Small nursing homes challenge what senior care looks like
Go inside a Green House community outside of Toledo, Ohio with a reporter and crew from Canada looking to find alternatives to institutional long-term care.
Go inside a Green House community outside of Toledo, Ohio with a reporter and crew from Canada looking to find alternatives to institutional long-term care.
“We must fundamentally change the way we provide elder care because we absolutely cannot have a repeat of the illness and death that COVID-19 caused in nursing homes and other institutions,” says Ryan.
"The Green House model costs no more to the consumer than traditional facilities and offers a philosophy of care that emphasizes quality of life, emotional well-being, and elder choice. That has led to everything from better clinical outcomes to higher levels of family and elder satisfaction and lower depression rates among elders."
Those that build Green Houses or provide private rooms, for example, could get paid a higher rate from Medicaid, John Ponthie adds. The government could also offer more low-interest construction financing.
This not-for-profit organization committed to redefining traditional nursing homes has garnered extensive media exposure for defying the odds.
The word “facility” was outlawed when talking about the Green House Project. The word “home” evolved to mean “facility” in the past, but we’re taking it back and embracing the real meaning. It’s never going to be exactly like a person’s very own home, but the concept of care revolves around each individual and their preferences and their needs, their lifestyle, their skills and abilities, their memories.
“What we’re building is a Green House Project model; it’s a small-hearth home model, so for example if there’s a resident whose family wants to come and bake cookies, they can do that in the common kitchen. The whole effort is to make it feel like home and not a facility."
Green House Project Senior Director Susan Ryan said in a statement to Skilled Nursing News that while the organization fully supports the efforts included in the bill, leaving out the pilot program “is a [...]
“This is a model that has more or less revolutionized care for seniors,” said Mustard Seed Project board chair Sara Thompson, a retired family-care physician. “It gives seniors a much more home-like atmosphere.”
Join Green House Project founder Dr. Bill Thomas, Green House adopter Matt Trimble of Saint Elizabeth Community, and Navigator Elder Homes of New England CEO Renee Lohman for a discussion about Navigator's new Green House-inspired development on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the overall future of elder-directed care.