"The higher you climb, the farther you can see." This is one of the many standout moments in a very special episode of the 'Welcome to Sherbrooke' podcast featuring the co-founder of the Eden Alternative Philosophy, Dr. Bill Thomas. He spoke with Sherbrooke Community Centre's CEO, Kim Schmidt, at this month's Eden International Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In their conversation, Kim and Dr. Thomas discuss how the philosophy has evolved over 30 years, what he is currently working on in regards to Elder care, and the role Sherbrooke can play in influencing other long term care homes around the world.
Welcome to Sherbrooke is a podcast that takes you inside Sherbrooke Community Centre; a long term care home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where 263 residents live and which follows the Eden Alternative Philosophy of Care.
My name is Eric Anderson and I’m the Communications Leader for Sherbrooke.
In this episode, we feature a very special guest to only our Sherbrooke community but the Eden community around the world, Dr. Bill Thomas.
Dr. Thomas is the co-founder, along with his wife Jude, of the Eden Alternative philosophy. He is a physician, professor, entrepreuner, a playwright and someone who loves wearing bunnyhugs.
He has visited Sherbrooke in the past and is a strong believer in the culture we have built. For our organization, he continues to push our organization to provide the best in well-being for residents.
A few weeks ago, four members of Sherbrooke’s Leadership team, myself included, attended the Eden International Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was an opportunity for people from around the world to get together and share their successes and the challenges they are facing in long term care.
Dr. Thomas and his wife attended the conference and we had this big idea of seeing if he would be a guest on our podcast because it’s fun to dream big!
Kim Schmidt, who is our CEO and presented at the conference, was able to steal 10 minutes of Dr. Thomas’ time after the first day of the conference wrapped up to ask him some questions.
Kim did a wonderful job of interviewing Dr. Thomas and we are excited to share that conversation with you now.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode and a big thank you to Dr. Bill Thomas for carving out time out of his busy schedule to speak with Kim for the podcast. You can listen to the ‘Welcome to Sherbrooke’ podcast wherever you find your favourite podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t forget to leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear.