At this Toronto long-term-care home, a little extra money has paid off handsomely — with time, respect and attention for residents
"It’s not just an exercise in kindness. Independent research shows that the residents living in the U.S.-based Green House Project homes (small households) have deeper relationships with staff, fewer trips to the hospital emergency department and fewer pressure ulcers or urinary-tract infections — conditions that can be serious for older adults and costly to the health-care system."
The Challenging Future of Long-Term Care for Older Adults
“A lesson from the Green House movement and from other countries’ experience is that training and permitting nurses and other care staff to deliver a range of services improves quality and job satisfaction as well as patient satisfaction.”
Aging well: Finally, boomers — and politicians — are paying attention
That's why there's a growing call for smaller households, like the Green House model, that can be created within larger care homes but also in residential communities.
With Regulatory Changes on the Horizon, Green House and Pioneer Network Join Forces
The Green House Project and Pioneer Network hope to draw on their decades of shared experience to improve the lives of people living in nursing homes, while also building a better eldercare infrastructure for future generations.
LTC alliance aims to bring ‘real systemic transformation’
By coming together, we can create a consolidated source of knowledge and best practices based on experience gained through both organizations’ years of work on the ground
Life plan communities earn high marks from residents
Communities that have adopted the universal worker model, espoused by the Green House Project, are seeing much higher levels of engagement than those with traditional workforce models.
Workforce Housing Proves to be Powerful Tool as Hiring, Retention Crisis Persists
Companies like Navigator Elder Homes of New England are teaming up with workforce housing developers to build apartment complexes for nursing home staff.
No Innovation Without Compensation: SNFs Need Federal Support to Realize Biden’s Private Room Plans
Removing financial barriers like access to capital and Medicaid underfunding would be a step toward nursing home innovation, Ryan said, like the shift to private rooms and the small home model.
LTC small homes could become big venture, but policy, funding must catch up
“People vote with their feet,” Ponthie said, adding that traditional rural providers are facing unprecedented closures. “During COVID, we grew our census. Everyone else had huge declines. Drop the mic. We’re done. The demand is there.”
Smaller and cozier than standard long-term care facilities, group homes may provide comparable care for some older adults
Residents can continue to live in a Green House home as their care needs progress, without having to undergo transfers to different facilities, which can be more traumatic as people age. Deinstitutionalization is a core value.
Green House Project Looks to Get More States to Incentivize its Small Home Model
“It’s important to me that we incentivize what we want to see incentivized and figure out how we increase quality at a lower cost and create something that meets consumer demand.”
PACE, Green House Project to forge partnerships
The Green House Project wants to provide a full continuum of care for residents, bridging the gap between home care and more extensive institutional care.
Changing nursing home culture
Listen to Passamaquoddy Lodge board president Caroline Davies and Nova Scotia Centre on Aging director Janice Keefe discuss the power of a proposed new Canadian Green House community set for groundbreaking in 2023!
Changes COVID-19 Brought to Long-Term Care Facilities
"The Green House Project is an innovative, nationally recognized model in LTCFs that creates small homes that recognize the individuality of residents and respect their autonomy, choice, privacy, and dignity, yet are also affordable."
How smaller long-term care homes can help address big elder-care issues
"We get a lot of referrals. ... We get people from other counties and other states. They come here and they're like, 'When I retire, when I have to go into a home, this is where I want to be because it's so homelike, it's so personal.'"
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.
There are benefits to thinking ‘small’ for Alberta continuing care facilities
“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.
Could the Pandemic Transform Nursing Homes?
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.
The Green House Project Takes on New Relevance
This not-for-profit organization committed to redefining traditional nursing homes has garnered extensive media exposure for defying the odds.
$1.3B in Funding for Small Homes in Peril
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 [...]
COVID-19 Crisis Advances Efforts to Reimagine Nursing Homes
"We need small. Green House is a model that is very exciting. They have small locations of care. Maybe 12 individuals live in a setting. It’s personalized. It would look more [...]
With new legislation coming, will Ontario take the ‘bold’ road and breathe life into long-term care?
“Emotion-focused care is the way we need to care for our seniors,” Levin said. “We have seen evidence of this globally with the Eden Alternative, the Butterfly Model, the [...]
Providing Independent Living and Quality of Life for People Living With ALS
“'The Leonard Florence Center for Living is the nation’s first urban model Green House,'” Barry Berman said. ... Today there are 35 people living at the Leonard Florence Center [...]
Push for Nursing Home Alternatives Made on the Hill as Financing, Staffing Remain Obstacles
"The non-profit has invested at least $81 million in its small house campuses, with a $12 million expansion underway that will see two rooms added to each house across its portfolio [...]
Nobody Wants to Live in a Nursing Home. Something’s Got to Give.
"In the Covid era, these alternatives are getting new attention. Research shows that Green House homes weathered the early pandemic far better than traditional facilities. The need for innovation and reform in [...]
Local News
Londonderry Village is growing with its residents’ needs through Fox Run project
During the pandemic, this concept fared particularly well due to the fewer number of staff circulating through the facility, with nurses typically working in the same home day after day
Green House Project offers an alternative to traditional nursing homes
Celebrating its tenth anniversary in February of last year, the center named after the late Chelsea philanthropist Leonard Florence was widely praised as “innovative” and “revolutionary.” The designations were due to its basic existence. It’s unlike any other nursing home.
The Green House Project helps seniors live meaningful lives
AARP Michigan state director Paula Cunningham hosts practitioners and experts detailing housing options for older adults to help them maintain their quality of life. One of these options includes a “Green House."
The senior living industry will never be the same
"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."
Interview with Edie Morgan, Founder of The Mustard Seed Project
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.
Mustard Seed Begins Building First Home for KP Elders
“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."
Key Peninsula’s first senior living to use design showing success with COVID rates
“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.”
A New Culture of Aging
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.
Calling All Elders
"Once fully funded and all regulatory boxes checked, elders needing nursing support or rehabilitation will have the option of communal living with private bedrooms and baths, shared living and dining space, a country kitchen, and a sense of independence. In other words, a place that provides licensed, skilled nursing, but contained in a setting that feels and looks more like home."