Some Nursing Home Week Celebrations and Ideas in the news:

In MD:

Moran Manor displays antiques
WESTERNPORT - Residents of Moran Manor in Westernport have been talking about “the good old days” a bit more lately, thanks to some visual reminders of those days gone by.

Many of the reminders - which range from old photographs to antique dolls, mink stoles, and lots of hats and hat boxes - are from the local area, making the trip down Memory Lane especially meaningful to the local residents of the facility.

From ID:

Pocatello Care and Rehab held an open house today to give the community a chance to see the kind of service they provide. It also gave the caregivers a chance to meet with the public in style.

Today they allowed people the chance to walk through the facility, and residents to get out for a little while. The residents managed to have a look at some old era cars. They even voted on their favorite ones.

Derrick Glum/administrator: “Today we are helping to celebrate National Nursing Home Week. This week is especially dedicated to the observance of nursing homes across the country and especially in Pocatello. We’d like to tell everybody what a fantastic job our skilled nursing facilites are doing especially here at Pocatello Care and Rehab.”

Tomorrow, Pocatello Care and Rehab will have pajama day and hold a barbeque for staff and residents. That will be followed by a circus party for residents, staff, and staff family.

This nursing home is celebrating MOVEMENT and EXERCISE.
Video included!!

In Iowa, 6th grade students danced with the residents of this nursing home:

The Park Place Long Term Care Unit in Mt. Pleasant was infused with youthful energy Wednesday as members of the sixth-grade class es from the Mt. Pleasant Middle School showed off their dancing abilities for the nursing home residents.
The students showed a lot of spark as they danced, calling off the steps and counts of the dance as they went along with their P.E. teacher, Julie Gilmore. The dancers were paired off in a large group that moved in circles and back and forth, while the elder audience looked on in front of the care center.

Kansas people know how to cook, and celebrate in style: Video included

Eventide Convalescent Center brought residents to Gary Gilbert’s Woodlawn Farms to celebrate National Nursing Home Week. Residents got the chance to have a Cream Can Dinner. They loaded an old fashioned milk can with vegetables and meat and then put it on an open flame to cook.

While the dinner cooked, residents played horseshoes and looked at Gilbert’s antique tractors. Organizers say the week is a great way to bring enjoyment to those living in nursing homes. Gilbert’s daughter says the residents will be talking about the trip for the next week.

Keep these ideas in mind for next year!!

From the CMS web site:

The New Freedom Initiative (NFI) was announced by President Bush on February 1, 2001, followed up by the Executive Order 13217 on June 18, 2001. The initiative is a nationwide effort to remove barriers to community living for people of all ages with disabilities and long-term illnesses. It represents and important step in working to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to learn and develop skills, engage in productive work, choose where to live and participate in community life.

This initiative supports states’ efforts to meet the goals of the Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision issued in July 1999 that requires states to administer services, programs, and activities “in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.” The Olmstead decision interpreted Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which gives civil rights and protections to individuals with disabilities and guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. The complete Olmstead decision, and Executive Order 13217, can be accessed below under “Related Links Outside CMS.”

GRANT PROGRAMS

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provide some opportunities for funding to assist in implementing systemic changes to better serve individuals with disabilities in the setting of their choosing. More information on these grant programs can be found by using the links below under “Related Links Inside CMS.”

* Money Follows the Person Demonstration Grants: These programs are part of a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to assist States, in collaboration with stakeholders, to make widespread changes to their long-term care support systems. They will assist States in their efforts to reduce their reliance on institutional care while developing community-based long-term care opportunities, enabling the elderly and people with disabilities to fully participate in their communities.

* Alternatives to PRTF Demonstration Grants: These programs will help States provide community alternatives to psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children. They will also assist States in their efforts to adopt strategic approaches for improving quality as they work to maintain and improve each child’s functional level in the community.

* Real Choice Systems Change: These grants support infrastructure changes that will result in effective and enduring improvements in community long-term support systems.

* Direct Service Worker: These demonstration grants support strategies to help recruit, train, and retain direct service workers who provide personal assistance to people with disabilities who need help with activities of daily living.

* Employment Initiatives: Authorized under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (TWWIIA), CMS provides funds to states through the Medicaid Infrastructure Grants (MIG) and Demonstration to Maintain Independence and Employment (DMIE) Program to create systemic change that supports employment for people with disabilities.

Remember, elderly people DO have disabilities; these initiatives are not meant for just those who were born with or acquired a disability. In the future it will be interesting to follow the money given out here..to see how it’s spent and to see whether actual people benefit from the programs. Go to the CMS site for more information on this.

Another great idea, and it sounds like it was a lot of fun.

CRESCENT CITY — Gladys Cowart was gingerly being helped from the sidecar of Don Williams’ 1973 BMW motorcycle here Saturday afternoon.

