Helping to improve outcomes
The benefits of participating in activities and exercise to enhance the overall wellbeing of care home residents are extensive and well-recognised. Enhancing residents’ physical, cognitive, and mental abilities can significantly improve their quality of life.
Furthermore, staying active is essential for older adults to maintain and enhance muscle strength. This increased strength plays a crucial role in improving balance, which is vital for preventing falls.
According to The Care Workers Charity, regular exercise among older people reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 35%. This highlights the importance of residents maintaining an active lifestyle to improve physical health and overall wellbeing.
The importance of care home activities
Older adults must remain socially active through meaningful group activities. Care homes can effectively address these needs by offering a variety of engaging activities that enhance the quality of life and provide an essential structure to daily routines.
Group activities such as crafts, quizzes, exercise sessions, and social events serve as social occasions that help residents feel less isolated. These activities provide both mental stimulation and a sense of purpose, contributing to improved mental wellbeing and overall health.
The practical challenges of organising care home activities
The key challenge for care homes is identifying and organising engaging activities tailored to residents’ needs. Scheduling activities, managing sign-ups, and encouraging participation require significant effort. This process can take valuable time away from your care team, which may not always be operating at full capacity.
Additionally, managing activities on paper or spreadsheets presents challenges in keeping track of each resident’s activities, cross-referencing them with their care plans, and identifying early signs of decreased engagement or activity.
Is technology the solution? We believe it is!
Incorporating tech into care home activities
By utilising the right technology, such as Person Centred Software’s Wellness and Activities Platform, a digital solution that’s part of its Connected Care offering, you can efficiently organise and schedule a whole year’s worth of activities! You can also quickly assess whether you’re striking a healthy balance between physical, mental, and social activities throughout the year because each activity type on the platform is colour-coded!
And that’s not all! Person Centred Software’s Wellness and Activities platform also offers a wide range of personalised and adaptable activities based on individual interests.
“Each of our care homes uses Person Centred Software’s Wellness and Activities Platform, which provides fun and engaging activities and enables our activity coordinators to develop skills and improve every aspect of their wellbeingdelivery, residents’ outcomes, and overall wellbeing.
Knowing that the platform is created by experts in wellbeing, mental health, dementia, and nutrition gives me assurance that each activity is safe for the residents, allowing me to conduct the classes without any concerns.
What truly sets Person Centred Software apart is its unwavering commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that there’s something for everyone, regardless of skill or ability level.”
Lisa Stevenson, the lead activities coordinator for Kingsmead Care Home
The Wellness and Activities Platform has become an essential resource for care providers across the UK. From live exercise sessions led by the one and only Mr Motivator to arts and crafts, puzzles, magazines, cooking recipes, and Christmas activities, there is so much available to support engagement and creativity. This list is just the beginning!
Whether residents want to improve their physical health, engage their minds, or express their creativity, the Wellness and Activities platform has something for everyone!
In addition, the platform offers a variety of customised activities specifically designed to support individuals living with dementia, anxiety, and depression, among other conditions.
The platform helps residents to:
- Enhance quality of life
- Improve physical and emotional health
- Maintain independence
- Improve family and friend interaction
- Boost brain stimulation
- Improve balance and mobility
- Reduce isolation and loneliness
- Improve social interaction
- Reduce depression
You can also easily allocate staff members and integrate the platform with your rostering tool – Best of all, you can have an online repository of tried and trusted activities ready for use!
Technology cannot replace care workers’ roles in residents’ lives, but it can help to automate and streamline processes
Technology, such as Person Centred Software’s Connected Care Platform, cannot replace care workers’ roles in residents’ lives, but it can help automate and streamline processes and improve overall efficiency, giving carers more time to care. When carers have more time to care, residents become happier and healthier, leading to improved outcomes.
Discover what Connected Care could mean for your care homes, and book a KareInn demo today!
