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Partnering with the Friends School of Portland by Kimberly Doyon, Life Enrichment Coordinator at The Cedars The Life Enrichment Department at The Cedars is partnering with the Friends School of Portland to offer an exciting new, intergenerational program for the residents at the Skilled Care Center at The Cedars. On the first Wednesday of every month, 15 first and second grade students from Friends have been visiting with our nursing home residents to share the lessons they are learning in school. Examples include reading one on one, singing, drama skits and puppet shows, and games. Our goal has been to assure the same studentsmeet with the same residents each month so a therapeutic relationship can bemade and fostered. These friendly visits started in January, with each student arriving with a story that they had written about their lives which they then read to a resident. Over the past few months,...
Posted in our blog on by Katharine& filed under Featured.
Members and Residents at The Cedars are finding that going back to school has its advantages. It allows them to pursue interests they’ve always had or to learn something new that they were curious about but never had time for. There is the added motivation, however, from studies that suggest learning may actually help them stave off cognitive decline such as Alzheimer’s disease. A recent article in the New York Times, Exercising an Aging Brain (March 8, 2012), states that many studies have found exercising the brain and being mentally active are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Arthur Toga, a professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles explains that by having aninteractive conversation, you are changing the circuitry of your brain becausethe activity requires the nerve cells in your brain to fire, thereby using energyand delivering more blood flow and oxygen to your...
Posted in our blog on by Katharine& filed under Featured.
True Stories by Debby Paley, Volunteer at The Atrium Independent Retirement living at The Cedars In our True Stories group, we take turns telling stories from our lives. It turns out that story-telling as a social activity is making a comeback. There’s even a story-telling hour on Public Radio called “The Moth,” where people stand up at a microphone and tell their true stories. Two things got me interested in this. The first was the story-telling event thathappens three times a year at my daughter’s high school. Everyone (teenagers,parents, friends, teachers, the principal) is invited to stand up and tell astory. My other inspiration was my mother, Cabot Paley. She loved to listen tostories and to tell stories herself. She could weave an interesting story out of just about any everyday occurrence. We all have stories to tell, and in the True Stories group, we simply sit andshare them....
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Recreation in the Neighborhoods By Kimberly Doyon, Director of Life Enrichment “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead The Cedars is at the forefront of an important cultural change, transforming our resident wings into person-centered “neighborhoods.” Recreation therapy plays an important role in this new model. Neighborhoods are distinct, home-like environments with central dining and activities rooms. Each wing/neighborhood will be staffed by cross-trained clinical and non-clinical staff. This enables our staff to get to know your loved ones personally, which in turn meets their unique needs more successfully. Because we know that residents in facilities with this culture have better quality of life, we are moving towards a more person-centered approach. And this means we are changing the way we plan, design and implement our daily activities. Our recreation...
Posted in our blog on by Katharine& filed under Featured.
Life in the Neighborhood: Your Life Story Matters Kim Doyon, Life Enrichment Coordinator at The Cedars Life stories recognize the uniqueness of each person. Today the development and use of life stories is one important key to delivering person centered care at The Skilled Care Center. The Cedars staff believes that by placing the resident and their biography at the heart of care, we can better impact quality of life and care for our residents. Life story work is an activity that reviews the past experiences, life events and routines, and creates a biography of the person. The life story helps us understand the resident and will help to promote relationships and facilitate delivery of care. Many of our life enrichment activities are based on life stories and what residents deem as important. The Cedars asks the family members for help with the development of a life story for...
