Eden Alternative Tip of the Week: The Origins of Memorial Day

Remembrances are an important part of our lives. Many homes have remembrance or Memorial Gardens to honor those that are and have lived in the home. It is so important that we have a national holiday to honor those who have died in the service of this county and we call it Memorial Day. Do you know the origins of this annual holiday?

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. It was a remembrance to those who died during the Civil War. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly which community spurred the idea of Memorial Day, but the practice had become commonplace enough that General John Logan, from the General Army of the Republic, gave the original proclamation to establish Memorial day on May 5, 1868 and it was first celebrated on May 30th that same year. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873 and by 1890 all the northern states had adopted the holiday. The Southern states continue to have their own dates to celebrate their Civil War dead. After World War I, all the states adopted Memorial Day as an official holiday as a remembrance of those who have died in our nation's service.

In 1971, Memorial Day was moved from May 30th each year to the last Monday of May. That created a three-day holiday weekend which some feels has diminished the significance of the holiday itself.

In 1915, a woman named Moina Michaels conceived the idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day. She would wear a poppy and then sold them to others to raise money to benefit servicemen in need. The VFW adopted the practice in 1922.

This Memorial Day, take a moment to remember those who have died in the service of this country and share stories with the Elders about what the holiday means to them. In December 2000 a resolution was passed called the National Moment of Remembrance. It states that at 3:00pm local time on Memorial Day, all Americans should "voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to taps."

Wii Have Fun

Residents have begun competing with each other and our volunteers in Wii sports and games. Peter is shown here shooting pool.

Resident Portrait Series

I've been thinking about doing a series of resident portraits snapped while they're doing meaningful, fulfilling activities that bring them joy. I took this one this afternoon while he was drawing and enjoying some live music. Hope to have more to share soon!

Ukulele Lessons & Sing Along

This afternoon residents enjoyed playing the ukulele and singing along with Auntie Penny in the nice, cool breeze under the umbrellas of Hale Makua Wailuku.

Eden Alternative Tip of the Week

Principle Three: Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human and animal companionship.

Principles Three, Four, and Five are called the "antidote" principles, because each one provides an antidote to one of the Three Plagues of institutionalized Elders. These antidotes are not readily available in the traditional institutional model, and require a transformative process such as the Eden Alternative to be successful.

"Loving companionship" sounds pretty warm and fuzzy, but there are some very practical ramifications of this principle that guide operations in Eden Alternative homes. From a personal standpoint, the implication is that staff will form true relationships with the Elders in their care. This means knowing more about each Elder than his or her diagnoses and functional status. Personal preferences, life history, relationships, interests, spirituality, values--all are important in providing an optimal care environment.

From an operational standpoint, Principle Three suggests that the best care is provided by care partners who know the Elders well and can provide close and continuous contact. This means that agency staff and employees who rotate assignments cannot provide the optimum care. In an ideal Eden Alternative environment, there are no agency staff and care partners are permanently assigned.

This can meet with resistance among employees who wish to have a break from caring for particularly challenging Elders or their families. However, much of this "difficulty" stems from the lack of relationship a rotation system causes, which is seen by Elders and families as a lack of commitment to the person. By getting to know Elders and families, understanding each others point of view, and being "in it for the long haul", most homes report that relationships actually improve and complaints diminish.

Permanent assignments aren't just for nursing. How about medical, therapy employees, even housekeeping or building services? Regular assignments create community and a deeper knowing of the needs of the Elders and care partners in each neighborhood. Through our own elimination of agency staff and a move to permanent assignments, St. John's has eliminated their $3.5 million agency budget of 2002, and is now agency free for more than 6 years. Full-time employee turnover has decreased from over 30% a decade ago to only 8.5% last year, with a nursing turnover of only 13%. This has huge implications for quality of care.

Finally, the formation of close relationships also greatly improves the care of people who live with dementia, particularly those who have difficulty communicating their needs, or are frequently distressed. The deep knowing that comes from having regular care partners helps them to be understood and have their needs anticipated, not just medicated.

From Dr. Al Power, Eden Mentor and Educator
St. John's Home, Rochester, NY

Going Holo Holo for a Picnic

On Tuesday Wailuku residents drove out to Lahaina to enjoy the sun and surf, and to have a lovely picnic at the beach.

Residents enjoyed beautiful weather at Launiupoko beach in Lahaina (in red Peter Kaina Jr, to the left Emilio Jocson, Boris Garcia, Chico Cruz, Alan Camara, Myra Yanagihara).

Boris Garcia looks on as Chico Cruz and (act asst) Susie Lising work hard at the grill.

Myra, Peter, and Emilio enjoy a round of cards as they wait for their lunch.

Residents Reign Over May Day Program

Residents Ali and Bruno preside over this year's Hale Makua Kahului May Day program as Queen and King.

Resident Wally dances with staff.

Minute to Win It Competition

Teams made up of residents and staff have a blast competing against each other in the Minute to Win It games during National Nursing Home Week.

May Day is Lei Day in Wailuku

Hale Makua Wailuku closes out their National Nursing Home Week festivities with the annual May Day for residents. This year's King and Queen were Chico (John) Cruz and Eileen Kailihou.

Darryl Atai and her beautiful halau also shared with us there passion and aloha spirit.

Staff, family, and staff children performed Tahitian dancing for the residents.

A Blast Back to the Fifties

Resident Helen Oliveira does the Twist with Activities Assistant May on Fifties Day at Hale Makua Kahului.

Room with an Asian Flair

Resident Emma Lee pictured with her daughter Stephanie in her beautifully decorated room with Asian accents.

Gone Shopping

Residents enjoyed shopping (and eating) at this morning's Food & Craft Fair in our Aloha Cafe!

Residents Help Prepare for Saturday's Pineapple Grill Event

This morning residents formed a production line to help put together the favors for this Saturday's Pineapple Grill, Kapalua, fifth anniversary gala. All proceeds from this event will benefit Hale Makua Health Services!

Eden Alternative Tip of the Week: Influencing Others on the Culture Change Journey

To be a wise leader (Principle Ten), you need skills in influencing change. To be an effective influencer, you have to get clear about what you are trying to change. More specifically, what behaviors do you want to change? A great question that is posed in the book is "In order to improve our existing situation, what must people actually do?" It is easy on the path to change to focus on the outcomes or goals and not spend much time thinking through, and driving people toward, different specific actions. Think about the role models or star performers in your organization. What do they do that is different from others, and do those behaviors actually lead to the desired outcomes? If they do, then you have a good idea of where to focus your influence.

Identifying the key behaviors starts you on the way. Then you need to think through your strategy. In the book, they talk about two parallel paths. One has to do with motivation and the other with ability. When people are challenged with change they ask two very basic questions: "Can I do it?" and "Will it be worth it?" These two questions speak to the personal assessment of ability and motivation to get involved with a change effort.

Along the path of motivation, you need to consider personal motivations. What makes a new behavior desirable for a person to adopt? Then look at how you can use peer (or social) pressure to motivate someone to change their behavior. Lastly, consider how you can design rewards and accountability so that it aligns with the desired behaviors. All of these combine to help drive motivation toward change.

Along the path of ability, people need training and skills in the culture change world. Old ways that we have been taught often are not a good fit in the new world. In order to personally commit, people need to grow their skills. They need to have the help of others to guide them along in their learning. How do the social networks within the organization support the growth in skills needed in the new world? Lastly, the deeply imbedded systems and structures need to be changed in order to support the ongoing use of the new behaviors and skills. If people keep running up against the system, they will struggle in their ability to commit to change.

From Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, et al, 2008.

Cinqo de Mayo

Julita Kaiama taking a swing at the piñata at yesterday's Cinqo de Mayo festivities.

BJ Basks in the Glow of Living at Home

BJ pictured in his beautifully decorated room with his daughter Linnea, who was the one who transformed his room. Upon entering his room, I thought it was like going to visit someone's home. I felt like asking if I should talk off my shoes before entering.

Getting Down & Dirty

Last week Friday residents dug up plants that were out growing their existing pots and replanted them in larger pots so that they could keep on growing. They also took out some of the plants that were threatening to take over other plants in the residents' planter boxes, trimmed them down and planted them in pots, where they could still be enjoyed and their growth better controlled.

Gardening without Getting Your Hands Dirty

We had gardening on the schedule today; the ladies didn’t want to get their hands dirty but they still wanted to work with flowers. Activity Assistant Delva Valdez was quick to put together a craft project for the residents to work with silk flowers. Stories were shared about their favorite color flowers, their favorite smelling flowering, and flowers they used to grow in their own gardens!

Top photo: Doris Voss and Delva

Bottom photo: Theresa Sylva working with her silk flowers and ribbon

Submitted by Lynsey Capone, Activities Director