You're Welcome Giving

The turkey... so noble, so patriotic. Our national bird. Well, he would have been if Benjamin Franklin had had his way. This is one of the many fun facts we read about during Turkey Day. We also took pictures as turkeys and made decorations on cups using a cutout and feathers of choice. The dietary staff cooked Thanksgiving food for both lunch and dinner. No wonder the next day we celebrated "You're Welcome Giving".

Chocolate Milkshakes

What better way to celebrate cow love than with chocolate milkshakes? Our patients also discussed milking cows, watched youTube videos of bovine animals during lunch, and took photos with a cow photo prop in order to earn the treat.

Lobby Love

In our lobby I used a patient's painting to create a sign explaining the shelf with our patients' most recent art projects.

Also, I think it's important to keep track of some of our memories, so I take pictures of dress up days and completed art projects and caption them in a scrapbook for visitors. Hopefully it gives family and friends something to look at while preparing for their visits and helps assure them that each activity day is full of purposeful groups to aid in their treatment.

Independence Sam

One month for the patient birthday we decorated cupcakes with M&M's of choice. We also discussed trivia about Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. If only we could get white M&M's back in stock.

Birthdays

To make the monthly patient birthday party special, I have started not only to have banners, singing, and a poem, but also interactive food and photo props that go with the theme for the day. For the month shown above, the patients decorated cookies with bits of their choice instead of just receiving a pre-made cupcake. Then we took pictures with cut outs of mermaids, pirates, and surfers. The photos can be enjoyed on a special board all month long to remind us to celebrate the patients spending their birthdays in our geriatric psychiatric facility.

Photo Props

This month on the birthday party we celebrated "Take Your Best (Photo) Shot" so I made Photo Props for people to pose with.

I can't post the pictures we made, but I did print copies for a wall in the activity room and it has gone over very well. Sometimes I forget that people don't realize the fun things we do without being present, and photos can help them re-live the things they aren't able to visit for.

I think next month we have different props and made it a tradition. The best part of using big cardboard cut outs is that it covers people's midlines and hair- the two biggest reasons people don't like having their photos taken. Copies for families can help them feel like they are making memories with loved ones even when those loved ones have declined from what they once were.

The patients painted the props.