Sherbrooke is recognized on the registry of of the Eden Alternative™ as an Edenizing facility.

The Eden Alternative™ is a powerful tool for improving the quality of life of individuals living in long term care. Eden helps organizations to transform themselves from institutions for the frail and elderly to human habitats where residents can live full and abundant lives. By introducing children, animals and plants into the environment we can alleviate the plagues of loneliness helplessness and boredom and change them to vibrant communities that are filled with variety and spontaneity, companionship and opportunities for residents to feel useful in their community.

Sherbrooke is a registered Eden Alternative™ home. The Eden Alternative™ is a powerful tool for improving the quality of life for people who live in long-term care facilities or are isolated in the community. It is a new way of thinking about eldercare and has the potential of remaking facilities and communities. The Eden Alternative™ is not a program, but rather a total philosophy that seeks to address what Dr. Bill Thomas calls the Three Plagues of Nursing Homes: loneliness, helplessness and boredom. Dr. Thomas discovered that medical treatment is necessary but insufficient for quality of life and needs to be the servant and not the master of care.

The Eden Alternative™ was adopted at Sherbrooke after planning for the construction of the Village was complete. It was believed that the environment being constructed would support this philosophy, which above all else demands a change in organizational culture. The environment has made this work much simpler than one could have imagined.

The Eden Alternative™ grows easily in an environment like Sherbrooke’s Village. Staff and residents seem to have different expectations of how things can happen, based on the opportunities afforded by the physical environment. The smaller number of people, who have close and continuous contact, supports the development of intimate relationships, the antidote to loneliness. This is both rewarding and painful. It is more difficult for the staff and residents when there is a death in the house. Even with this being the case, the staff members find their work so much more meaningful that they report they would never go back to the "old way" of doing things. Residents and families also speak of the increased intimacy and comfort they experience in this environment.

The house environment also supports residents and their families being involved in the day to day chores and activities of life. Residents can assist with any small part of getting a meal on the table, or in the clean up. This is very beneficial to the cognitively impaired who might not make a substantial contribution but who benefit from participation. There is also opportunities to do laundry. The model supports the alleviation of helplessness.

Most of the eleven houses have at least one pet. There are dogs, cats and birds. This helps with the loneliness and in addition creates spontaneity and variety, which addresses the boredom often experienced in these settings. The animals are a drawing card for children, who then wish to visit or volunteer. The residents benefit greatly from the companionship and vitality of the children.

The Village Houses promote our philosophy of resident direction or in Eden language "the idea that decisions belong with the Elder or as close to the Elder as possible" (Thomas, 1999, page108). With the small environment and number of residents and staff, decisions can be made quickly with lots of consultation with those affected. Examples are the residents and families choosing their own china, deciding where pictures should be hung, where the couch works best, what food to serve for supper, whether or not they want a pet, and so on. The opportunity for decision making at this level increases dramatically when one doesn’t have to worry about other departments and groups of residents. The Daily Living Assistant has the freedom to juggle her work depending on the needs of the resident. There are no "department" routines, barriers or competing agendas.

Suellen Beatty, Sherbrooke's CEO, and Cheryl George, Sherbrooke's Education Leader are the Eden Regional Coordinators for Western Canada.  For further information, contact Cheryl George at (306) 655-3646 or cheryl.george@saskatoonhealthregion.ca