Tennessee Eden Alternative Coalition

• Co-sponsored two free training conferences in Nashville and Chattanooga in March 2011 in conjunction with the Southeast Advocacy Center for Elder Rights (SACFER) titled "Rethinking Elderhood:  Buildng Professional and Community Understanding of Elder Potential" which included three sessions titled:  "Approaching Dementia with Successful Strategies Beyond Drugs" with Dr. G. Allen Power, MD, author of Dementia Beyond Drugs; "Ageism and Its Impact on People Living with Dementia" with Dr. Kortner Nygard, PhD, co-author of The SAGE MOVEMENT: Replacing Ageism with Sageism; and "Understanding Ageism and Its Impact" with Melanie Adair, MA, and Dr. Joe Adair, PhD, co-authors of The SAGE MOVEMENT: Replacing Ageism with Sageism.   
• Provided two training sessions to coalition members during our bi-monthly Coalition meetings  titled "Identifying Different Types of Dementia" and "Managing Difficult Behaviors in LTC: Non-pharmaceutical Approaches" both of which were presented by the Coalition Chair, Dr. Nygard.  
• Coalition leadership attended a Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) Stakeholder meeting in December 2011 that the TN Department of Health convened to discuss suggestions for the State's use of federal CMP funds as mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  The Coalition also took the opportunity to submit suggestions for use of those funds toward improving culture change in the State which included:  onsite and offsite staff trainings; one or more culture change training conferences; and developing a new culture change grant program for nursing homes.  Unfortunately the State CMP fund has been expended and it will take time to build back up in order to continue annual funding of both the State nursing home grant program and the Coalition grant.