At Orange Valley Nursing Home, residents who are mobile or semi-mobile (ambulant or semi-ambulant) often preferred to rest on their bed and watch television instead of taking part in any activities.

The sedentary lifestyle started taking a toll - some experienced disturbed sleep with reversed sleep-wake patterns, while others were moody and less cooperative during rehab sessions.

To help the residents break out of this rut, a team of occupational therapists and physiotherapists came together to develop an incentive-based activity programme with various games and sports.

Under the programme, residents are encouraged to collect as many stamps in their activity gift redemption booklet. Stamps are awarded for every activity completed and can be exchanged for food and drink items from a gift catalogue which consists of items such as biscuits and chicken essence.

“The programme adds an atmosphere of friendly competition among the residents. They are visibly more motivated to stay active and this has made them more cheerful and positive,” says Cassandra Lim, Head of Department, Rehabilitation.

Favourite activities include games like balloon badminton and balloon basketball. The residents also enjoy the “Horse Racing Game”, a roll-and-move game where they get to design their own horse mascots and take turns to roll a giant dice and move the number of steps the dice shows.

“We adapted this game from the horse racing sport and incorporated arts and crafts as well as exercise into the game. It is not only fun but also improves the hand and eye coordination skills too,” says Jaime Choy, Principal Occupational Therapist.

Since the programme was introduced, the participation rate for the Home’s daily activities has increased to more than 80 per cent.

Residents also benefitted from improved rehabilitation outcomes as they were more engaged during the sessions. The success of the incentive-based activity programme has since prompted Orange Valley to introduce it to residents at all three of its Nursing Homes.