whAT IS PERSON-CENTERED CARE, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? hOW ARE THE eDEN alternative AN THE
gREEEN hoUS pROJECT IMPORTANT INITIATIVES IN THIS MOVEMENT?
HSM 3230
Bryon Nelsen
Person centered care is a way of changing institutional idealization, to thinking about how each
individual in the nursing home would want to live their life. The idea is to promote an atmosphere
specifically different for each person. By asking individual residents preferences that will in turn drive
how they are cared for. This leads to things like residents choosing meals from menus, deciding when to
take medications and go to bed or wake up. Showers verse baths, sleep in a recliner verse a bed, are all
examples of changing the care to person centered. By letting the resident decide the cares often gives a
feeling of self-worth to the resident. This allows them to feel like they can make decisions about how
they live their life. When setting up care plans for our elderly residents, all my staff are taught the think
of person centered care. The shift has been made, although at times difficult from how the nurses
“want things” to how the residents “want things”. Some things can be obtained easily but the facility
can often find ways to compromise with the residents to all the resident to live life on their terms. One
thing I have found in my work is that if a resident is even part of a decision the outcome of often so
much greater, than if that decision was just made for them. By looking at the two following models you
can see how the residents really drive their own decisions.
In the Eden Alternative the community commits to creating a Human Habitat where life revolves around
close and continuing contact with people of all ages and abilities. By exposure to things like plants,
animals the extra relationships can often help battle lowliness. In this type of community it creates an
atmosphere where people can give and receive care.
According to the greenhouseproject.org website the vision of the its homes is, “We envision homes in
every community where elders and others enjoy excellent quality of life and quality of care; where they, their
families, and the staff engage in meaningful relationships built on equality, empowerment, and mutual respect;
quality outcomes, consumer demand, and caregiver satisfaction. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2018,
from https://www.thegreenhouseproject.org/