Art facilitation Nursing Home

Mission Statement● Committed to high quality individual care

● Residents encouraged to keep as much independence and self respect as possible

● They aim to provide a relaxed and homely environment

● To provide age appropriate routines and activities and maintain a good quality of life

● Residents are encouraged to participate in activities

Background ● Private nursing home which opened in 2008

● Purpose built and provides 24 hour care

● 45 residents; some are independent but the majority are dependent on some care or full care

● Use a pre-dominant Medical model more than Social model

● Taken over by N.A.M.A. now, so cuts in funding for activities

● They used to provide karaoke one a week but this is stopped now due to supposed lack of funding! I noticed the difference as residents are more withdrawn now as they loved the music and dancing

Present Activities in Nursing Home

• Bingo

• Skittles

• Card-making

• Sitting down exercise class

• Laughing class

• At present there is an activity co-ordinator Mon.-Fri. but activities done are very monotonous. Very little new activities or ideas are ever introduced

Impact of creative activities on people in Residential Care

 

• The absence of creative activities can impact negatively on the lives of older people, particularly in residential care settings

• A study of the quality of life for older people in health-care settings in Ireland found; that there are a lack of meaningful creative activities for residents in many facilities

• People in residential care have few choices and little autonomy in their lives

• Creativity programmes provide a distraction from the routine of residential care life, allowing opportunities for self-expression that are otherwise absent

• There is evidence that participating in creative programmes within various care settings can have beneficial impacts on the physical health and psychological wellbeing of residents (Staricoff, 2004).

Objectives of the Activities● To encourage reminiscence of days gone using natural materials collected in the

woods and the bog

● To stimulate the senses of sight, touch, smell. To encourage creativity, self-expression and imagination and also to use fine motor skills

● To encourage choice whether they wanted to take part in activity and social interaction between residents when they did

● To trigger memories of the countryside, maybe working in the bog when younger, nature and harvest time/Halloween.

● To encourage re-cycling because nearly all materials can be composted afterwards

● Most importantly- To HAVE FUN and LAUGH! Laughter is great for relieving tension and improving mood.

My facilitation: Autumn/Halloween theme

● To make a mini Halloween scarecrow using natural materials gathered in the countryside; pumpkin for the head, hay for stuffing the body and pine cones for the hands & feet

● To make an autumn table arrangement using a pumpkin that has been cleaned out as the vase base and different coloured autumn tree branches for the arrangement

● To make a small collage displays with the top cutting of the pumpkin and different bog moss and pine cones. This involves arranging materials onto the pumpkin top with glue

Materials used for the activities

● 2 Pumpkins

● A sharp big knife/ tablespoons to clean out pumpkin

● Gardening wire

● Pine cones

● Safety Scissors

● Permanent black maker & a blue marker

● A witches hat

● White card

● Non-toxic glue

● Hay

● Variety of branches of trees with autumn colours

● Different types of moss gathered from the bog

Method

• Scarecrow: Clean out inside of pumpkin. Stuff the head with hay. Draw blue eyes on card and cut out. Draw nose on scarecrow and then stick eyes on with glue. Stuff the body with hay. Make the feet and hands with pine cones and secure them with gardening wire and attach them by pushing them into hay in hands and feet. Attach the head with glue to the shoulders. Sit scarecrow down to display. Place witches hat on top.

Table arrangement: Clean out inside of pumpkin out to make the vase base . Arrange different branches inside the vase to create arrangement. Use water in vase if using fresh flowers. Rest finished arrangement on a table for display.

Collage: Use top of pumpkin cut off from top of flower arrangement. Just arrange different moss and pine cones on the pumpkin top to make a collage. When happy with the design, stick them on with non-toxic glue

Learning points● Although the residents took a little time to get involved, they

had a child-like curiosity about what activities we were going to do. They were very creative when given the chance

● I passed around a pumpkin and then a marker. One woman wrote Micky-Joe and drew hair on. This was funny and broke the ice!

● The residents really engaged in the activities then; they love to have the craic and there was a lot of laughter during the activities. They can get very competitive with each other over who would put hay to stuff the scarecrow

Evaluation● I tried to balance the activities for male and female residents

and residents who like to stay in their room. I thought this worked well with 3 different activities. Males liked the scarecrow and females liked both activities

● While the smaller activity suited best for the resident in her room using fine motor skills as she has Multiple Sclerosis

● I learned that you don’t have to use expensive materials to get residents to engage in an activity. With a bit of imagination and creativity a lot of fun can be had

● I noticed the difference in the residents after the activities they were a lot more positive and in a better mood

Evaluation from clients and staff● A lot of the residents really laughed while making the scarecrow

(Micky Joe), this is good for their overall health and emotional well-being. It got some of them up and out of their chairs so encouraged movement

● Residents said they enjoyed the activities and the scarecrow was funny and they shook his hands as if to say hello to a person, and tickled at his feet being humorous

● The staff thought my ideas were original and different. They said the scarecrow was funny and it put them in a good mood too. A few of them said they would make one at home themselves for their children for Halloween

Future changes● There are more residents that remain in their room all the

time. I would like to go to them first if I did the activity again, as they don't have as much social interaction as the others

● If I could, I would like to spend more time with each resident individually and listen to them as they have very interesting stories

● I would also like to find out what other activities they like and I recommend that different activities should be done every week to keep residents interested and engaged. Also to explore their creative sides.

References

• Staricoff, 2004 cited in WELL INTO OLDER AGE - AGE & OPPORTUNITY AND THE EVIDENCE: what research says about the value of promoting participation of older people.”, 2010.)

• Murphy, K., O’Shea, E., Cooney, A., Shiel, A and Hodgins., M. (2006). Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care Settings in Ireland. National Council on Ageing and Older People Report No. 93: Dublin:

Activity 1: Table arrangement

Activity 2: Scarecrow

Activity 3: Nature collage

Any Questions?