St. John’s Home is pleased to announce that Joanne Panarisi-Bottone, Training Coordinator for the Work Life Team, has been named an Eden Mentor by the Eden Alternative Home Office this week.
The following is a description of the important role of Eden Mentors:
Over the past dozen years, Bill and Jude Thomas (founders of the Eden Alternative®) have learned that The Eden Alternative® is a local phenomenon. All of the long-term care environments we seek to transform are local institutions. It is neither possible nor desirable for Jude, Bill and the Eden home office to provide guidance for every organization in every part of the country or the world. Instead, we encourage people to join us by offering the opportunity to become Eden Mentors.
The Eden Alternative® is about helping people grow. We believe that the heart of human caring lies in the work of helping others to grow. Accordingly, we have created the Eden Alternative Mentor designation for associates who have grown with this work. Mentors are associates who have distinguished themselves through their work to create better living environments for our Elders and ourselves. Eden Mentors are volunteers who work closely with the Eden Home Office staff and Eden Educators to help Eden to grow. They are committed to serving Eden in many different ways, depending upon their skills and talents and availability. As volunteers, Eden Mentors share freely of their time and talents to help other Eden Associates, Eden Registered Homes, and the Eden organization to grow. Eden Mentors meet twice yearly to bring ideas and proposals to the Eden board, and to help with Eden events.
In addition to her outstanding work at St. John’s, Joanne will have the ability to use her experience and skills to help the national organization to continue to grow.
There are fewer than 100 active Eden Mentors in the U.S. and St. John’s is proud to employ four of them. Other Eden Mentors at St. John’s are Joe Kenney, also of Work Life, Rebecca Priest, and Dr. Al Power, both members of Administration. St. John’s Home became a registered Eden Alternative Home in 2003 and is currently the only registered nursing home in Rochester, NY.
