Nowadays, long-term care facilities must be viewed as more than just that, and with the help of technology, brainstorming, and good old-fashioned creativity, senior care staff has the upper hand to gain a window into residents’ lives, which allows the residents to open up to those around them.
Sympaticare specializes in providing elder care organizations in New York State with the necessary resources needed to provide high-quality, specialized senior care within state-of-the-art independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing facilities.
 Whether it's looking for new ideas for an existing senior care facility, or understanding how to get started, our senior care management company is here for you. |
In this blog post, our nursing home administration company will outline the importance of adding creativity and collaborative activities into senior care facilities, and the ways such activities can be implemented.
The Importance of Avoiding Isolation and Loneliness
Patient interaction with senior care facility staff or fellow residents is kept at a minimum on an average day. With the exception of any scheduled routine check-ins by a nurse or staff member or daily mealtimes, residents in some elder care facilities do not have a roommate and might spend most of their days in social isolation.
The limited interactions that do take place are vital to aid in lingering feelings of loneliness and isolation, and that is why pouring arts and entertainment, current events, provoking questions, and creativity, in order to brighten residents’ days, is more important now than ever.
Learn more about how Sympaticare works to avoid isolation and loneliness in our senior care facilities HERE.
Activities Based on Current Events
There is so much going on in the world that can capture the interest of those in senior care facilities, thus providing endless opportunities for group activities amongst residents. In addition to your traditional Bingo night, board games, cooking class, or workouts, senior care facilities must take advantage of the convenience to include more ‘outside the box’ activities.
These activities could include facility-wide gatherings to share artwork, participate in sports betting, view the premiere of a new movie, catch a sporting event on TV, a guided imagery session, or random table topic cards based on current events.
Read more about how to Motivate your Residents to Participate in Activities While in Long-Term Care HERE.
Asking Residents Engaging Questions
Comparable to conversion starters or ice-breakers, another option might be personalized question cards, which could be brought to the residents in their rooms, or perhaps distributed in the dining areas or a neutral location where everyone could talk amongst themselves collectively.
An endless amount of questions might be asked based on time of year, past or current events, and memories new and old. Some examples of questions for cards are:
- What is your favorite summer activity?
- How many countries have you traveled to?
- Do you have any grandchildren? How old are they? What sports do they play?
- Who do you think will win the Super Bowl?
Any of these questions are sure to ‘get the wheels turning,’ bring a smile to residents’ faces, and can also allow them to build closer, personal relationships with fellow residents and staff.
Looking for additional ways to add creativity to your nursing home enrichment activities?
Here are 17 Fun Summer Activities and 6 Rainy Day Activities for Nursing Home Residents.
Contact Sympaticare
At Sympaticare, we care for those who care for others. Our senior management and consulting agency is deeply committed to our elderly community and the professionals who care for them.
Ready to get started? We can’t wait to hear from you! Contact us today to learn more about our Partnership opportunities.
About Shully Braunstein, our Sympaticare principal
Shully Braunstein’s mission is to provide our elders with the absolute highest standard of care. He is a New York State licensed administrator and currently operates a total of 6 nursing facilities.
Learn more about our Senior Care Management Company HERE.