I love the change of seasons. Fall is one of my favorites. As fall is legitimately here, I no longer give anyone a hard time about eating and drinking EVERYTHING pumpkin spice. I may even indulge in a pumpkin spice latte myself!
We get excited thinking about fun fall activities. Our activity staff get to be creative, and I love it when they post all the cool (no pun intended) pictures of the activities on social media. The residents can make fall-themed crafts, like garlands, decorate pumpkins, or make pomander balls.
Residents who can go out of the facility can enjoy the fresh fall air and natural scenery by taking a nature bus ride or visiting a pumpkin patch. Maybe even arrange for a hayride outside of the facility.
Oh, here is a tip from Nurse Jackie: If you get lost in a corn maze, just strip down to your underwear. Someone WILL send security and get you out of there. No need to panic!
And, of course, we can have apple picking games at the facility as well as visiting baby farm animals. We can start our seasonal decorating and get to involve our residents and sometimes families too. Dietary starts planning and serving festive fall meals. Just so much fun, especially when it provides a break in the routine for our residents.
So, it’s fall, y’all. Let’s make some autumnal magic for our well-deserving residents. Just be careful in that corn maze. And if you see someone in their underwear, don’t judge!
Just keeping it real,
Nurse Jackie
The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC, and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, a 2024 McKnight’s VIP Woman of Distinction award winner, and an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
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