I wrote a guest post for McKnight’s Long Term Care News addressing how psychologists can help nursing home residents and when a referral for treatment might be appropriate. “The recent Illinois legal decision to move mentally ill nursing home residents into smaller mental health settings is likely to prompt an industry-wide examination of the practice … Read more
For families with hectic schedules, trying to attend Care Plan Meetings, which occur during daytime work hours, can be a major challenge. Of course they don’t want to miss the opportunity to meet with the whole treatment team to provide and gather information, and to advocate for their loved one. On the other hand, taking … Read more
I recently saw a video showing a 99-year old woman reading and composing poetry on her new iPad, which brightened and enlarged the typeface enough that she could read again despite limited vision due to glaucoma. It got me thinking about apps our elders could use in the nursing home and upon discharge. Please add … Read more
My hip 80-something mother-in-law uses Skype’s free video calls to view the family as she talks with them over the computer. I’d like to see video calls in nursing homes, either via a video phone or over the Internet in the resident computer room (what, your facility doesn’t have a computer room yet?). Families could … Read more
In Finding Activities for Parents with Memory Loss, Dr. Cynthia Green (a psychologist!) and her readers provide excellent ideas to improve the quality of visits to nursing home residents with dementia. It’s worthwhile to read the post and comments on the New York Times’ New Old Age blog, but here’s a summary that’s a welcome … Read more
Now that I know I’m not going against State regulations (see Dr. El Goes Undercover with the NYS Department of Health), I’ll confess I love to use my iPhone with the residents. In nursing homes that don’t yet have computer access, the iPhone and other web-enabled mobile devices bring the world right to the residents. … Read more
I’m still at it! Cut by Stacey Lyn Weinstein of Loft 26 in Manhattan. Previous posts on this subject: Going Gray Update (1/4/10) Going Gray (5/10/09)
Volunteering in a nursing home can be a rewarding, life-changing experience for many people and for a variety of reasons, some of which I’ve posted below. Please add your thoughts in the Comments section. The Savvy Resident’s Guide is a quick read and a great way to get an overview of how nursing homes work and … Read more
There’s an interesting article about stroke rehabilitation by Tori DeAngelis in the March 2010 issue of the Monitor on Psychology. In “New help for stroke survivors,” she writes about research showing that a “transfer package” is an essential component in maintaining the gains of inpatient rehab once the patient returns home. The transfer package includes … Read more
Most of the excellent nursing home volunteers I’ve encountered over the years have been involved with the recreation department, hosting or bringing residents to activities. Here are some other positions of great value to the residents, some of which I’ve witnessed and others I’d like to see. Please add your additions to the Comments section. … Read more