A.G. Rhodes Health & Rehab’s Cobb location recently became the first nursing home in Georgia to complete Eden Alternative® training, which equips caregivers with the knowledge and tools to deliver more person-directed care.
In many nursing homes, resident routines are directed by staff and are based on organizational efficiencies and not resident preferences. In person-directed care, residents make decisions about their individual routines. Staff members organize their hours, patterns and assignments to meet resident preferences, and if residents aren’t able to articulate needs, staff will work with their family members to honor observed preferences and lifelong habits.
“Nursing homes have traditionally been institutional in nature, which means there is a very structured schedule and way of doing things,” says Deke Cateau, Chief Operating Officer at A.G. Rhodes. “With a person-directed approach, we focus more on each person’s desires, family situations, social circumstances and lifestyles, and we work together with residents, their families and health care professionals to develop appropriate and realistic solutions to accommodate individual needs and preferences.”
The Eden Alternative is well-known for its original mission to transform the organizational culture of nursing homes and other institutional settings. The Eden Alternative empowers care partners, whether they are family members, professionals, or volunteers, to transform institutional approaches to care into the creation of communities where life is worth living.
“The Eden Alternative training brings A.G. Rhodes another step closer to facilitating a more homelike environment, and an improved quality of life for those who stay with us,” says Cateau.
Staff at A.G. Rhodes of Atlanta and A.G. Rhodes at Wesley Woods will also receive the Eden Alternative training in the next two years.
