Join us April 30 to May 2 for exclusive livestream video coverage of the 7th Eden Alternative International Conference in Nashville from the newly redesigned EdenAlt.org website.

Watch live and join the conversation via Live Chat to ask questions and participate in the broader social media conversation to spread inspiration and help create well-being for all, across the continuum of care.

LIVE Streaming Schedule Below (all times CENTRAL)

Live streaming video by Ustream

Wednesday, April 30

08:30am – 10:00am CST – Welcoming Session – Strike a Chord, Resonate Well-Being

Fundamentally we are made of rhythm. Our breath, brainwaves, and heart beat; our sleep, hunger and growth are all rhythmic. Come strike a chord by striking a drum and join us in resonating wellbeing, as we loudly welcome the beginning of the 2014 Eden Alternative International Conference. Join inspirational speaker and advocate Sarah Rowan, Eden Alternative Co-founder Dr. Bill Thomas, CEO Chris Perna, and rhythm facilitator, Tom Gill, as we celebrate key moments in The Eden Alternative’s 20-year history. This general session focuses on the Domain of Connectedness and supports mastery in Milestone 2.

Facilitators:  Bill Thomas, MD; Sarah Rowan, MA Ed; Chris Perna, BS, and Tom Gill, BS

04:00pm – 05:00pm CST – Strike a Chord General Session

Participants of the day’s 8-Track Peer Group Sessions share their perspectives on aligning care partners in different roles to strengthen the success of the culture change journey. This general session focuses on the Domain of Identity and supports mastery in Milestone 2.

Facilitators: Denise Hyde, Pharm D, RP; and Carol Ende, MS

Thursday, May 1

08:30am – 10:00am CST – Opening General Session — Resonate Well-Being

This thought-provoking event gets its inspiration from TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Kicking off a day-long focus on well-being, a series of brief EDEN Talks will highlight out-of-the-box thinking that will generate fresh perspective and ideas for participants. This general session focuses on the Domain of Growth and supports mastery in Milestone 2.

Featured Speakers include Bill Thomas, MD; Rayne Stroebel; Janet Taylor, MD; and E. Renee Kennedy, RN

10:00am – 11:00am CST – Power Dynamics in Compassionate Care: Can Person-Centered Care Threaten Personhood?

This session will explore the pitfalls of person-centered care when influenced by the prevailing myths and misunderstandings of aging and dementia. These misconceptions, when layered upon a medicalized view of aging (and “dominant expert” culture), can lead care partners to adopt a paternalistic approach that looks compassionate on the surface, but ultimately challenges the elders’ right to autonomy, reciprocity, and self-determination. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Autonomy and supports mastery in Milestone 3.

Featured Presenters: Al Power, MD and Jennifer Carson, PhD Candidate, MS, BA

11:30am – 12:00pm CST – A Tree Without Roots Will Fall Over

Members of the Rolling Fields’ leadership team will explore the integration of material from Eden Alternative Neighborhood Guide Training into their Eden family gatherings. Topics will include struggles experienced during the creation of their neighborhoods in 2001, and how Neighborhood Guide development provided “master gardener knowledge” needed to “stake up the tree.” Family gatherings served as fertilizer for strengthening the roots of the process, making it possible to minimize the role of leadership’s “stake” in the tree. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Security and supports mastery in Milestone 3.

Featured Presenters: Lisa Yuhaschek, RN, Sara King and Julie Wallace

12:00am — 12:30pm CST – Growing Team is Good Business

Successful organizations are committed to the following three components of organizational development strategy: Quality Product, Team Growth, and the Long-Term Success of the organization. This session will highlight one leader’s application of Neighborhood Guide Training to creating a sustainable framework for organizational transformation. Discussion will center on how effective team development strengthens all three key components. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Security and supports mastery in Milestone 3.

Featured Presenter: Chris Cheek, MBA

1:30pm – 2:00pm  CST – From Admissions into Welcoming: Transforming the Experience of “Moving In”

This session will focus on research project findings highlighting perceptions of the “moving-in” or admission process. Data will reflect feedback from employees, residents, and their families, regarding how current processes reflect the Eden Alternative Philosophy. Participants will explore and discuss outcomes around welcoming rituals and helping residents settle-in and transition to becoming a part of the community. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Growth and supports mastery in Milestone 3.

