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  Bingo - W. Center - 12/09/2011 07:36 PM
       bingo - FLActivities- 12/11/2011 07:24 AM
       Bingo - 07010- 12/11/2011 08:36 AM
       Bingo time - jane- 12/11/2011 03:34 PM
           Bingo - JGAL- 12/12/2011 08:08 AM
               Good Points! - jane- 12/13/2011 02:05 PM
           Bingo - Emily in CT- 12/13/2011 07:55 AM
       bingo - Emily in CT- 12/12/2011 08:14 AM
       bingo - hillview- 12/12/2011 10:52 AM
       Bingo - sue- 12/13/2011 04:37 PM
           Bingo Dilemma - 54131- 12/23/2011 12:31 PM
       bingo - Dilworth- 12/14/2011 08:24 AM
       bingo - ErikaWa- 12/24/2011 01:20 PM



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Author   Title: Bingo
W. Center

Registered:
03/02/10
Posted 12/09/2011 07:36 PM

We are a 160 bed skilled nursing facility... We have approx 75 different activities per month....The residents have approx. 19 opportunities to plan Bingo per month... We have 3 units and a seperate calendar for each unit...The residents that choose to attend activities on the other units may do so...A few residents are asking for more Bingo...We have 19 games per month... My question is how many games of bingo does you facility average per month...? I cannot add anymore games... Any suggestions on how to convince the residents that there is more to do than bingo...? Thank you....

FLActivities

Registered:
08/21/10
Posted 12/11/2011 07:24 AM

Wow! That's more than 3 times a week and they want more!? Can your department absorb that as far as prizes go? Maybe try to get the residents to understand that if they're saturated with it then it won't be as fun any more. Or tell them you'll run out of bingo prizes if they play any more.

Good luck with that one!



07010

Registered:
08/22/07
Posted 12/11/2011 08:36 AM

I think if the residents like bingo,then let them play.



jane

Registered:
03/02/11
Posted 12/11/2011 03:34 PM

We have it three times each week.  Always the same games in the same order played the same way.  I tried two times to encourage them to mix it up a bit at least and do an X or Bacon and Eggs instead of cover all or postage stamp and there was a near riot.  Tongue out

It's also the same people who attend.  We have about 200 people in our community and it's the same 25 people each game- give or take a couple of residents.  And it would be one thing if the majority of those people were residents who only attended that one thing, but nearly all of them also attend other programs as well.  I just think that more than twice a week is too much when there are so many other really excellent things out there to do and learn. It just feels like one of those games is taking up very valuable space on the calendar that could be devoted to something more purposeful and meaningful.



JGAL

Registered:
09/17/10
Posted 12/12/2011 08:08 AM

I have bingo 3 times per week, and every other Saturday, it seems like a lot to me of course, but then again, I always feel that we should do what the residents like and enjoy not what WE think they should do or enjoy.  I have had adminstrators say, ""there is too much bingo", but if I try to change the calendar or do something else they are not happy!  I do have a varied program, but bingo is the staple and the room is full of residents, so bingo has a lot of advantages for the residents, socialization, fine motor skills improvement, cognitive improvement, and the fun and thrill of winning.  I do not want someone else telling me that I cannot go to the mall or that I go to much, or I cannot do this or that because this other thing would be "better" for me, I want to do what I want to do during my recreation time, so I feel that the residents deserve nothing less.



jane

Registered:
03/02/11
Posted 12/13/2011 02:05 PM

I have bingo 3 times per week, and every other Saturday, it seems like a lot to me of course, but then again, I always feel that we should do what the residents like and enjoy not what WE think they should do or enjoy.  I have had adminstrators say, ""there is too much bingo", but if I try to change the calendar or do something else they are not happy!  I do have a varied program, but bingo is the staple and the room is full of residents, so bingo has a lot of advantages for the residents, socialization, fine motor skills improvement, cognitive improvement, and the fun and thrill of winning.  I do not want someone else telling me that I cannot go to the mall or that I go to much, or I cannot do this or that because this other thing would be "better" for me, I want to do what I want to do during my recreation time, so I feel that the residents deserve nothing less.

- JGAL



 

Too true!  And that's what I have to keep reminding myself because a big possibility is we could use up that spot and create a program that nobody even bothers to attend because it seems like it would be "better for them".  Then that would be even worse because I messed up something that was already successful AND took away their choices. 

Emily, Bacon and Eggs is when you have to fill in the left side of the card with two lines going straight down the 'B' and 'I' row and you make a small postage stamp up in the right corner of the 'G' and 'O' side.  The two long rows are the bacon and the square at the top are the eggs!  It's a really cute one!




