My husband is 74 and has dementia. I had to put him in the nursing home because I wasn’t able to care for him at home anymore. He sleeps and smokes all day and is up and down at night going out to smoke at all hours. Today he said he’s board and that’s why he goes to bed. I’ve brought things up to the activity director and I’ve been told if I think of anything for the men to do I needed to let the director know. I don’t mind helping but I don’t know where to look for ideas. I’ve thought of word finds for my husband but he sees that as childish. He built major roads around KS City yrs ago and wasn’t into word games, sports or golfing. He likes skeet shooting and messing with guns. He used to play in a band back in the day and I’ve taken his guitar to the care home thinking maybe he’d work with that but nope he wasn’t interested. They play bingo down there twice a week but he sees that as ridiculous. I’ve taken some of his gun books down that he always said he wanted time to read but he hasn’t opened them, but I don’t think he could read a sentence or two and even remember what he read. I tried telling him that it’s exercise for the brain. I keep telling him he’s got to challenge his brain instead of sleeping all day and being up and down all night...
Can anyone give me suggestions of where I can look for ideas?
Thank You in advance...
Thank You for your response
It may sound idealistic but this kind of music therapy has been shown to provide dementia patients with a lot of joy and helps to activate parts of the brain, get them talking and laughing.
Another thought is is to bring stuff to the NH for him to sort out with you there. He’s probably got boxes of old paperwork and junk from when he was working. I know my DH has boxes of that old crap from when he was working, and I would toss it in a heartbeat, but yours might enjoy going through it with you and telling old stories about it.
And if he built roads, maybe he’d be interested in local maps or an atlas. Some guys love researching stuff on a map.
Bowling with one of those indoor sets, what about a table top pool set?
1. A shave
2. A shower
3. Breakfast
4. A five minute walk
5. A gavem
6. Rest perios
7. Snack
8. A five minute walk
9. A treat if allowed ( icecream, cookie, etc.)
10. Checkers Challenge. (Keeping track of your and his wins and losses.)
11. A five minute walk
12. TV Time
13. Cribbage. Learn it with him. Great for memory
The key is to make a schedule that is posted, and then one that check marks can be added to. Routine and order help with memory.
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