In the Arms of Elders: A Parable of Wise Leadership and Community Building

Another great book by Dr. Thomas with insight and understanding of where elder care should be!

As a lover of fiction, including some science fiction and fantasy, I was pleased to discover this book. In our world where, to quote Dr. Thomas, "The truth is all wrapped up in rules, regulations, dollar signs, and self-pity," where "the modern obsession with finding and proclaiming the difference between what is real and what is imagined conceals as much as it reveals," fables and parables may not be generally appreciated, but they have a lot to teach us. In this parable, a stormy shipwreck takes a professional couple, geriatrician and gerontologist, to a strange, unknown island called Kallimos. In this primitive, idyllic society, the elders are the leaders; all the scientific knowledge that the shipwrecked couple bring from the "Other World" is useless there. All their ideas about society and community roles are overturned as they learn how the Kallimos community comes together to protect the elders from the three plagues: loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. The elders are thus freed to pass on their experience, wisdom, and knowledge of life to the community. I was fascinated by this story. It is simple on the surface, but the book has much to say about the care and treatment of elders.

I was deeply impacted by this book. Many people will only read it at face value for it's commentary on aging. However, as a young adult, I found the book instructive and meaningful to me personally. It taught me about who I want to be, how I want to grow old, and what I want to contribute to this world. This book represents a kind of "unification theory" of the natural stages of life. The fact that it is a super easy and quick read leaves no excuses for not reading this book!

Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (1/07) Most of us have visited nursing homes and have been sad and depressed at the frail, unhappy people that we have seen there. We feel bad for the people who are in the home whether they are friends or family and we hope that a similar fate will not be part of our future. Thomas, in "In the Arms of Elders," attempts to change the way we think about the elderly with what he calls "A Parable of Wise Leadership and Community Building." The book tells the fictional story of a young couple, medical professionals, Bill and Jude who think they have all the answers about how to deal with the elderly. On a vacation, they are shipwrecked on a mysterious island named Kallimos, and they are forced to rethink the way they think about the elderly. With wise council and stories, two of the elder residents of the island, Hannah and Haleigh help Bill and Jude adjust to life on Kallimos. In her first lesson, Hannah teaches them that the three plagues of the elderly are loneliness, helplessness and boredom. Does that sound very much like the atmosphere of most nursing homes? Then Hannah goes on to teach them that "Elders exist because they show us how to make a community. As we give to them, they give to us their wisdom, their experience, their affection. When we come together to meet their needs, we learn how to live as human beings." After a year on the island, Bill and Jude are washed back into their life in the Other World and at this point the parable ends and Thomas talks about the changes that can and should be made in nursing homes. With his wife, he has created a different kind of world for people living in nursing homes called The Eden Alternative. His Eden Alternative philosophy is currently in practice in every state in the U.S. and all over the world. The Green House, another project of the author is a new way of looking at elderly care and it "is inspired by the richness of close personal relationships and the healing power of community." I would recommend the book to anyone who thinks that there must be something better than most nursing homes that run rampant with the three plagues of loneliness, helplessness and boredom. Thomas gives the reader a great deal to consider but he does it in a very loving, comforting way. After reading the book, most readers will be curious to find out more about the Eden Alternative and The Green House and the author provides a list of contact information and web sites. Thomas and his wife are in the forefront of a movement to change the face of elder care as we currently know it and hopefully the changes will be in place as the baby boom generation finds itself in need of that care. We can only hope that the love and respect for elders and for keeping them a vital part of the community that Thomas espouses in "In the Arms of Elders" will be the norm in elder care in the years to come.

Written by medical doctor and internationally recognized authority on longevity William H. Thomas, In The Arms of Elders: A Parable of Wise Leadership and Community Building is part memoir, part parable, and part fictional novel about a marooned young couple who become part of a new society organized through elders, then who must apply the wisdom they have gleaned to find their own place in life when they go home once more. A contemplative narrative about the ups and downs of life, and the leadership that comes tempered from experience, In the Arms of Elders is absorbing from cover to cover. Enthusiastically recommended.