The Eden Alternative
The Eden Alternative
The Eden Alternative is a fascinating and relatively new philosophy that has had an enormous impact on nursing homes and long term care facilities across the country. Founded by Dr. William Thomas in 1991, the Eden Alternative has seen tremendous growth and expansion. Researching this topic I spent a lot of time on the Eden Alternative website reading about their philosophies, values, and principles. The Eden Alternative is a nonprofit organization that with the help of grants and donors has been able to expand domestically in the United States, and internationally. The vision of the Eden Alternative is to eliminate loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. Those three comprise what Dr. Thomas calls the ‘three plagues’ that affect elders in nursing home settings. The mission of the Eden Alternative is to improve the well-being of elders and their care partners by transforming the communities where they live and work. I found that the message of this program really resonated with me, and I was impacted so much that I am now looking into this philosophy even further as my grandparents continue to age. In class this semester we have come across Dr. William Thomas several times. The first was in the TED talks video that we watched in class, where he gave a talk about his new theory of the life cycle which is part of the entire Eden Alternative philosophy. In the video, he introduced to the audience his theory of ‘elderhood’. He talked about how most people in this country would say that the stages of life include childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Adulthood, therefore, can constitute the entire population that is ages 18 and older. Dr. Thomas explained that we must add a fourth group to this life cycle, that he named ‘elderhood’. If it becomes a recognizable part of the life cycle, it will be less associated with decline and frailty. Another word that has been created by Dr. Thomas is the term ‘care partners’. This removes a lot of the
The Eden Alternative is a fascinating and relatively new philosophy that has had an enormous impact on nursing homes and long term care facilities across the country. Founded by Dr. William Thomas in 1991, the Eden Alternative has seen tremendous growth and expansion. Researching this topic I spent a lot of time on the Eden Alternative website reading about their philosophies, values, and principles. The Eden Alternative is a nonprofit organization that with the help of grants and donors has been able to expand domestically in the United States, and internationally. The vision of the Eden Alternative is to eliminate loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. Those three comprise what Dr. Thomas calls the ‘three plagues’ that affect elders in nursing home settings. The mission of the Eden Alternative is to improve the well-being of elders and their care partners by transforming the communities where they live and work. I found that the message of this program really resonated with me, and I was impacted so much that I am now looking into this philosophy even further as my grandparents continue to age. In class this semester we have come across Dr. William Thomas several times. The first was in the TED talks video that we watched in class, where he gave a talk about his new theory of the life cycle which is part of the entire Eden Alternative philosophy. In the video, he introduced to the audience his theory of ‘elderhood’. He talked about how most people in this country would say that the stages of life include childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Adulthood, therefore, can constitute the entire population that is ages 18 and older. Dr. Thomas explained that we must add a fourth group to this life cycle, that he named ‘elderhood’. If it becomes a recognizable part of the life cycle, it will be less associated with decline and frailty. Another word that has been created by Dr. Thomas is the term ‘care partners’. This removes a lot of the
Bibliography: The Eden Alternative. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. "New Concepts in Elder Housing: The Eden Alternative and Green Homes." Parent Giving. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. "RESIDENTIAL LTC - The Eden Alternative." Michigan Alliance for Person-Centered Communities. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.