weakness are within your programming. The population analysis form will identify how many room bound, bed bound, npo, dementia and special population clients you have so that you may plan and implement activities to fit the needs of your current population. The Calendar Analysis will help you identify where you’re weak in programming and where your strengths are. For example, it will identify how many empowerment programs you have. You might have too much intellectually stimulating and not enough empowerment groups or you may have plenty of programs for the elderly population and not enough for your younger group. One of the most important findings is how much or little programming you have for your dementia population and very low functioning. If a state surveyor determines that “someone has declined through lack of stimulation,” you will be cited. Don’t let that happen!. Take the time to conduct a population and calendar analysis. We recommend that this be completed yearly as a part of your Quality Assurance Program. It’s a valuable tool to add to the Activity Directors resource library. www.activitytherapy.com

Seminar and Courses

Work Place Violence, Ethics, Forgiveness, Wandering & Hoarding, Support Groups, Stress Management Sensitivity Awareness Training, Spirituality and the Elderly, and Communication seminars, please view our web site for dates and locations. All seminars are 4 ceus.
Dementia Seminars are 7 ceus and are scheduled to begin in September. You may register online at www.activitytherapy.com and click on courses and Gordon Social Work Consultants.

Flipped-Up Close and Personal. The Ultimate in Role Reversal & Sensitivity Awareness Training. This workshop id designed for long term care staff to promote, educated and ensure quality care with a full understanding of the long term care patient as an individual. It is imperative to be sensitive to and utilize appropriate interventions for special issues and concerns of the long term care patient. The workshop addresses the psychosocial, emotional and spiritual concerns of patients who suffer from cognitive, sensory and physical impairments, as well as issues of abuse, infantilism, age and gender differences, sexuality and cultural differences.

Here is how Flipped works: Our staff arrives and interviews 2 staff chosen by your facility. Those two staff become patients for the morning and our staff become the CAN/Nurse… and the role reversal begins!!! The entire process is video taped and at the end of the day there are all-staff in-services presented by your 2 participants and our staff. Everyone will have the opportunity to participate in the all-staff in-service. While it is fun, it is also quite serious. No one leaves the workshop without a heightened awareness of one’s own actions and the very delicate needs of our patients. Contact

THANK YOU!

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On behalf of Alternative Solutions in Long Term Care Staff, we hope that you enjoy the last few week of summer. Relax and have fun.

Lisa Reidinger, LNHA, CSW, CTRS, CDP
Executive Director

and

Sandra Stimson, CALA, ADC, CDP
Executive Director