Highlights from the Eden Conference in Denver
Kavan Peterson
Last month the Tribes of Eden gathered in Denver for their 5th International Eden Alternative Conference. I was there to videotape Dr. Bill Thomas’ keynote address and had the fortune of catching a few other sessions. Below I’ve compiled some highlights, including Bill’s introduction of the Path to Mastery, several minutes of Al Power’s powerful presentation Beyond Dementia, and an incredible display of warm technology by Jack York of IN2L.com. The video is below, but I highly recommend you visit and subscribe to the Eden Alternative’s YouTube Channel, where I will soon be posting highlights from the Eden Idol competition.
For those interested in catching Bill’s full keynote, you can view it on Vimeo here:
5th Eden Alternative Conference Keynote Address from Kavan Peterson on Vimeo.
Manning a lonely outpost in the north west of England, I battle daily to bring a glimmer of cultural change into care homes. Some days I feel defeated, but I can turn to the Changing Aging web site for fuel, and watching Dr Thomas’s keynote address was just the nurture I needed. After 15 years in the US and the Eden Alternative community, it was difficult to come back to this area of the UK and have to start the battle all over again. It IS cold on the outside. But Dr Bill’s words, as always, lift me and give me the push to fight another day.
One of the things I didn’t hear was how can someone begin the process of getting a nursing home to consider Eden’s concept?. If the vision is to spread the Eden alternative across America, then we need help in knowing where to begin.
My Mother lives in one of the “better” nursing homes in Atlanta. It breaks my heart to see how dehumanized and emotionally bereft the resident’s lives are there. I have tried to get the management to consider Eden through books I’ve given them, as well as suggestions, but there has been no interest.
So, it’s very frustrating to hear about the Eden concept, but have no way of getting it started. There is only 1 Eden facility in all of metro Atlanta.
The best way to start is to contact the Eden office at 512-847-6061, or education@edenalt.org. There are a variety of ways they can bring the information to local organizations to try and help you spark some interest.
I believe that as more and more research emerges to show the “business case” for culture change, there will be more incentive to give it a serious look. The local organizations who have been our competitors in past years are having more trouble keeping their occupancy up, and are losing many more staff each year (many of whom come to us!).