Steven, a fourth grade student in Savanna, IL, was worried. He'd gotten a detention at school, and missed his weekly tutoring
session with Bob. "Please don't tell Bob I got into trouble at school," he begged the Tutoring Coordinator, Jen Gos, "I'm afraid
he'll be mad at me."
But Bob, an elder living at nearby Big Meadows nursing home, found out. He asked Steven at the next session why he didn't
want him to know the reason why he had missed the session the week before. "I was afraid that you wouldn't like me anymore and
would stop tutoring me," answered Steven.
"You don't worry about that. Everyone makes mistakes. I've thrown a few snowballs at recess in my time too. The important
thing is that you learn from your mistakes," replied Bob.
Glenn Blacklock, Administrator at Big Meadows, chuckles as he tells the story about Steven and Bob. The unlikely pair were
brought together by the nursing home's alliance with the Savanna Rotary Club's tutoring program, and their friendship has
blossomed ever since.
Tutoring is just one of the home's many innovations that enable elders like Bob to play a vital role in their community, and
one of the examples of the benefits possible when nursing home management, workers, elders and community cooperate in adhering
to the principles of the Eden Alternative, a philosophy which embraces many of the concepts central to culture change.
Though Big Meadows has only been Eden certified for about a year, they adopted its principals about five years ago, making
the home one of the first in the country to do so. "The whole Eden concept fit into the way we were already doing things," says
Blacklock, "I guess that's why it has worked so well for us, and is why we have encountered so few problems along the way."
Big Meadows has had "excellent community support," and staff, families and management have been "completely behind" efforts
to improve the quality of life for the elders, he adds. For example, funding for the tutoring program was obtained from Rotary
International thru the Savanna Rotary Club. Local schools cooperate in identifying students for the program who need tutoring
in math and reading, as well as advanced pupils who need additional challenges beyond their class work. A half-dozen elders
from Big Meadows join with parents and volunteers to serve as tutors.
There are other venues to community involvement for elders who don't cotton to tutoring: Bible Camps, Bible study groups
that meet at Big Meadows and involve residents with kids, and various outings where families and volunteers are invited to
help out. Children from the community frequent the home to visit the pets as well as the residents, several have even "adopted"
grandparents from among the elders that they spend extra time with.
At home, the residents participate in exercises, grooming and feeding the live-in pets, caring for the many plants, and
leading intergenerational programs in addition to the other programs offered on a jam packed recreation calendar. "If we tried
to take the animals out of here now, the residents would have my head on a platter, staff too" says Blacklock.
Currently residents are gearing up for the outdoor gardening season. Last year the Savanna Lions Club helped build a huge
raised garden to add to the numerous outdoor garden areas at Big Meadows. A sidewalk was then poured around the garden to make
easy access for wheel chairs.
This new approach to decision making, bottom-up management rather than top-down, has made a tremendous difference in attitudes
and retention of staff. "When people know that their opinions and ideas mean something, morale improves," states Blacklock.
Of course there have been some glitches along the way. Big Meadows is now on their third dog in the last two years. The
first two, a Greyhound and then a Chihuahua, had to go. Both dogs were successful in the facility for about a year's time,
and then they began to get territorial. The third dog, a gun-shy Springer Spaniel named Molly, has been doing just great
and is a big hit at the facility. Lucky for Big Meadows, hunting was not Molly's thing. A Hospice Social Worker that frequents
Big Meadows then brought Molly to the facility. "Change is a part of life, and it is definitely a part of the Eden Alternative,"
adds Blacklock, "The life of an Eden facility is constantly evolving. New ideas and solutions need to be generated as the
atmosphere, the needs and the wants of the residents change." Or, as Bob the tutor would say, the important thing is that we
learn from our experience.