She had just ridden around the parking lot of the Lakewood Nursing Home, a ride that had lasted perhaps two minutes at heart-racing speeds of almost 10 mph, and the look on her face told it all.

“I’ve ridden horses and I’ve ridden calves, but this is the first time I’ve ever ridden one of them things,” the 91-year-old center resident said. “I’ll tell you what, though — riding that thing was a lot more fun.”

Ms. Cowart didn’t know it, but she was in for even more fun.

Jesse Stephens, a white-bearded member of Putnam ABATE, took her by the hand, lifted her up onto the driver’s seat of his Honda, and outfitted her with riding gloves and helmet to the delight of all who were looking on.

It was hard to tell who was having the most fun —- the residents at the Lakewood Nursing Center who were receiving the motorcycle rides, or the leather-clad members of the clubs who came to provide them.

Perhaps three dozen residents were outside the center, many in wheelchairs lined up outside the center when approximately 20 bikers roared up for a 90-minute visit tabbed “Grannies Gone Wild.”

The event is the brainchild of Liz Miller and Jeannie Gulledge, a couple of longstanding members of Putnam ABATE who, between them, have five grandchildren. Four years ago, the grannies had the wild idea of going to local nursing homes and allowing the residents to take short rides in the sidecars on some of the motorcycles.

Ava Swain, who will be 97 on Aug. 17 and who was the oldest resident to ride, said it brought back wonderful memories.

“I loved it. I loved it,” she said. “I would love to go another mile. That’s the first time I have been on a motorcycle in 50 years.

“I almost didn’t come out here because I thought I was too old. But I was wrong. This was a whole lot of fun.”

A nursing home up my way did this a couple years ago- local motorcyclists came and took the residents out for short rides. It was fun and very therapeutic for everyone involved. My husband assisted with the event.

Now isn’t this different, and really neat?

Comedian Launches “Long Term Care Tour” to Celebrate National Nursing Home Week

NEW YORK, NY — (MARKET WIRE) — May 02, 2007 — “New York’s Funniest Psychologist,” aka Drew Velting, will take his geriatric-friendly, stand-up comedy on the road to observe National Nursing Home Week (May 13-19). Starting May 14 at South Shore Healthcare in Freeport, NY, the Long Term Care Tour will visit seven nursing homes in the region.

Over a span of two weeks, the comedian will entertain residents and staff at elder care and rehabilitation centers across the New York Metropolitan Area. “I love performing at nursing homes,” says Velting, “but I’m working my way up to assisted living.” He’s convinced that laughter promotes hope, recovery, and a general sense of well-being.

His “thoughtfulness and devotion to bringing joy to others is invaluable,” said Suzanne Donohue, director of therapeutic recreation at the Belair Care Center in Bellmore, NY. He “not only put a smile on our faces, but in our hearts.”

Long Term Care Tour Dates:

May 14 - South Shore Healthcare (Freeport, NY)
May 16 - Fairview Nursing Care Center (Forest Hills, NY)
May 17 - East Neck Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (West Babylon, NY)
May 18 - St. Catherine of Siena Nursing Home (Smithtown, NY)
May 21 - Bridge View Nursing Home (Whitestone, NY)
May 23 - Komanoff Center for Geriatric & Rehab Medicine (Long Beach, NY)
May 24 - Resort Nursing Home (Arverne, NY)

For additional information please contact Drew Velting or visit his website at www.psychcomedy.com.

About Drew Velting:

Notable for his quick wit and dry delivery, Drew Velting is a clinical psychologist, who performs stand-up comedy in cafes, comedy clubs, and nursing homes. He is a member of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. Look for some of his comedy material in the soon-to-be-published revision of “Joke Express,” edited by Judy Brown.

I would love to see one of these performances. I bet the nursing homes he plans to visit will love it. A very innovative idea!

Interesting. Is this an example of resident rights vs. staff rights? The woman was allegedly left in soiled briefs, without her 02, with bedsores all over her…also, bruises were found.

Where is the line drawn? When a resident with dementia “refuses” care or yells and screams, becomes violent and calls us names, how do we handle this? Do we just do it anyway? Do we try to redirect and try again, a little later? And do we do the care knowing we might get hurt? What lessons can be learned here?

HOUMA, La. — A lawsuit alleges that a nursing home patient with dementia was neglected to the point of abuse because she cursed the staff using racial epithets.

Sonny Baye, of Schriever, is seeking $600,000 in damages from Heritage Manor in Houma, where his mother, Marie Baye, lived for five years. She died on Christmas 2004, two weeks after she was moved to a nursing home in Lafourche Parish.

The nursing home’s written response denies all allegations and asks a state district judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

Baye said his mother’s treatment was acceptable until the last 18 months of her life, when Alzheimer’s disease and dementia made her lash out verbally at nursing home employees.

