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Greetings from Bill and Jude Thomas Welcome to the Eden Alternative website. Over the years we have found that the Eden web site has been a crucial link for all of us. We would like to share the story of how Eden got started; One day, as I (Bill) was making my rounds at the nursing home, I entered a resident’s room. She was lying in her bed, a shock of white hair upon her pillow and these incredible blue eyes. In my best doctor voice, I leaned down and screamed into her ear, “I’m Dr. Bill. What can I do for you today?” She had a rash on her arm that had been bothering her. Well, I knew just what to do for that! “Hydrocortisone 1% cream applied to right forearm TID until healed.” I quickly wrote out the prescription and signed it. I couldn’t stop looking at those beautiful blue eyes! I leaned in again and asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” The old woman with the beautiful blue eyes grabbed my arm and pulled me close to her and with a very soft and sad voice, she said, “Doctor, I’m so lonely!” Well this flustered me. I really didn’t know how to respond. I smiled gently and patted her hand and slipped out of the room. As Icontinued on my rounds, I couldn’t stop thinking about those beautiful blue eyes. I didn’t know how to help this patient. They didn’t teach me anything about loneliness at Harvard. I went home that night and pulled out my medical books. I scanned every index in search of a treatment for loneliness. Nothing. I began to think about his other patients at the nursing home. I had the best medical education you can buy; yet I knew I was failing. My patients were still dying. Why? Was loneliness attacking them as well? This led me to do a very strange thing for busy doctors. I went to the nursing home and sat. Yes, I just sat and watched. I was no longer playing the role of the busy young doctor. I was just observing. I sat in the lobby. I sat in the dining room. I sat in the solarium.
What I saw was something I had been too busy to see before. What I saw were the Elders suffering – not from the physical ailments that brought them to the nursing home, but from plagues of the human spirit. I saw his patients suffering and dying from loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. These plagues had been there all the time, right under my nose. I had just been too busy to notice. I didn’t learn about these plagues at Harvard. No one taught me how devastating they could be. But here they were. Everywhere I looked in the nursing home. They were there – robbing the spirit of the Elders. The medical model did not have the answers to these problems. It could tell me what to do about a rash, or diabetes, or congestive heart failure. I knew how to treat a broken hip or a stroke, but he didn’t know how to treat loneliness. I knew that I had to do something. This brought me to the story of Eden. Every child in America knows this story of world-making. Yes, I thought, “Human beings were not meant to live in a cold, sterile environment. They were meant to live in a Garden. That is a true Human Habitat. We must create a place for our Elders that is much more like a Garden – the Garden of Eden!” At my side has been my wife, Judy, and my children. Together, Judy and I have worked to create an pathway for people who are interested creating homes where life is worth living.
In March of 2002, Jude and I named a Board of Directors to take over the operations of the non-profit corporation, The Eden Alternative®. The Board has engaged an Executive Director who will work closely with Eden Mentors and the Board to raise awareness of Eden and provide support and guidance to the courageous caregivers who dare to dream of a better world for our Elders. All the best, Bill and Jude Thomas |