Featured Presenters: Paramjit Kalkat, OT and Kit Chan, BSc, RD

2:00pm — 2:30pm ST – Well-being and the Empowered Workforce: Respect, Relationships, and Growth

The core values of empowered staff and meaningful life form the foundation for the Green House model. The coaching style of leadership sets the stage to empower both individuals (Shahbazim and Clinical Support Team members) and build empowered Self-Managed Work Teams (SMWTs). Both individual growth and empowered teams create homes that are intentional communities, where those who live and work there have a voice and opportunities to grow. As a Domain of Well-Being, Growth  offers a framework for creating and propelling an empowered workforce forward. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Growth and supports mastery in Milestone 3.

Featured Presenter: Susan Frazier RN, MA   The Green House Project

3:00pm – 3:30pm CST – The Hidden Danger of Surplus Safety 

The long term care system is focused almost entirely on diminishing downside risk, with very little accounting for upside risk. To take away all risk is to take away the right to be human. While safety is important, there is a range of risk tolerance. The goal should be to create a life where we each have just the right balance of autonomy and safety — an environment optimal for our continued growth and development. Join Dr. Bill Thomas for this powerful discussion of how we prevent good things from happening, when we focus too much on what can go wrong. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Security and supports mastery in Milestone 4.

Featured Presenter: Dr. Bill Thomas

3:30pm — 4:00pm CST – Bubble Wrap Management: How Surplus Safety Can Suffocate Your Organization

Senior living providers seem to be constantly under the gun. Fears about survey outcomes, OSHA, HIPAA, and other perceived legal and regulatory threats lead to a “bubble wrap management” style, in which we make decisions and policies that are based solely on risk avoidance and a desire to keep everything safe. This session will examine the damage that is done to communities and the people that live and work in them when we create this culture of surplus safety. Participants will learn to identify and minimize bubble wrap management practices in their own organizations. This presentation focuses on the Domain of Security and supports mastery in Milestone 4.

Featured Presenters: Jill lVitale-Aussem – Clermont Park-Christian Living Communties

4:15pm – 5:00pm CST – Resonate Well-Being – General Session TED-talks

This closing session picks up where the morning session left off, featuring more thought-provoking topics inspired by TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The day’s focus on well-being concludes with another series of brief EDEN Talks, highlighting out-of-the-box thinking that will generate fresh perspective and ideas for participants. This general session focuses on the Domain of Growth and supports mastery in Milestone 2.

Featured Speakers include: Suellen Beatty, MSc, BScN; David Sprowl, MPA; Brian Steeves, MD, and Karen Stobbe

Friday, May 2

10:30am – 11:30am CST — Eden Alternative International Panel 

The flexibility of the Eden Alternative ensures that it can be effectively implemented in any country or culture. Many of the ideas implemented in one country owe their genesis to ideas from another. We each take what appeals to us, adapt it as necessary and implement. The International Regional Coordinators, in a series of short presentations based on the Domains of Well-Being, will share how they have adapted the philosophy in their individual countries. We hope that you will be able to take at least one idea, apply your own particular spin, and try it yourself. This peer group focuses on the Domain of Meaning and supports mastery in Milestone 2.

Featured Panelists: Aase Porsmose, Eden Denmark; June Burgess, The Eden Alternative UK & Ireland; Rannveig Guðnadóttir, Eden Alternative Iceland; Sally Hopkins, Eden in OZ & NZ Ltd; Cheryl George, Eden Health Solutions; Rayne Stroebel, Eden Alternative South Africa.

11:30am – 12:30pm CST – Bringing Elders & Youth Together Through Story & Understanding

Building Bridges: Bringing Elders & Youth Together Through Story & Understanding is a special intergenerational multi-day event at the Eden Alternative International Conference. Its goal is to empower young people, ages 11 to 15, to explore the Eden Alternative Principles through Eden Apprentice Training and the power of legacy in collaboration with an Elder Storyteller. Join the track facilitators and a panel of youth and Elder participants to learn how this experience weaves culture change philosophy into our social fabric, creating integrated, supportive communities that position Elders as the peacemakers, wisdom givers, and legacy creators we so dearly need. This general session focuses on the Domain of Connectedness and supports mastery in Milestone 4.

12:30pm – 2:00pm CST — Eden Alternative Awards Ceremony

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CST – Closing General Session – Leadership by Design: Creating an Environment of Effectiveness

Most leaders agree that culture is the critical factor in organizational performance, but struggle to define it, measure it, or change it. As a result, organizations that “get culture right” seem magical, but those who try to replicate their success usually end up frustrated and cynical. John King, author of the New York Times Best Seller Tribal Leadership, will focus on the Fundamental Stages of Effectiveness, how to diagnose challenges, and how to advance your organization through the stages. Participants will leave prepared to grow their leadership capacity and build strong tribes ready to achieve more than any single individual can accomplish alone.

Featured Speaker: John King, author of Tribal Leadership