FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jennifer Clar, 760-1334

DATE: February 5, 2008

ST. JOHN'S PARTNERS WITH EDEN AT HOME

TO PROMOTE SOCIAL CHANGE FOR ELDERS

First Care Partner Training Session in the Northeast to be Held

at St. John's Meadows

Why would a long-term and residential health-care provider encourage elders to live at home for as long as possible? Because it matters.

St. John's is partnering with Eden at Home to improve the quality of life for elders living in their own homes and those caring for them. Eden at Home, an initiative of the Eden Alternative, acknowledges that everyone on the care partner team can suffer from the three plaques of lonliness, helplessness and boredom. These plagues can exist not only in the traditional medical-model nursing facility, but also in the home of an elder who is not an active participant in his or her care plan.

St. John's Meadows, a St. John's Senior Community, located at 1 Johnsarbor Drive, will host the first Eden at Home Care Partner Workshop in the Northeast February 6 – 8. Care Partner Workshops teach the principles of meaningful care, which nurtures the human spirit, as well as the human body, and celebrates each person's unique capacity for growth. Part of defining care in this way is recognizing elderhood as a valued phase of human development, rather than the stereotype of the decline of life. Workshop sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. each day and will conclude with a graduation ceremony the afternoon of the 8^th. Approximately 30 attendees are expected. Laura Beck, program director of Eden at Home, will facilitate the training.

Culture change for elder care is central to the Eden Alternative.  St. John’s Home, also a St. John's Senior Community, began its journey in Eden six years ago, and has been a registered Eden home for the past four years. The Eden Alternative was conceived by Dr. William Thomas. The basic principle of the Eden Home centers on creating an environment for continuing growth and fulfillment.  Eden promotes companionship, a sense of purpose, variety and spontaneity in day-to-day life for elders who live in nursing homes and who are receiving care in their own homes.

Dr. G. Allen Power, M.D., F.A.C.P., is a physician at St. John’s Home and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.   Dr. Power, a certified Eden mentor and educator, is leading culture change at St. John’s Home and will attend the session. Dr. Power will lead Eden at Home workshops around the country. He is currently an invited keynote speaker and presenter at conferences around the world. Dr. Power is dually certified in internal medicine and geriatrics.

St. John's Meadows is home to nearly 400 residents in a total of 339 homes. St. John’s Meadows offers private, two-bedroom cottages, as well as apartments with fine dining and services. Affiliated with St. John's Meadows as part of St. John's Senior Communities are St. John's Home and St. John's Foundation.

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