Pets, kids, gardens give nursing home new lease on life
By Mary Moorhead
Knight Ryder Newspaper

Are nursing homes destined to be understaffed medical institutions where the sick and demented sit in wheel chairs, staring and waiting to die? Is change possible?
        Back in 1991, as administor of the New York's Chase Memorial nursing Home, the Harvard educated Dr . William Thomas decided change was necessary. Striving to eliminate " loneliness, boredom, and helplessness" and to create an ambience like the "outside world" Thomas secured a $200,00 state and federal grant and initiated radical reforms.
        To the normal array of hospital beds, medications and shiny linoleum. Thomas added "freely roaming dogs, four cats, 120 birds, flower and vegetable gardens and children." Nursing home residents soon watered and fed their own plants and cared for the pets and birds. A children's after-school program and a day care program center became part of the daily life. There was even a picnic area for visiting families.
        Thomas calls his revolution a "Human Habitat" and the ensuing program, now spreading slowly throughout the country, is the Eden Alternative in his book "Life Worth Living" (VanderWyk & Burnham $17.95) and his supporters have developed a comprehensive program designed to help nursing homes understand and develop a "  Human Habitat.
        "The Ten Principals of the Eden Alternative" asks traditional nursing home administrators and staff some unorthodox and challenging questions. What companionship is provided to combat loneliness? What opportunities do residents have to give care? Are plants, animals and children the axis around which daily life turns?
How many residents share a dog or cat? Are residents given a opportunity to help children grow?
        Equally provocative, the ten principals emphasize a novel approach to staffing. Stress in staff education and interdisplinary team work, Eden strives "to de-emphasize the top down bureaucracy in facilities" and give maximum decision-making authority to residents and those closest to them. The principals ask : Are there planning teams consisting of residents, family members, staff and community? re teams empowered to make decisions?
        And the Eden Golden Rule states  "As management does unto the staff, so shall staff do unto the residents"
        I can picture nursing home administrators really sweating about these proposed staff changes  and the thought of 120 birds in a facility. You're probably thinking, "That's impossible. How would you control all those animals? What about infection and allergies? What would the State Department of Health Services inspection team do?"
        At Chase, infections and allergies actually decreased, as did medication usage for depression, anxiety and agitation. Furthermore, Debbie Cavallo, Eden's enthusiastic head of Western Region 8, said both residents and staff do well under the changes. In one facility, staff turnover was reduced from 106 percent to 12 percent. Also, studies of "Edenizing" facilities by the Southwest Texas State University Institute for Quality Improvements in Long term Health Care have reported decreases in pressure sores , medication usage for  anxiety and depression, and again staff absenteeism.
        Thomas's book describes how he won over the New York State Department of Health Services and the Regional Surveyors office, Surveyors were so impressed with the Eden's results, they "overlooked" the 137 animals too many. Additionally, the state of New York passed legislation that permits nursing homes to pursue all aspects of the Eden Alternative.
        Perhaps, as Eden's mission statement says, it can be different. More nursing homes should consider joining the growing coalition of homes that are "habitats for human beings rather than institutions for the frail elderly"
        For information, call Debbie Cavallo at (619)-494-1661 or check out the Eden Alternative web site at www.edenalt.com. Or, contact The Eden Alternative 742 Turnpike Road, Sherburne, NY, 14360, (607) 674-5232.

Mary B. Moorhead is a licensed family therapist and elder-care specialist in Berkeley
Article taken from Santa Barbara Newspress Monday August 2, 1999