Forum Messages

I work in a 90 bed L/T facility and our caregivers are strung very thin and have little time to be involved in our programs, although don't get me wrong they help a lot and try to give us a hand when they can. However, we found that the best way to have help with programs is through volunteers, we have an extensive database of volunteers (over 120) and many visit the facility 2-3 times a week and some even more. Volunteers are invaluable to Long Term Care in my opinion.

The question about TB testing is a good one because it is a state regulation where I am and this has been sort of a barrier for getting volunteers at our location and we need them severely.  We have people eager to come in and help until I tell them that they have to put two different days aside to get tested for TB and even though our company pays for all of the screenings most of the people who are initially interested don't want to go to all of the trouble since a lot of them only have an expectation of visiting for an hour or two once a month to do one specific activity.

I am also in the same boat as the original poster.  We have three buildings and the activity staff consists of me (full time) and my assistant (part time 15 hours).  The two of us are also responsible for all transportation which typically takes up at least 25 hours a week for all outings and appointments.  Our care staff is stretched out to maximize the amount of hours we are given for help on the floor and for meals so they don't have time to be involved in things on the calendar.  I can say that they do a lot of individual things with residents and I count that as quality one-to-one time.  I think it's terrific that they do these personalized things as they provide direct care, however the residents don't feel that it counts as "activity time" because it isn't something that is scheduled on the calendar and done as a group.  So my assistant and I are hard pressed to figure out how to provide more group programs on the calendar that she and I can lead with no other time available to either of us and serious constraints on the availability of volunteers.

We do supplement with contracted, paid performers and therapists, but the budget is small and each building only gets one to two of these people per month.  I think it is interesting that if we pay someone to come in on a regular basis they don't have to get a TB test, but the state requires that people donating the same amount of time must do so.

Find out what likes the staff has, then schedule an activity around their interest.

Summer Recreation

I am curious as to where you are getting your volunteers from - I have a volunteer coordinator whose basic job is volunteer recruitment, and we struggle to get enough volunteers to assist with activities. 

One area that we found was a great place to find volunteers were senior's associations. We have several retirement communties here in our town so we approached them and we have many volunteers that come from that area. We found they were more then willing to volunteer and it gives those who are retired, but not nursing home ready, to keep busy during the day. We also associate with several church etc and we have partnered with the local junior high in a program that gets grade 9's invloved in the nursing home. Once a week during the school year every student in Grade 9 comes here for an hour as part of their curriculium to learn the importance of volunteering etc. We have retained many of these students over the years who continue to come back. Our nursing home has a very good repour with the community and we are very thankful that they aid us so much. My suggestion would be to find associations that have mobile seniors or retired people and get them involved. We also have a Volunteer Coordinator that works with us part-time that is of great value!