Up Front

Back To The Garden

JULIE EDGAR

News Editor

T

hey wanted
to create a
mini Eden,
a place •
where animals and
plants could flourish
amid the loving care of
happy humans.
Bloomfield
Township residents
Robert and Marge
Alpern are fervent
believers in the power
of nature to heal, par-
ticularly for older
adults who often suffer
from isolation and
loneliness.
So, they put their
money where their
hearts are and initiated
the Alpern Life
Enhancement Program
for the Elderly at
Fleischman Residence
in West Bloomfield.
The Alperns, both 77, were inspired
by Dr. William H. Thomas, who
wrote Life Worth Living, a book about
the Eden Alternative, "a new paradigm
for long-term care."
The Eden Alternative "employs the
principles of ecology and anthropolo-
gy in the struggle to improve residents'
quality of life" and "encourages the
leaders of nursing homes to think less
like administrators and more like nat-
uralists."
Mr. Alpern, a tax attorney, said that
he and Marge, a horticulturist, yoga
devotee and writer, were motivated to
endow the program at Fleischman for
personal reasons. Neither has a relative
in long-term care.
"We have found that living things
are so important in our lives," he said,
"that this is probably behind our
desire that other people have that
same enjoyment." The Alperns, who
are approaching their 55th wedding
anniversary, share their home's 3-acre
plot with a greenhouse and a German
shepherd and Tibetan terrier.
While they did not reveal the
amount of their contribution, the
endowment will ensure the program
continues indefinitely.
Plans for the greening of

3/20
1998

10

A new program at Fleischman
Residence is turning residents into
green thumbs and bird watchers.

Fleischman include revamping a waist-
high garden out back, putting an
existing conservatory to better use,
adding an aviary in the lobby,
installing bird and squirrel feeders out-
side residents' rooms and involving
residents in planting and gardening.
Fleischman, which sits on the
Jewish Community Campus in West
Bloomfield, has already hired master
gardener Jackie Smith to direct the
program. Smith is busy revamping the
building's conservatory, which will
serve as the seeding and cutting center,
and starting to rework the garden.
Last Friday, the first official garden
club met. Using an English primrose,
a perennial, Smith, who once worked
with closed-head injury patients at
Beaumont Hospital, taught interested
residents how to prepare roots for
transplantation. The residents painted
pots and transplanted parts of the

plants, which will be transferred to the
outdoor garden in the spring. Next
month, they'll also begin seeding pro-
jects.
"We're trying to establish this as an
ongoing garden club where people

who have been or
haven't been gardeners
can meet together and
work as a team and
share ideas. It's a verv,
cathartic thing," Smitn
said.
Residents are inter-
ested in herb garden-
ing, as well, she said.
They hope to use their
bounty in the kitchen.
The lobby aviary
that program coordina-
tors envision would r
.
house about 20 birds'
"We're trying to cre-
ate a certain hubbub in
the facility. It will cre-
ate more activity
there," Smith
explained. "We're look-
ing at a birders' club to
get people involved in
taking care of the ani.,_/
mals."
A fish aquarium in
the building might be
expanded and there is
talk of bringing in a dog as a perma-
nent resident. When Smith brings hers
to work, residents clamor to get close
to the animal.
And while she,does not want to
introduce too many changes at once('
which she acknowledged is "unset-
tling" for residents, Smith is eager to
put Dr. Thomas' ideas into action.
"The goal of the program is to
encourage people to reach outside of
themselves and be given an opportuni-
ty to care for plants, to care for ani-
mals. Research is demonstrating that
people, when they have a chance to
give care, are less lonelPP1
and less susceptible to
other problems that
occur with aging," she
said.

❑

Top:
Marge and Bob Alpern
with their pooches, Kits1;:/ —\
and Smokey, in their
greenhouse.

Left:
Jackie Smith is bringing
her gardening talent to
Fleischman.

