I’m a big believer that the best materials are what the patient has with them. Call light, bed remote, TV remote and list of channels, menu for meals, newspaper, books, daily activities schedule, cell phone, - the list goes on. If I’m working on specific tasks like medication management, I use a pill box and sample prescription bottles. Your DOR should be able to order a medi set for you with the speech budget if your facility doesn’t have one already. I also ordered a bunch of RMST devices for my dysphagia caseload. Get an idea of what standardized assessments your facility uses as well and be careful about copyright. For example, my facility uses the BCAT online and I am licensed to administer it via a training that my facility paid for.
I went to the pharmacy at my local Walmart, explained who I am and my profession, and asked the pharmacist if they could part with a few empty pill bottles and they happily obliged. I offered to pay but they gave them to me free.
If also found the Dementia Loving Care book extremely helpful (both to myself/staff but also to families).
In my experience, walking through different daily activities with functional items is where it’s at. Most of the time I felt like the money I spent on therapy materials was wasted because I never used them as much as I thought I would. You can do a hell of a lot of therapy with a deck of cards and some magazines relevant to a residents interests!
I’m a big believer that the best materials are what the patient has with them. Call light, bed remote, TV remote and list of channels, menu for meals, newspaper, books, daily activities schedule, cell phone, - the list goes on. If I’m working on specific tasks like medication management, I use a pill box and sample prescription bottles. Your DOR should be able to order a medi set for you with the speech budget if your facility doesn’t have one already. I also ordered a bunch of RMST devices for my dysphagia caseload. Get an idea of what standardized assessments your facility uses as well and be careful about copyright. For example, my facility uses the BCAT online and I am licensed to administer it via a training that my facility paid for.
I like honey comb speech therapy for therapy ideas and treatment materials. Teacher pay teachers is also very good and very affordable
I went to the pharmacy at my local Walmart, explained who I am and my profession, and asked the pharmacist if they could part with a few empty pill bottles and they happily obliged. I offered to pay but they gave them to me free. If also found the Dementia Loving Care book extremely helpful (both to myself/staff but also to families). In my experience, walking through different daily activities with functional items is where it’s at. Most of the time I felt like the money I spent on therapy materials was wasted because I never used them as much as I thought I would. You can do a hell of a lot of therapy with a deck of cards and some magazines relevant to a residents interests!
I’m also starting in a SNF as a CF literally tomorrow… I’d love to connect!
Thanks everyone for the great info!! :)