A job can be as simple as folding the towels or clothes from the laundry. Or, sitting at a table and cutting up ingredients to prepare the meal with. Ask the patient to help you. He/She will be glad to have something to do to occupy their time. The patient doesn’t want to be a burden (well, maybe some do) and wants to be helpful.
Make the job as easy as possible for them to do. For example, when Mom would help me cut up ingredients for a salad, I sat her at the kitchen table, and brought her the cutting board and knife. I washed the vegetables and gave them to her. When she was finished, I gave her a soapy paper towel to wash her hands with and another one to rinse or dry with. That way, she didn’t have to make the effort to travel to the sink and stand up to wash her hands. She really liked helping me.
I was amazed when Dad would actually help fold the laundry. But, Mom had trained him well – he always helped around the house. Folding the laundry was something he could do with his Alzheimer’s – maybe not the normal way we always did it – but it was folded. He also like helping pour juice or coffee in the morning, too. He always went out and picked up the newspaper in the morning. We might be afraid he would fall, but he insisted on doing so.
Jobs like these may be more rewarding to the patient than some craft or activity. One of our caregivers would bring in apples to paint or baskets to make. She did this more for Dad than Mom, after Mom died. He thought these activities were useless and a waste of time. He felt silly doing these activities. After all, he had been an architect (designed buildings) and painted watercolors as a hobby. Try and figure out what activities are good ones for each person.
Praise them for their help!! Praise makes the patient feel wanted and needed. Elders hate to lose their independence or their control over their own life.
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