MONROE - Annual reports presented to the Green County Board on Tuesday from Green County-owned Pleasant View Nursing Home and the Green County University of Wisconsin-Extension highlighted projects for 2014.
With the acceptance of a grant in 2013, the nursing home was able to implement a "Music and Memory" program to help improve the quality of life for patients. Pleasant View was chosen, along with 100 nursing homes across the state, to receive 15 iPod Shuffles loaded with music of the residents' choice as well as 15 headphones, one speaker and a $100 iTunes gift card.
Pleasant View Administrator Terry Snow said the music helps seniors with memory troubles retain a quality of life.
"Music brings them back to a place and time familiar to them," Snow said. "Sometimes a certain song can just take you there."
The home was also given two iPads with memory and cognition training applications and games. According to the report, "success stories with residents include reduced boredom, decreased anxiety, decreased agitation ... and reduced fall risk."
"We had one resident who was able to attend a wedding virtually," Snow said.
The annual report details campaign funds used prior to the referendum vote which passed last spring for an annual increase to the home's funding by $790,000 for five years. The Friends of Pleasant View spent almost $1,600 to support the referendum. Snow said for the last referendum in 2009 seeking to increase the tax levy, about $8,000 was spent on supporting the referendum.
The referendum monies granted in 2014 will be used to mitigate the losses from Medicaid payments that typically pay the home $145 per day for care of its Medicaid-supported residents. It costs the home about $190 per day to care for a resident, a difference of $45.
Snow said for 2014, the nursing home had an average of 114 residents and for 2015, the average has been hovering at about 110 residents.
UW Extension
The waste management program was the Extension's biggest success after 93 households disposed of about 8,000 pounds of hazardous materials including pesticides, poisons, lead and oil-based paints, caustic materials, solvents and aerosol cans. The Green County Solid Waste Management Board coordinated with UW-Extension for these hazardous materials to be collected at the Green County Landfill and then disposed of by state-contracted Veolia Environmental Service. Green County Agriculture Agent Mark Mayer said Veolia takes the hazardous waste and incinerates it at an extremely high temperature to burn up the dioxins, harmful chemical compounds that are released when trash is burned, to ensure none of the harmful chemicals escape. Mayer said some of the material in paint thinner is often used to fuel the incinerator so nothing harmful is left over after the materials are burned. The disposal is funded by state-awarded grants, Mayer said.
Mayer said UW-Extension will be partnering again with the Green County Solid Waste Board the second week of April to collect hazardous materials.
Last year, the Extension also hosted a disposal of ag-related plastics used as silo and greenhouse covers and nursery containers, as well as plastics used by homeowners to winterize homes. According to the annual report, about 61,000 pounds of used plastic was collected and baled at the landfill. Mayer said the bales can weigh up to 2,000 pounds individually and are taken by an Arkansas company, Delta Plastic, and re-used. The collection was Nov. 3 to 14.
Farm owners can dispose of 200 pounds of plastic at one time and non-farmers can dispose of 50 pounds of plastic during this year's collection from May to October when the landfill is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"I was talking to a farmer who told me it cost him $90 in diesel fuel to burn up his plastic," Mayer joked. "I told him well, that's illegal so let's save you $90 and dispose of it here."
With the acceptance of a grant in 2013, the nursing home was able to implement a "Music and Memory" program to help improve the quality of life for patients. Pleasant View was chosen, along with 100 nursing homes across the state, to receive 15 iPod Shuffles loaded with music of the residents' choice as well as 15 headphones, one speaker and a $100 iTunes gift card.
Pleasant View Administrator Terry Snow said the music helps seniors with memory troubles retain a quality of life.
"Music brings them back to a place and time familiar to them," Snow said. "Sometimes a certain song can just take you there."
The home was also given two iPads with memory and cognition training applications and games. According to the report, "success stories with residents include reduced boredom, decreased anxiety, decreased agitation ... and reduced fall risk."
"We had one resident who was able to attend a wedding virtually," Snow said.
The annual report details campaign funds used prior to the referendum vote which passed last spring for an annual increase to the home's funding by $790,000 for five years. The Friends of Pleasant View spent almost $1,600 to support the referendum. Snow said for the last referendum in 2009 seeking to increase the tax levy, about $8,000 was spent on supporting the referendum.
The referendum monies granted in 2014 will be used to mitigate the losses from Medicaid payments that typically pay the home $145 per day for care of its Medicaid-supported residents. It costs the home about $190 per day to care for a resident, a difference of $45.
Snow said for 2014, the nursing home had an average of 114 residents and for 2015, the average has been hovering at about 110 residents.
UW Extension
The waste management program was the Extension's biggest success after 93 households disposed of about 8,000 pounds of hazardous materials including pesticides, poisons, lead and oil-based paints, caustic materials, solvents and aerosol cans. The Green County Solid Waste Management Board coordinated with UW-Extension for these hazardous materials to be collected at the Green County Landfill and then disposed of by state-contracted Veolia Environmental Service. Green County Agriculture Agent Mark Mayer said Veolia takes the hazardous waste and incinerates it at an extremely high temperature to burn up the dioxins, harmful chemical compounds that are released when trash is burned, to ensure none of the harmful chemicals escape. Mayer said some of the material in paint thinner is often used to fuel the incinerator so nothing harmful is left over after the materials are burned. The disposal is funded by state-awarded grants, Mayer said.
Mayer said UW-Extension will be partnering again with the Green County Solid Waste Board the second week of April to collect hazardous materials.
Last year, the Extension also hosted a disposal of ag-related plastics used as silo and greenhouse covers and nursery containers, as well as plastics used by homeowners to winterize homes. According to the annual report, about 61,000 pounds of used plastic was collected and baled at the landfill. Mayer said the bales can weigh up to 2,000 pounds individually and are taken by an Arkansas company, Delta Plastic, and re-used. The collection was Nov. 3 to 14.
Farm owners can dispose of 200 pounds of plastic at one time and non-farmers can dispose of 50 pounds of plastic during this year's collection from May to October when the landfill is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"I was talking to a farmer who told me it cost him $90 in diesel fuel to burn up his plastic," Mayer joked. "I told him well, that's illegal so let's save you $90 and dispose of it here."