“It was a revelation. It restored residents’ spirits and autonomy. Many started dressing themselves, leaving their rooms and eating again. The number of prescriptions fell to half. The death rate plummeted.”

The Harvard Doctor ‘Radically Humanizing’ Nursing Homes: https://t.co/MifnhzmDqk via @NextAvenue

— Barbara Ruhs,MS, RDN (@BarbRuhsRD) February 8, 2016

“[Dr. Thomas] decided to transform the nursing home. Based on a hunch, he persuaded his staff to stock the facility with two dogs, four cats, several hens and rabbits, and 100 parakeets, along with hundreds of plants, a vegetable and flower garden, and a day-care site for staffers’ kids.

“All those animals in a nursing home broke state law, but for Thomas and his staff, it was a revelation. Caring for the plants and animals restored residents’ spirits and autonomy; many started dressing themselves, leaving their rooms and eating again. The number of prescriptions fell to half of that of a control nursing home, particularly for drugs that treat agitation. Medication costs plummeted, and so did the death rate.

“He named the approach the Eden Alternative — based on the idea that a nursing home should be less like a hospital and more like a garden — and it was replicated in hundreds of institutions in Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia as well as in all 50 U.S. states (the animal restriction in New York was voted down).”