Expectations for MC activity/engagement

SEM_BOS

Hi.  I'm new to alz.connected and to this world in general.  My mom had a fairly sudden onset  of Alzheimers (not sure of diagnosis) following a hospitalization in December.

For safety and diabetic care, we moved her to AL. (Near her home in Florida).    However after a few weeks, she was trying to leave ("elope"), among some other complications, so the AL said they needed to move her upstairs to their MC unit.     Fair enough, she was confused and constantly talked about leaving.

I don't live in Fl, however either I or another family member has been staying nearby as much as possible, so we're there for at least a short visit almost daily.

We chose this AL/MC because we liked the staff and the residents there seemed engaged when we visited.   Recently though, they had a lot of staff turnover.     We've also seen that if the full time activity director dedicated to MC  isn't available on a given day, the residents sometimes are just left to sit.

This is a fairly nice place, over $10k/month,and the people generally seem nice and caring. But my question for the forum is, what to expect regarding organized activities during a normal day?  How many hours should we expect?  

Thanks all,

SEM

   ( I also plan to dig up the contract, but don't believe this was specified)

loveskitties

Check with the MC facility and see if they have a monthly calendar of activities.

The amount, type and frequency of activities sometimes is impacted by the makeup of the residents.

Many do spend a lot of time in chairs, staring at tv or listening to music or sleeping or just resting.

BassetHoundAnn

The activities and activity level that will be best for your mom will depend of course upon your mom. 

I toured one MC where there was a daily packed schedule of activities. The day's activities were listed on a video screen. All sorts of stuff. Video bowling, movies, concerts, sing-a-longs, manicures, bingo, crafts, etc. All I could think of as I read the schedule was that my mom was too advanced to participate in most of those things. She would simply not be interested.

And indeed every MC is very different. Some have more advanced residents than others so their activities are planned accordingly.  

At the MC where I ultimately moved my mom there are activities--movies, concerts, sing-alongs, bingos, manicures, crafts, etc.--but not with great daily intensity as most residents seem to prefer sitting in their chairs snoozing. It seems like the activities director has to really push to encourage residents to participate in things, and most simply don't want to. Like my mom. Advanced dementia removes motivation and enjoyment in most things. He is not at the MC every day but I think that's o.k. 

MN Chickadee

It sounds pretty normal. I had my mother in two different facilities, one small and one large, and yes at both places there were days when the activities staff were off and there wasn't much going on. Is it ideal? No. But it's also not the end of the world. While you and I would find it dreadfully boring I think you might find that isn't the case for many PWD. They often do fine without much going on, and it's only a day here and there not all the time. I tried to visit more on Sundays when there were no activities to take my mother for a drive or walk and that was enough for one day. On the days when activities staff had planned activities, there were usually about 3 things scheduled from about 10 am to 3 pm. They usually didn't schedule anything right after lunch because so many people snoozed after eating. So like music in the morning, lunch and a nap hour, followed by arts and crafts, and maybe one more thing in the late afternoon. Sometimes more if there was a special event.

Also, facilities are really short staffed right now nationwide. The way they may have done things a few years ago or want to do things may be impossible at the moment. There will be a certain element of having to be understanding of their current limitations. If the care is good and she has settled in I wouldn't worry to much about it. 

My mother's first place lost their activities director and then she really was just sitting too much. More days than not had nothing scheduled and I could tell the lack of stimulation and socialization was taking its toll so I moved her to a new place. We just do our best, I know it's hard to know what is right. 

May flowers

The activities calendar was mailed to me every month by the activities director. It was pretty well followed as we visited different times and they were always doing some activity. The way it was set up is there is a common area with comfortable chairs and a fireplace and a large table. There were always 2-3 residents participating at the table, some watching and just enjoying the company (my FIL was like this) and some were dozing. The activity my FIL really liked is there was a walking group for the more mobile (separate from those needing walkers) and they walked at a pretty good pace. The movies and such were never much of a hit, but the more interactive activities like wheelchair bowling and bingo were always a hit.

King Boo

MC residents cannot deal with constant stimulation.  They do spend a lot of their day sitting, resting, etc.

But there should be a consistent schedule of dementia appropriate activities.    These are most likely going to be one in the morning, one in the afternoon (but not necessarily every day) and not all residents are going to want to attend.  They can be encouraged to attend but not made to.

For example:

Monthly bus ride with Dunkin Donut snack on the bus

Weekly music half hour 

Preschool visitors

Bingo on Tuesdays

Nail salon on Monday morning

Outing for the monthly special AL event for those MC residents who are appropriate to attend.

Look to your LO's base pre dementia personality.  There are an astounding number of family members (myself included) who think their introverted all their life loved one should participate in activities.   Not gonna happen!   My LO never went to anything that did not involve food except music hour - and even then, he only went the last 10 minutes to sing the National Anthem.

Over contentment factors into the evaluation.  

Staff turnover always bears an examination.  It can be the norm for the area industry or cause for concern.  Keep an eye on it.

jfkoc

The license help by the facility will tell you what they are going to provide. They can, of course, do more but legally not less.

May flowers

Speaking to King Boo’s post - I was just the opposite. My FIL is an introvert and I didn’t expect him to participate in anything, but he still enjoyed just being a wallflower in the room and watching the activities and listening to the conversations. He even made some friends who he ended up eating meals with and sitting by most days.

Sometimes the activities were pretty simple - playing with matchbox cars or putting together PVC pipes, but I was surprised to see the men enjoying those, lol. The activities director had a cheat sheet for every resident and asked them specific things about their past (in particular their childhood/work days). She had learned things about my FIL’s childhood that we had not shared with her. 

Some of the residents were well enough functioning to join AL activities. They took my FIL fishing one time - that was a big deal for him

I agree about staff turnover. Big red flag. His quality of care plummeted after his facility lost their director, followed by a great nurse and good caregivers left with her.