Eden Alternative

On the 12th of July we had our first Eden Alternative training run at our care centre.  The course, presented by Rayne Stroebel (international, regional co-ordinator of the Eden Alternative), was called: Open Hearts, Open Minds.  

We looked at the 10 Eden Alternative principles:

1.    The three plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom account for the bulk of suffering among our Elders.

2.    An Elder-centered community commits to creating a human habitat where life revolves around close and continuing contact with plants, animals, and children. It is these relationships that  provide the young and old alike with a pathway to a life worth living.

3.    Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human and animal companionship.

4.    An Elder-centered community creates opportunity to give as well as receive care. This is the antidote to helplessness.

5.    An Elder-centered community imbues daily life with variety and spontaneity by creating an environment in which unexpected and unpredictable interactions and happenings can take place. This is the antidote to boredom.

6.    Meaningless activity corrodes the human spirit. The opportunity to do things that we find meaningful is essential to human health.

7.    Medical treatment should be the servant of genuine human caring, never its master.

8.    An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasising top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.

9.    Creating an Elder-centered community is a never-ending process. Human growth must never be separated from human life.

10.    Wise leadership is the lifeblood of any struggle against the three plagues. For it, there can be no substitute.

Rayne talked to us about each of these principles and how they can be applied to our home. The Eden Alternative is based on the person-centred care approach that we had done training on earlier in the year.  Again, it looks at getting to know the individual and focusing care on individuals' needs, rather on what we think might be good for most people. 

There were lots of laughs during the training, as Rayne is a very entertaining speaker, and also a few tears while we watched some of the beautiful videos he showed us.

The video below is a beautiful example of how you can reach even the seemingly unreachable people with a person-centred care approach.

Completing the course highlighted everything we have achieved so far to align with the 10 Eden Alternative principles ― something we are very proud of!  It also served to make us aware of the areas where there is room for improvement.

We are excited to move forward and work together to make our care centre home to each individual who passes through our doors.

From left to right:  Magda Pienaar (co-presenter), Rayne Stroebel (presenter and international, regional co-ordinator; Eden Alternative), Sylvia Birkhead (director; Eden Alternative) and Charlene van Zyl (Occupational Therapist; Ron Smith Care Centre).