Baye said his mother developed bruises, large bedsores on various parts of time, bloody wounds and difficulty breathing. The suit claims her undergarments were often unchanged for long periods, and she was often left without the oxygen tank she needed.

The lawsuit said managers assured Baye that his complaints would be investigated, but his mother’s condition just got worse.

Baye said his suit was not filed until March because he had to wait for a state board to rule on whether his mother’s treatment was malpractice. The board ruled in favor of the nursing home, forcing Baye to go to court.

I have been reading here and there about shift report.

How some nursing homes don’t seem to think the CNA needs to hear report. I think this is not only wrong, it’s bad business and a law suit waiting to happen.

CNA’s are the hands on care giver. They are the eyes, ears, noses and hands of the health care team charged with providing care to residents. When a resident’s condition changes, does it not make sense that the first, and more often than not ONLY people who will have any direct contact with the resident KNOWS of the change?

Nursing home management, that decides CNA’s don’t need to get shift report are setting the residents AND AIDES up for potential injury, harm and distress. Physical and emotional. Nurses, going down the hall, barking out orders to the aides, AFTER the nurse has heard report is not acceptable. By then we have often done our first set of residents and it’s too late for some orders to be carried out. Or, the resident must be placed back in bed or otherwise inconvenienced. And it wastes time, that which CNA’s don’t have a lot of.

Consider this. A resident fell on evening shift. At the time no known issues resulted from the fall, but the resident needed to be observed and assessed periodically until the doctor could see them the next morning. The doctor tells the evening nurse the resident is not to do any weight bearing activities until he sees the resident. Day shift staff arrive and are given their assignments and are told to go about their job. The aide assigned to the resident who fell has no way to know that a fall occurred… The CNA doesn’t get this info and transfers the resident via a stand pivot. SNAP. A hip is broken.

Consider this. A resident’s urine is noted to be dark and foul smelling. The resident cannot speak for herself but is continent. The day shift aide assists resident to the toilet, where she voids a medium amount of dark smelly urine…the residents usual habits indicate she won’t be voiding again until sometime after lunch. A sample was needed from the morning void but that info was never passed on to the aide in time. Now the resident must endure many more hours of discomfort and pain from the UTI she has, all because of a lack of communication.

A resident was up most the night. For whatever reasons, he could not get to sleep. He is known to have behaviors, and a trigger to this is being tired…the aides don’t get report. They find him in a deep sleep and think, “Oh well, he has to get up to eat!” and wake him up…and the aide gets punched in the face. A nice black eye and broken nose are the result. And time spent at a doctors office, ex rays, pain and suffering…all on worker comp billing. Because it was never passed on in report to allow the resident to sleep this morning.

Shift report is vital to CNA’s. We NEED the information…even when it is repetitive and mundane, it is important. CNA’s must have this information BEFORE they asked to provide care. The little details are often so helpful to us. When we know Mr. Jones hasn’t slept all night, we will allow him to sleep in, to be the last resident we get out of bed. When we know Mrs. Smith might have a UTI, we will collect a sample - many times without being asked. When we hear that Ms. Brown fall last night, we will ASK if she is able to do any weight bearing.

Report doesn’t have to be this long boring ordeal. Many facilities only pass on information that is out of the ordinary; the typical, usual and common information doesn’t always need to be shared. Normal vital signs, BMs, percentages of meals consumed and cc amounts of fluid intake are not overly important, especially if this information is logged in a book somewhere. On the other hand, elevated temps and B/P’s DO need to be passed on; a lack of a BM in 5 days NEEDS to be passed on; consumption of NO fluids has to shared.

Part of what every CNA needs is information.
We use our training and experience to make everyone’s jobs a little easier; to make our residents comfortable. We depend upon good communication from previous shifts and nurses to provide care that is safe and appropriate. Nursing home management should always insist CNA’s take part in shift report. It should be a mandatory expectation; and, taking this one step further, if an aide shows up late for work, he or she should NOT be allowed to take an assignment until they hear report.

May is Older Americans Month.

A little history:

Older Americans Month is a program of the U.S. Department of Human Services Administration on Aging. When Older Americans Month was established in 1963, only 17 million living Americans had reached their 65th birthdays. About a third of older Americans lived in poverty and there were few programs to meet their needs. Interest in older Americans and their concerns was growing, however. In April of 1963, President John F. Kennedy’s meeting with the National Council of Senior Citizens served as a prelude to designating May as “Senior Citizens Month.”

Thanks to President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 designation, what was once called Senior Citizens Month, is now called “Older Americans Month,” and has become a tradition.

Historically, Older Americans Month has been a time to acknowledge the contributions of past and current older persons to our country, in particular those who defended our country. Every President since JFK has issued a formal proclamation during or before the month of May asking that the entire nation pay tribute in some way to older persons in their communities. Older Americans Month is celebrated across the country through ceremonies, events, fairs and other such activities.

The President’s 2007 Older American Month Proclamation