The California Culture Change Coalition is off to an exciting start in 2007, having incorporated as a 501(c)(3) on February 1. I attended the coalition's meeting in Sacremento on February 2 and spent the day talking with a diverse group of coalition partners. I came away hoping that the old adage, "As California goes, so goes the rest of the country" holds up in this case, because they really do have all the stakeholders around the table and are poised to do great work.

California is fortunate to have involved in its coalition several folks with a tremendous amount of experience implementing person-directed care practices and building community across the long-term care spectrum, including David Farrell. They also have founding Pioneers Barry and Debby Barkan.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend some quality time with the Barkans while staying in their Berkeley home. Barry shared with me an article he wrote for Aging back in 1981. It's based on a talk he gave at a UC Berkeley conference the year before, and he said it was carried around by Carter Williams for several years before she ever met Barry. It very much captures the spirit of OBRA 87!

Reading the paper for the first time on the plane ride home, I thought about how it's truly a foundational document in the culture change movement -- something everybody should read because it captures the essence of what this work is all about.

I highly recommend downloading it (opens as a .pdf) and sharing it with others. Hold a learning circle in your organization and discuss it, or honor Barry and Debby by making it the topic of a community meeting!