Expand and enrich your Best Friends activity programming with 149 all-new activities for individuals with dementia. Like the first book, this collection of fun and easy activities will add both meaning and enjoyment to the activities at your adult day center, home care setting, or residential care facility.
Feedback and insights from individuals with early-stage dementia helped shape this new collection, as well as activity suggestions from national and international dementia programs. As a result, the activities include a new focus on diversity and multiculturalism. Also featured are topics to interest to participants in their 50s and 60s, such as the Internet, advocacy, and community service.
Participants, staff, and family members will enjoy fresh ideas for creative art projects, interactive games, and evening activities. New themes to explore in Volume 2 include activities related to the kitchen and food, life story sharing and reminiscence, religious and spiritual traditions, and wellness. Adaptations for people in the early and late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, preventive measures to avoid unwanted surprises, and conversation tips make these activities particularly versatile.
Use this resource to extend the benefits you already enjoy from the Best Friends programming or discover for the first time how this groundbreaking approach can transform activities and daily interactions.
Introduction
Activity Grid
- Celebrating the Moment
- Honoring the Life Story
- Religious and Spiritual Traditions
- Wellness
- Adult Education
- Let’s Create
- In the Kitchen
- Games and Active Things to Do
- In the Evening
- Community Spirit
Conclusion
Resources for Activities Professionals
Virginia Bell, M.S.W., has lectured widely on Alzheimer’s disease at national and international conferences, speaking at 11 National Education Conferences of the Alzheimer’s Association and lecturing at the last 16 conferences of Alzheimer’s Disease International. She has published journal articles and book chapters, notably in Dementia Care: Patient, Family and Community (John Hopkins, 1989).
Many of her articles have been reprinted numerous times: “The Alzheimer’s Disease Bill of Rights” (1994), “The Other Face of Alzheimer’s Disease” (1999) and “Spirituality and the Person with Dementia” (2001), co-authored with David Troxel and published in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and in Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly. She has also co-authored four books with David Troxel, most notably The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care.
Virginia is currently the Program Consultant for the Greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. She received her M.S.W. from the University of Kentucky in 1982.
David Troxel, M.P.H., has become nationally and internationally known for his writing and teaching in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease and long-term care. He has co-authored four influential books (most notably, The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care) on Alzheimer’s care as well as numerous articles relating to Alzheimer’s disease care and staff development and training.
His latest book on activities was published in 2004. David received his Master’s Degree in Public Health from UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (formerly Rutgers Medical School) in 1986.
David is a past Executive Board member of the American Public Health Association and is a member of the Ethics Advisory Panel for the United States Alzheimer’s Association. He currently serves as a Program Consultant to the Alzheimer’s Association California Central Coast Chapter in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.
Tonya M. Cox, M.S.W., L.N.H.A., is Executive Director for The Homeplace at Midway, a Green House® community owned by Christian Care Communities, Inc.. Tonya is among the first to blend the Best Friends™ approach into this innovative housing model. Her previous responsibilities as Director of Community Based Services for Christian Care included training and sustaining the Best Friends approach and overseeing the original Best Friends™ Adult Day Center in Lexington, Kentucky. She has also served as Vice President for Mission and Service for the Greater Kentucky/Southern Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and for more than 15 years has been developing programs and services for persons with dementia and their caregivers, including working on national curriculum development for professional caregivers in various care settings. Tonya presents locally and nationally on activity programming and dementia care. She is a co-author on two of the Best Friends™ books (The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer’s Activities, Volume One and Volume Two) and contributed to The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care, Second Edition, with Virginia Bell and David Troxel. She has served as co-chair of the Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Advisory Council and is a practicum supervisor for both the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work. Tonya is also Adjunct Professor at Midway University in their Health Care Administration Program.
Robin Hamon, M.S.W., is a Family Support Coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Kentucky Sanders Brown Center on Aging. During her tenure as program manager for the Helping Hand Day Center, she developed a creative arts training program for staff and volunteers working with persons with dementia. Hamon is co-author of the two Best Friends™ activity books.
admin –
“The art in moving Best Friends from philosophy to practice lies in providing consistent and meaningful opportunities for engagement and relationship building.The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer’s Activities, Vol. 2, gives each of us, as caregivers, the vehicle to continually foster great relationships of trust while delivering great programming and activity ideas.”
—Gerald L. Jackson, Director of Program and Staff Development, Elmcroft Senior Living
admin –
“This book of activities provides wonderful ideas to prevent behaviors—such as hitting—from occurring because of boredom, and it provides a richness to quality of life for those with Alzheimer’s disease. At the end of the day, when you look at the moments of joy the activities in this book provide, you find that the residents have had a great day filled with multiple successes.”
—Linda Nickolisen, Executive Director, Prestige Senior Living at Manteca
admin –
“Discovering the Best Friends approach and bringing it to our care community was life changing. For any professional or family member who feels lost in the Alzheimer’s journey, this new book is a valuable road map, complete with step-by-step directions to achieving excellence in dementia care.”
—Jill Hess, LMSW, ACSW, Former VP of Organizational Development and Memory Care, Heritage Community of Kalamazoo
—Ann Richards, RN, Community Director, Heritage Community of Kalamazoo
admin –
“Our caregivers embrace the Best Friends™ philosophy every day, knowing that good care is about relationships and doing creative things together. This new book offers hundreds of life-affirming, creative ideas that family and professional caregivers can use at home. Highly recommended!”
–Buck Shaw, Home Instead Senior Care, Sacramento CA
admin –
“Like The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer’s Activities, Volume One this collection of activities will add both meaning and enjoyment. The Best Friends Book of Alzheimer’s Activities, Volume Two is extremely helpful, and a book that you will reference often. Individuals with dementia, staff, and family members will enjoy the fresh ideas for creative art projects, interactive games, and evening activities …”
–Creative Forecasting® Magazine