We have a number of new subscribers to this newsletter this week which is fantastic! I would encourage new subscribers to click here to see the 4 previous newsletters that have been released.
We continue to be COVID Free for Staff and Residents!
This was a big week here at the Home. On Thursday we started the COVID-19 swab testing on staff and a few residents with some great help from two Nurse Practitioners, our Registered staff, Dr. Robichaud and Emily Sarley (our new Assistant Manager of Nursing).
On Friday, we had Dr. Touzel and his Resident Physician here along with three Nurse Practitioners, our Registered staff, Dr. Robichaud and Emily to complete all the remaining residents and most of the staff. We will finish the last few staff over the weekend. We are unlikely to receive the results to this testing until Monday or Tuesday.
We had an amazing weekend of fun, great food and treats, entertainment and phone/zoom visits with family. Hope you like all the pictures included this week.
Program Schedule -- Here is this week's program schedule
Window Visits -- We have created more window spots along the front of the building in front of the windows at MacDonald Hall. We have positioned benches and seating right up by the windows (on both sides of the window) to help facilitate easier visits for all. The ground around the building is certainly not the easiest to walk on with uneven ground for sure, so we thought this may be helpful for many of you. I encourage you to call ahead so that we can ensure to have the person you are wanting to visit brought to this window and we will have the phone there for them so that you can call them on your phone and they can hear you much easier over the phone.
Research suggests that listening to or singing songs can provide emotional and behavioral benefits for people with different types of dementia. Musical memories are often preserved because areas of the brain such as the limbic brain are relatively undamaged by the disease. Music appears to activate fond memories of youth and those living with dementia will often sing, begin to move, even dance. In Dementia, long term memories tend to persist and listening to music from younger days can activate areas of the brain that otherwise seem nonexistent. Music is also incredibly beneficial as it stimulates parts of the brain, such as those areas affecting language, mood and movement, along with the senses of hearing, sight, sound and touch.
As a person with dementia progresses on their journey and communication becomes more difficult, music can be a way to feel enjoyment. While listening to music, they can often be seen dancing, clapping, singing which can be a way of reaching others as well as maintaining social connections. In the later stages of the disease as verbal skills diminish, music can boost mood, decrease periods of agitation, improve focus and provide a great amount of comfort.
At the Parrott Centre, staff know that music helps our residents living with dementia stay engaged and remain happy. Staff will use music to:
Start the day: Playing or singing animated, happy songs when helping our residents living with dementia can ease dressing and hygiene activities in the morning. It is common to hear staff singing “You are my sunshine” with a resident while providing morning care.
Break a repetitive behavior: Listening to familiar songs can help our residents break away from repetitive behaviours like asking the same question over and over, calling out or continued pacing.
Provide a stimulating activity: Adding music to therapy or exercise sessions helps our residents living with dementia focus on moving. Singing while doing exercise helps them with their breathing and keeps them engaged with the activity.
Easing into nighttime routines: Soft, calming music can create a calm environment and ease sundowning behavior (like anxiety or anger) and create a serene atmosphere for bedtime routines.
If you think your loved one may respond well to music, think about creating a playlist of songs to drop off at the JMPC. Choose music that was popular when they were between the ages of 18 and 25. You may also want to consider how they engaged with music in the past. Did they enjoy songs from days of singing in the church choir or were they forever playing music from the Beatles? Thinking about what kind of music provided entertainment to them may help when choosing music for the playlist. Did they enjoy going to the Opera? Were they lovers of campfire singing? Or did they enjoy Broadway musicals? Staff will be happy to play the collection of songs you have created for your loved ones and we guarantee your playlist will provide hours of joy, entertainment and pleasure to each day.
Around the Home
Basket Making
Ruth S
Gail M & Bernice M
Grace P
Edyth F
Helen L
Florence M
Jean B
Tina B
Wreath Building
Mother's Day Weekend at JMPC
We had a wonderful weekend here at JMPC and really tried to make the weekend as special as possible for your Moms...
We had carnations for every dining room table set out on Friday for everyone to enjoy all weekend.
Kids aged 7 & 8 from Newburgh Public School made a card and egg carton flower for all of the Moms to enjoy, which we delivered on Saturday. We had an area upstairs and downstairs where we gathered “Motherly Advice” from residents which had some pretty good words of wisdom for all of us to heed!
On Saturday we had the Manning Brothers here to provide us a great afternoon of Musical entertainment under the balcony which many were able to enjoy.
On Sunday, we had Jay Middleton here providing some classic Country tunes for the afternoon.
We had some very special desert treats on both days as well as a tasty Roast Beef Dinner on Sunday.
So many zoom visits and phone calls as well as many window waves which certainly brightened everyone’s day!!
We are placing all of your very kind Thank you cards downstairs for all the staff to see. Your words provide wonderful encouragement to the staff which is really appreciated.
Amber Meyer and her family decorated and donated a beautiful window painting (along with some baked goods and flowers) that we will hang in the Community Garden for everyone to enjoy. Her boys are shown here making the window.