Safe to Reduce Antipsychotics Says New Study
A recent article in McKnight’s Long Term Care magazine highlights a study that concludes it is safe in most cases to eliminate antipsychotic drugs.
Building a Participatory Culture
Leaders who just pay lip service to creating a participatory ethos find out very quickly that they are building their culture change journey on quick sand.
Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing Perspectives and Changing Lives in Tennessee
We are excited to see the impact that this training will have over the coming months on psychotropic drug usage and quality of life for people living with dementia and their care partners in Tennessee. We hope that we can then use this CMP grant-funde…
It’s a Process, Not a Program
As a society, we love our programs. Move around in any professional sub-culture and you will hear the word “program” thrown about repeatedly. We love methodically following their pre-determined steps and adding them to a list of other programs that we are already implementing. I have been to meetings and professional events where lists of [...]
Tennessee Takes on Antipsychotic Drug Reduction
Last week, the first of three multi-day events took place in Nashville, TN, focusing on the reduction of anti-psychotic drugs (see Chris Perna’s recent post for the details). This collaboration between The Eden Alternative and the Tennessee Department of Health, Division of Health Care Facilities has the potential to make an important impact in Tennessee, [...]
Eden Alternative Delivers Major Dementia Training Initiative in Tennessee
A press release issued today by the Tennessee Department of Health states that the Office of Health Care Facilities has secured a CMP grant totaling more than $370,000 to provide training for 749 people including nursing home direct care staff members, state surveyors and managers, State Long-Term Care Ombudsmen and members of the Tennessee Advancing Excellence [...]
Visit Nashville this December!
Set amid the gentle hills and farmlands of central Tennessee, sprawling Nashville attracts millions of visitors each year. The majority come to immerse themselves in music, whether at mainstream showcases like the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, or in the smaller clubs and honky-tonks found not only downtown but also [...]
International Change Agents Gather in Iceland
On September 26, 2012, culture change advocates from around the world gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland to listen to presentations about The Eden Alternative. They shared the challenges they face in bringing culture change to long-term care settings and amazing success stories. Dr. Thomas and his wife, Jude, joined the conference along with 170 other individuals. [...]
Eden Alternative’s Presence Felt at AHCA Conference in Tampa
One of the ways we are getting exposure for The Eden Alternative these days is by exhibiting and speaking at industry events like the recent AHCA Annual Conference in Tampa, Fl. In Tampa Nancy Fox and I partnered on an educational session where we talked to more than 100 people about our new Neighborhood Guide Curriculum [...]
Join ChangingMedia at the Baltimore Book Festival
Get your hipster reading glasses on because it’s the end of September and time for the 17th Annual Baltimore Book Festival, the one weekend out of the year when we can call Baltimore the “City that Reads” with a straight face.
New Eden Alternative Neighborhood Guides Come Out of Sewickley, PA Training
Two new organizations are stepping up to ensure that their neighborhood teams are successful. Care partners from St. John’s Home in Rochester, NY (Joanne Panarisi-Bottone, Kristine Angevine, and Karen Natoli) and Epworth Village in Oklahoma City, OK (Linda Crawford) attended The Eden Alternative’s new Neighborhood Guide Training at Masonic Village in Sewickley, PA during the [...]
The Eden Alternative Reaches China and Colombia
As of this month, our global reach at The Eden Alternative has officially extended to 6 out of 7 continents! On September 4th, Dr. Bill Thomas added South America to the list when he landed in Bogotá, Colombia as keynote speaker of the annual conference for Fundación Saldarriaga Concha. The week before, Carol Ende, EA’s [...]
Bridging the Gap in Dementia Care
Following are excerpts from an article with the same title as this post written by Kathleen Lourde that appears in the September issue of Provider Magazine, both the print and on-line versions. G. Allen Power, MD, author of “Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care,” proposes a simple yet, for many providers, radical idea: [...]
Doctors for America
“Are you having trouble finding a doctor who will see you? If not, give it another year and a half. A doctor shortage is on its way,” warns John C. Goodman is his Wall Street Journal op-ed. He’s wrong. According to Businessweek, there’s already a shortage of 15,000 doctors, with projections of a 130,000 shortage of doctors by 2025.
The Argument for Well-Being Through Culture Change
At the Eden Alternative we’ve known about the plague of loneliness for a long time. We teach about loneliness, helplessness, and boredom, the three plagues of the human spirit, and the negative effects they can have on Elders and their care partners, robbing them of their well-being and quality of life. Our teaching about loneliness [...]
The Eden Alternative Hits the Pioneer Network Conference
The Eden Alternative joined over a 1,000 culture change enthusiasts in Jacksonville, Florida, last weekend to kick off the Pioneer Network’s 12th National Conference, Building a Bridge to a New Culture in Aging. On Sunday, the 5th of August, our own Dr. Al Power joined an all star line-up of speakers for a day-long intensive [...]
The Hillside Piano Player
Sandra Wood, the activity coordinator for Hillside Residential Care Home in Swansea, England attended the Eden Associate course taught by our Regional Coordinators for UK and Ireland, June Burgess and Paul Bailey. According to Sandra, this is what happened when she returned to work. “After spending a few days with June and Paul learning about [...]
Real Jobs – Real Descriptions
Who benefits from job descriptions and evaluations? Is it the Risk Managers, the Human Resource team, the lawyers, Administrators, Nurses’ Aides, Nurses, or housekeeping? Why are they created and evaluated? Ask any number of people that work and live in long term care settings and you will get a variety of answers. Job descriptions and [...]
What are the Hidden Dangers of Surplus Safety?
The 6th Eden Alternative International Conference included a unique pre-conference session featuring Dr. Bill Thomas and a panel of long term care experts offering a half-day masters-level course on the hidden dangers of Surplus Safety.
If you attended the last Eden Alternative international conference in 2010, Dr. Thomas offered an exclusive first look at the concept of Surplus Safety, which he was developing at the time. Now, Surplus Safety has become a central philosophy for culture change advocates and a core component of creating a life worth living. It is directly tied to every aspect of life in a nursing home and other long term care settings, including walking, eating, sleeping and even going to the bathroom.
Home and Community-Based Services Featured in Special Track at International Conference
Home and community-based services had their own track at the International Conference, highlighting the adaptability of the Eden Alternative Principles to different care environments. Featured sessions included: Person Directed Practice in Home Health Care, Transforming CCRC Culture Through Eden at Home, and The Guiding Vision of The Eden Alternative in Hospice. Guiding Change Across the [...]
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