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Can we share these?  Does anyone have any groups or processes which combine many tasks, save time, insure good participation, et all they'd like to share?

For instance:

I use that 30 minutes or so before the noon meal to hold an exercise and/or sensory group;  I've got a mostly captive audience, and surveyors hate to see folks just sitting around waiting for the food to come out, so I use that time for a formal activity.  Mostly independent folks get a sittercise-ish activity which they can participate in, or not, MWF, and then daily, the assisted diners receive sensory- hand massages, reminisce, move-to-music, whatever.  I'm not bugging nursing to get folks ready for an activity (they're already present), I'm utilizing time surveyors find problematic, and I'm getting better participation because the more folks who  participate, the more other folks will participate.  Win-win-win.

Also, as mentioned in another thread, I use the Daily Chronicle from this website-  it is invaluable to me.  I put the day's activity groups on the back, add a word search or trivia and voila`!  I can reach 90% of the house in an hour.  I can use it as a contest (The Daily Chronicl Quiz, held monthly-  once a month, I tell 'em to save their Chronicles so they will have the answers to the quiz) and after a week, the trivia is from that past week's Chronicles.  Winner gets ten bucks.  I use it to list items on a scavenger hunt; it comes in Espanol (I'm about 20 minutes from the border) and I even have people who collect 'em to send to family members.  Invaluable.

Anyone else with some really great ideas?

We do a splash cart 1x weekly for each of our floors.

The splash cart is drinks such as milkshakes, smoothies and daiquiris that the kitchen makes up.  We then deliver it room to room.   Gets 1:1 visits done and the residents love it. 

Dietary doesn't work with us at all, we buy all our own supplies, have our own fridge, would be sooooooo nice if other departments would join activities, but that rarely happens.  they see it as my job not there job.

Haha  I know theres dozens of people reading this board, but few posting :0(  Seriously?  Nobody else is adding tips and tricks, just us 3?

Ok, my next tip is the " are you smarter than a 5th grader "  deal.  I used to use that as the name of trivia activities but stopped after awhile.  I don't want to relate the residents to children,

when in fact the MAJORITY of the trivia I collect and use is Junior, youth and kids.  But the residents don't know that.  They think that they are being asked adult trivia and feel very very smart when they can do well.

But thats not the tip.  In the stores trivia games are $20 to $30 bucks.  In thrift stores only 2 or 3 bucks.  Browse the games, loofor k 20 questions for kids, trivial pursuit junior ect ect and then keep the cards and throw away the rest.  You don't need the game, just the trivia that comes with it.  I have an AMAZING trivia cabinet with stacks of cards from 20 or more games and even do outreach to other buildings and lead trivia contests between split groups.  SO much fun, and on the cheap.

:0)

This may be something that people already do but hey... if you don't it will save a TON of time:

I work in a SNF, and when we go out on outings I try to take as many people as I am allowed- I don't care if I will spend half the time in and out of the bathroom with everyone- in my opinion everyone deserves a day out of the facility so I try to provide that as frequently as I can. Anyways my tip is this:
When planning an outing (particularly a lunch outing) I would spend so much time putting out little fires (the waitress got my drink wrong, I don't want to sit next to this person anymore, I can't read the menu, I didn't bring any money, etc) that it would take forever to get our drinks, food, even napkins! So I started to go online to the restaurant and print out their menu (or get it faxed to me). The day before the outing I go around to every Resident and ask them what they want to eat/drink/dessert and I type it all up on the computer. I include how the checks will be split (everyone on one check to me, bus driver is seprate check) as well as any allergy information (Allergic to onions- please no onions on side salad or in coleslaw) and when we arrive I hand one copy of that paper to our waitress. I then tell her that I have a copy of the same list so when she comes out with the drinks and food I will help her place where they go.

It has worked out WONDERFULLY and every waitress that we have had since has raved about how she wished everyone did this. It saves so much confusion at the restaurant (where the public love to stare at the Residents and staff... at least I seem to notice) which saves me the headache and makes me proud when our Cypress Cove bus comes to pick us up.
Just a tip. :)

I know this might sound mean or strict at first but it worked for me!  I like others, had struggled with getting staff to help transport residents to and from activities.  I struggled with different ways to get them to help me and my staff and was met with all the excuses all of you have heard.

I finally bit the bullet so to speak and put my foot down.  I purchased a large candy jar and filled it with a variety of mini candies; candy bars, hard candy, suckers etc.  Also; every activity that involved any type of food; I made sure I had enough for the staff.

When staff came down to "grab something to take to break"; I said NO!  I was nice but FIRM about it.  I spread the word fast that no one; including activity staff could have anything until after the residents had their snacks and if staff showed up before their break, they would have to wait.

If staff brought a resident to an activity, they could get candy from the candy jar.  When the activity was over, staff would come to get residents and get a snack (or candy if it was an activity that did not include food)  Once the activity was over, I would take snacks down the halls for residents in rooms and to staff that were busy doing care and couldn't transport.

It took a while and some were mad at first, but once word got out that everyone could have a snack if they transported, it worked for the most part.  I got more help than had before I started this practice.  Like others, I did have a couple staff that would always wait for me to bring the snacks and still refused to transport but overall, everyone was good about helping.  Also, I was fortunate to be able to get most of my dietary supplies from the dietary department so that did help with making the extra snacks I needed.