Dan Stannard and David Archibald made busy boards for residents at Community Nursing Home Pickering.
Home’s staff invents program for residents with dementia
Wednesday October 3, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Finding adequate programming for residents in long-term care with cognitive impairment can be a difficult task. Creating programming for male residents in long-term care can also be a challenge.

But developing programs for men who have cognitive impairment can be extremely difficult, says Kim Mitchell, acting director of programs at Community Nursing Home Pickering.

However, three men from the home’s maintenance and housekeeping department came up with a solution to this problem after activity staff consulted with the them about programming ideas.

“We talked about needing something for the men to do,” says Mitchell. “They’re wandering sometimes, and they need something to do.”

Employees David Archibald, Dan Stannard and Matt Casquenette put together two busy boards to suit the needs of male residents with cognitive impairment.

“Matt came across the idea of putting something on a board and we basically used the resources that we have here,” says Archibald.

The busy boards the three men created consist of household gadgets men typically have a familiarity with, Mitchell points out. Articles such as a telephone, bathroom taps, dials and bolt locks have been mounted on the boards.

“We’ve got a lot of people who used to have jobs fixing stuff and they go around and break a lot of stuff, so we figured this might help keep them busy,” says Casquenette.

Residents with cognitive impairment use the boards to tinker with, which keeps them busy and prevents wandering.

Although the busy boards have only recently been implemented, Mitchell predicts they’ll be a success.

Mitchell says she has seen busy boards used in other long-term care homes, but often they are ones which have been designed for children. These busy boards, she notes, are not only gender specific, but also age appropriate.

“You can buy child-like things for kids to play with, but you can’t buy a lot of things that are adult-related,” says Mitchell. “So we talked about taps that turn on and off, and screws that unscrew and a telephone that you can dial and different sensory things like that.”

Mitchell adds that providing the men with a board designed with their age in mind is also an issue of dignity.

“It (brings) that element of adultness to it, because programs for people with cognitive impairment can sometimes take a child-like quality on,” she says.