Emily in CT

Registered:
08/22/07
Posted 12/13/2011 07:55 AM

We have it three times each week.  Always the same games in the same order played the same way.  I tried two times to encourage them to mix it up a bit at least and do an X or Bacon and Eggs instead of cover all or postage stamp and there was a near riot.  Tongue out

It's also the same people who attend.  We have about 200 people in our community and it's the same 25 people each game- give or take a couple of residents.  And it would be one thing if the majority of those people were residents who only attended that one thing, but nearly all of them also attend other programs as well.  I just think that more than twice a week is too much when there are so many other really excellent things out there to do and learn. It just feels like one of those games is taking up very valuable space on the calendar that could be devoted to something more purposeful and meaningful.

- jane

Hi, I was just wondering what bacon and eggs looked like.   We do the pyramid, stairs, layered cake, all the letters i can think of like T, L, E.  I just never heard of bacon and eggs!



Emily in CT

Registered:
08/22/07
Posted 12/12/2011 08:14 AM

Hi, we are a continuing care facility so each level does bingo differently.  The residential part (or independant living) run the games themselves and they play every other saturday.  They have coupons to the little store we have on campus.  They play the same games and have about 20-30 people play.  For assisted, I run it.  We play twice a week, we play 9-10 games with the games ranging from a progressive game with 4 corners to picture frame to full care to regular bingo.  For prizes I have a big basket full of fun size candies or little packs of kleenex or crackers that they get one for each win.  I also have tickets to the store but I only give out tickets to the residents who would remember they recieved a ticket.  The skilled unit does not play bingo because the resident never really want to.  We ask every month or so and they say no.

About 6 monthes ago we went from playing once a week to twice a week because I had a couple of residents ask to play more and I went to resident council and asked the group and they all said yes.  I have the same 15-20 residents play, they love it.  I bet if I had it more they would play it more.  The assisted group is having more trouble playing the picture games like pyramid and staircase, because some of them play all the spots and then other residents get angry that they are filling in everything (it sometimes starts fights!!). The players are serious players and yell at eachother for talking during the game and if I do not go fast enough. 

Maybe instead of playing more bingo, play games like bingo like bunco or get the special bingo boards here on activity connection so at least it changes things up alittle.  I agree if they really want it then we should give it to them.



hillview

Registered:
10/22/09
Posted 12/12/2011 10:52 AM

We use to play bingo Monday through Friday for a very long time. then along comes a new young administrator who only wanted them to play one time a week. He openly admitted "I thought the residents were going to cut my head off--they were ready to hang me!" so, bingo stayed on the calendar for 5 days a week for 1 hour each. Then they learned a new game called cardo. we have talked about this game before--some people call it by another name. Anyway, I was able to talk them into playing bingo 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday and play cardo on Tuesday and Thursday. For us, this has been quite successful for my area. I will add though, that the assisted living still play bingo Mon-thru Friday and if my group wants to continue to play bingo each of those 5 days, then they have the opportunity to go there to play but they must be able to take them themselves and bring themselves back. So far, it has worked.

sue

Registered:
02/18/08
Posted 12/13/2011 04:37 PM

Thank your lucky stars~~~We have bingo 6 times a week!!!  You should try to sneak in a happy hour with it-ha! ha!

 



54131

Registered:
09/16/07
Posted 12/23/2011 12:31 PM

Thank your lucky stars~~~We have bingo 6 times a week!!!  You should try to sneak in a happy hour with it-ha! ha!

 

Too funny! We have bingo every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I remember one month we tried to switch the time from 3:00 to 2:00 and the residents lost it! We were going through a management change as well, and I think that might have been too drastic of a change for our people here. I CANNOT imagine having bingo 6 times a week. They get mad at us over at the business office when we get the prize money for them at too soon of intervals, but we also have 3 different callers and some are much faster than others, so the money goes pretty fast sometimes. We also have candy as a prize but no body takes the candy over here. I think that if you try to add another bingo to the calendar just feel it out and take it as it comes, you should be fine. We added an extra bingo for the Assisted Living Residents only, and it ended up not working, so we got rid of it. There is nothing wrong with trial and error I think :)



Dilworth

Registered:
07/22/09
Posted 12/14/2011 08:24 AM

Once a week as a house wide program.  If certain residents want it more often, they can play it on their neighborhood.



ErikaWa

Registered:
04/05/10
Posted 12/24/2011 01:20 PM

During the economic crisis in 08, we had a big downsizing of staff and budgets. At that time I told my resident council that because of the activity budget being cut, we would only allow 6 quarters in our bingo basket (in addition to the candies/kleenex/granola bars, etc). The residents understood, and even now I have not restored any more quarters because all of our callers call at different speeds and I want to know that I'm spending the same each month. In addition, I ask my diehard players to come help me play a game in memory care - they partner with a resident that needs help and are eligible for the prizes except money (I don't use money in memory care). Those that help really feel good about their 'vice'!