Root Beer Float Therapy

I work in a personal care unit of a small town hospital/nursing home facility in Montana. Days can be long, meals provided can be bland, and visitors can be few for the residents living 24/7 where I work anywhere from 8 hour shifts to 12 hour shifts 5 days a week.

Some times spirits start to sink for these folks. Signs are changes in tones/attitude, less attendance in daily activities provided and finally in eating habits. We offer snacks between meals 3 times a day and for the most part none are accepted. The residents do usually keep something in their cupboards in their rooms but with regular checks (to keep water cups filled) and verbal reminders (asking if they would like a snack), still sometimes extra calories or even enough caloric intake is not done. One thing we (the staff of 4) have noticed is by combining little cups of vanilla ice cream and a partial can of root beer in a coffee cup and including a spoon and straw, there are smiles on faces all around. Only recently one resident said to me, "How did you know that a root beer float was always my favorite drink?"

Just this week, I have been experiencing a sort of loss because one of the residents moved out to be taken care of by her daughter at her home. The resident's physical limitations were deteriorating so that she would have to be moved into the nursing home part of our facility. When I made root beer floats for the other residents today, I had to mentally dedicate it to this now "former" resident. I cherished our many conversations and learned several new things in my 6 months of interactions.

Also as a treat to my family, I stopped at the local market and brought home some vanilla ice cream and root beer to have floats for desserts. All smiles in my house tonight!

Hoping you treat yourself to this simple fun tasting joy some time soon.

The Stitches Are Flying

A staff at the group home told me last night that she could not believe coming into work the Saturday before how she found the kids up doing their needlework and craft projects could make them so calm and quiet. Then she told me that she would pay money to see our newest resident (a hyper teenage male) sitting doing needlework. This may be my newest challenge, but I think it will have to wait until a certain girl departs the home in a couple of weeks as she is keeping drama alive and well.



The 13 year old boy created the above embroidery piece and I turned it into a tote bag for his 10 year old sister. She is very pleased with it. Now I have to finish her 12 year old sister's project, but I am undecided as to whether a tote bag or a pillow will be the finished product. Tote bags take a little bit longer and more planning to finish.



I made my very first apron for a staff member that was moving to California. The 17 year old girl resident did the giraffe because Shannon loves them and then asked her what she wanted it turned into. An apron was the reply and me being a "Mary Poppins" type person had to rise to the occasion and try to fulfill the request. All in all, I was pleased and will probably do some more exploring on aprons in the future. One thing I did not included on this piece was pockets as time just didn't allow it.



The 13 year old boy resident said his youngest sister liked fairies and princess things. I found this picture online and made it into a pattern for him to embroidery. Wanting to do something different, she was made a draw string purse with a rounded bottom. There are things I would like to do different if I ever attempt another similar design.



This last piece is from the 17 year old girl resident. She has a very up and down relationship with her mother. I did find it very interesting though that when she wanted to start stitching to make something, her mother was the first person on her mind. A big smile came on her face the morning she got up and found her mom's pillow sitting on the table for her to have.

They are wearing me out. Forcing projects to come faster and faster for them. I ended up doing 4 patterns on fabric for each of them with an under the sea theme. This is giving me a break, but I was shown last night that these are mostly completed and today is a new week. Now one wants jungle theme animals to stitch and the other I have talked into making something really pretty for his grandmother as a peace offering to get him back in her good graces and maybe back home sooner.

I also made a smaller floral door knob hanger out of felt for a girl in the home that has a much lower cognition level but wants to be doing projects like the others. I had her work on stitching some on the little item just for decorations. Wish I had remembered to take a picture -- maybe another time. I also was able to purchase her some $1 items that required double sided sticky dots with sequins and plastics gems to be put on preprinted colorful pictures. She was spell bound and determined to keep on working.

These kids are thriving on a sense of accomplishment and on the communication they are getting that is positive while working on their projects and then when finished. I hope it will last long enough for them to remember that feeling and use it to their advantage in the future.

PS: We do get them out of the house on a daily basis with weather permitting -- yesterday we went to a local park and flew my huge frisbee, played with my big bouncy ball and let them climb on the play equipment. Plus, they got to play on a slip and slide the home purchased for them. -- Got to keep them active and busy!!!