Page 44 - Tale of Transformation

Artifacts of Culture Change Categories and Items
was that most often direct access to outdoor spaces was locked and residents were only able to use the space if escorted by staff or family or “on the rare occasion when outdoor activities were scheduled.”
Family and Community Artifacts
Items befitting to this category include regularly scheduled intergenerational programming, making space available for community groups, having a private guestroom for resident guest, a café/restaurant/tavern/canteen where anyone can purchase food, a special dining room for resident gatherings and a kitchenette or kitchen area were baking and cooking can take place.
The Eden Alternative teaches that children give residents the opportunity to give care, and help to diminish loneliness and boredom. Participation in activities with small children lowers residents’ agitation levels (Activities, Adaptations and Aging, 1996).
Homes with a café/restaurant/tavern/canteen, give residents the opportunity to dine in a normal community setting out of the traditional dining room and to “give back.” Residents appreciate the opportunity to once again “foot the bill” in a restaurant setting (Brecanier, 2001). Kitchenette and kitchen areas can afford residents the opportunity to cook and bake for others. Elders experience joy when able to prepare a favorite recipe for friends and once a gain share meals with families (Bump, 2005).
Homes that have successfully integrated many of these approaches have been named “generative communities,” the first example being the original Eden home in NY, Chase Memorial Home. “More than 200 birds, four cats, two dogs, dozens of plants, a child care centre, a garden, and a visiting school-children’s program help create what founder Dr. Bill Thomas and his wife Judy call ‘a holistic environment....’ One of the principles they enacted is that people need to give care as well as receive care to feel valuable.... Compared to a nearby control facility, the Thomas’s documented statistically significant reductions in mortality and in illness as well as drug use” (Eaton, 2000).
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