The Eden Alternative™

Riverside Health Care Center is part of a national movement to enhance the quality of life of our elderly living in a nursing home. Our facility believes that the major barriers to growth in a nursing home are:

• Loneliness
• Hopelessness
• Boredom

The antidote for loneliness is companionship. We must provide easy access to human and animal companionship.

To find the antidote for helplessness, humans need to give as well as receive care to feel part of daily life. Helplessness is a dangerous and debilitating condition.

The antidote to boredom is variety and spontaneity. We all need some kind of variety in our lives – the chance to laugh, be surprised, or take part in unexpected events. This makes life worth living!

We owe those who live in a nursing home no less. We want to fill our home with gardens, children and spontaneous activities including music, food and fun along with the special care our elders need.

It is our hope that we have a home filled with growing, living things… A place where plants, animals and children fill our halls and our senses, where the things of daily life, the unexpected pleasures, happen freely, and where those who live with us have purpose and individual interests of their own.

It can be different!