The Eden Alternative: Using Community Involvement to Reframe Aging
Engagement with the broader community helps bring meaning and joy to elders living in The Eden Alternative-registered Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon, Canada.
Words With Elders
Kingston Nursing Center in Conway, South Carolina is having a great time honoring National Scrabble Day. The team thought it would be fun to honor National Scrabble Day and the hot new game “Words with Friends” together. The Administrative Secretary and the Enrichment Team worked together to create this amazing interactive bulletin board. The idea [...]
Have we become a neglectful society?
Norman Lamb, the Care Minister, gave an interesting interview in the Telegraph over the Christmas period, which was given the rather unfortunate headline, “Neglectful Britons blamed for forcing elderly into care homes”.
President Obama, Survivors of Sandy and Making a Fresh Start
President Obama, in his acceptance speech, talked about building bridges to tackle our nation’s problems. The survivors of Superstorm Sandy also face complicated challenges as they begin to rebuild their communities. When life is difficult and it’s hard to cope, we have to dig deep to find personal strength: It takes time to revitalize. Solitude itself provides a chance to rejuvenate emotionally. In the few free moments you do have, find what feels relaxing and brings you pleasure – listen to music that stirs your soul or curl up with … Continue reading →
Twenty years on: naturally radical
It’s Shared Lives week this week, with local events at 152 Shared Lives schemes across the country to celebrate the incredible achievements of Shared Lives carers and the people who live with or visit them in their family homes. The week started with our sold-out England conference and 20th Birthday celebrations, which led me to [...]
Texas Comes Together for Change
On Friday September 28th, over 200 culture change advocates convened in San Marcos, Texas, for the 2nd annual Texas Culture Change Coalition Symposium. It is was a day full of presentations and demonstrations from various culture change experts, including former Deputy Division Director for the Nursing Homes Division at CMS, Karen Schoeneman, who discussed transforming [...]
#PROAGING: Technology Can Encourage Socialization & Longevity
Perhaps the greatest gift of life is the ability to share many its aspects with others. We have communication skills and empathies that can enliven mundane tasks and reinforce the greater joys and tragedies of the human experience. As social beings, we seek out these shared experiences from our earliest infancy to our later golden [...]
The science of supporting community groups
I was in an interesting discussion last week at Think Local, Act Personal’s Community Capacity network. Representatives from several local authorities were comparing notes on their attempts to devolve decision-making power to groups of local people. Their approaches varied but some common points emerged: the issue of who takes responsibility for the group was crucial, [...]
A better front door for social care
This week we’re really pleased to be publishing, with some of our closest allies, a paper which sets out how the government could make a better ‘front end’ for social care. In other words, what happens when someone first encounters the social care system. It uses real people’s experiences of assessments and discussion about eligibility for services to ask what those [...]
Free Speech Lasts A lifetime
We live in an era of instantaneous, global communications, as such the power and the meaning behind our words are more important than ever. While we have the right to free speech, speech is not entirely free. There are always consequences for what we say, whether or not we realize the impact of our words. Words can change us as individuals.
Thanks to the Elders Who Built My Church Community
Sometimes at my church in late October we sing the hymn, For All the Saints. At that service we remember the many dedicated and committed people who have died over the course of the year. For me, this service is always a time to think about long time m…
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 5
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Windsor [...]
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 4
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Pinecrest [...]
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 3
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Sanctuary [...]
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Institution vs. Community
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Written [...]
International Conference Takes Culture Change Across the Full Continuum of Care
Navigating the Way Home: Guiding Change Along the Continuum of Care, our 6th International Conference, ushers in a new and exciting period of growth for The Eden Alternative. Scheduled for May 30-June 1, the event features The Eden Alternative’s commitment to extending its vision across all care environments.
As many of us know, “culture change” is the common name for a global initiative focused on transforming care, as we know it, for Elders and individuals living with different abilities (physical, developmental, intellectual, and psychological). It advocates for a shift from institutional models of care to person-directed values and practices that put the individual first.
The Eden Alternative began its journey focusing on transforming the culture of care in nursing homes and other institutional settings. Since then, however, its impact has reached across the full continuum of care.
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 1
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom.
We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships.
Countdown to the White paper
Despite stories in the press about delays to the White Paper, as far as we can tell, it remains on track for publishing in ‘the Spring’. ‘Spring’ in civil service speak lasts well into June, of course. We’ve got a fair idea of what’s going to be in it, because the government involved lots of [...]
Bashing and boosting micro-enterprise
We launched a new report today on the top ten ways in which councils are boosting – and bashing – micro-enterprises in their area. Whilst some areas limit ways of spending personal budgets or access to ‘approved provider’ lists to tried and tested large providers, others actively encourage creativity and have thought through the environment [...]
Independence means….’walk’
Registered Shared Lives carer, Sheila and her family have recently started to support Paul, who is 50 this month. Sheila has helped Paul to get a bus pass, to learn to use public transport via Birmingham’s ‘Community Options’ scheme and about road safety, so that he can make use of the community for the first time in [...]
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