ICE CREAM: On Tuesdays, we have ice cream social at 3pm (right before dinner at 4). The residents love it but many don't eat dinner because we have it right before. I'm still amazed at the amount of unhealthy food that the residents have the opportunity to get and are encouraged to. Several residents, particularly the highly social ones with severe dementia, end up at all of the events. I'm always excited to see them participating but it concerns me that they're eating so many sweets. Sometimes I think about their diets and it seems that they eat A LOT of carbs. Maybe that exercise each day really is doing a lot of good -- although I know that some of them only participate in the eating events so that couldn't really be an explanation.
Let's put it this way: If I were the activities director or the head chef, I would be sure to encourage and provide more healthy options than Morningside seems to.
POKER: Every Wednesday a group of residents come down for poker. They're just as hardcore about it as they are about bingo. It's actually quite funny how upset they can get over little mishaps. Today was my second week leading a beginners poker group. Last week, I had three residents participate. This week, two that attended last week's group showed up again. They both seem semi-enthusiastic about learning how but I think they're more anxious to move up to the hardcore poker group than anything simply because of the social atmosphere that comes with it. Residents in the hardcore group are all cognitively sound and communicate sensibly and normally. The two that are working with me seem to also want to be recognized as such---although it's already clear to the staff that they are.
We'll see how long their enthusiasm lasts and if they show up next week!
ORPHANS: Once a month, Morningside hosts a speaker series. Today was that day this month. Two residents, Ruth and Marie, were the speakers this month. They talked about their father who was an orphan in New York City. Around the age of six, he was taken by train to Centerville, Iowa and raised by an older couple there. According to the sisters, their father was really taken in by the couple in order to take care of them and be a servant for them in exchange for shelter and food. They explained that their mother recalls him saying that he never felt loved by anyone until he started a family of his own. Even then, he wasn't affectionate and rarely expressed his emotions.
We watched a clip about others' experiences with the orphan trains. It's fascinating that so many residents attend these events and still have a desire and passion to learn at their late stage in life. In fact, it's one of the most attended events Morningside has. A passion for learning is an admirable quality and one that I'm sure I will continue to have myself. It's such an important quality in this era of technology and rapidly changing environments!
I hope to update again tomorrow about bridge, my husband, and Thursdays happenings!
Until then,
Megan
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