eye CATching

Our patients make art at least weekly. We use nice canvases and display them in the lobby on easels. When a fresh batch dries, I change them out and keep the older ones in my office. Once in a while the marketing director comes by and collects them. She uses them for charity. Most recently she held an auction of the best pieces to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association. Her favorite items were our cat decoupage pieces on strips of newspaper.

Cheese Pizza Day

I was seriously afraid that Cheese Pizza might be too boring of a day to celebrate. However, not only is it something most people like and therefore have in common, it was also delicious fresh and from scratch by our dietary staff.

Magic 8 Ball

A Magic 8 ball is a great tool for an activity director. The patients love the novelty of having their questions answered in jest. When the answers go their way, they especially like it. When they don't, it's just a game. On 8/8 we also decorated Styrofoam spheres with black on the bottom, blue on the top, and the patients' choices of Magic 8 ball sayings. On my pregnant stomach, over a black maternity shirt, I put a blue sign for the day "Baby Says Yes".

Curry-ated Activities

We spiced things up one day with a discussion of common herbs people use in their kitchens. The patients got excited talking about which they liked, what they used them for, and learning about their health benefits.

We also did a sensory test. They were allowed to look, smell, and taste  to guess cinnamon, rosemary, and garlic salt.

Pablo Flowers

The patients tried their hands imitating art that was imitating life. I'm pretty proud of their efforts.

Casino Day

For Casino day, I wore a green visor. The patients took pictures with a casino headband. They played our slots game to get a homemade ice cream sandwich. Finally, we played the dice game (first person to roll each number on the dice wins) and card BINGO (one pack I distribute to the patients, the other I call out one at a time until someone is able to match all their set). Everyone was a winner.

Spa Day

For spa day we did things a little differently. We painted using sponges.

Instead of giving normal hand massages I heated up blankets in the dryer to wrap around the patients shoulders. After giving them a hand massage, I wrapped their hands as well to leave them feeling warm and post-spa relaxed.