Shared Rooms Helped Fuel COVID-19 Deaths in Nursing Homes. Are a Million Private Rooms Possible?

Categories: In The News, National Media Items

Private rooms alone won’t remedy the nursing home system’s shortcomings. “The Green House model is a lot more than just the building,” says Alex Spanko. “It’s about the culture, too.”

For example, moving residents into private rooms without investing in communal spaces or activity programs or more staff that bring them out of those rooms could cause increased loneliness and social isolation, an issue nursing homes really struggled with during the pandemic.

“Private rooms are really just step one,” says Spanko. “There’s another 25 steps that also need to be done to get to where we really want to be.”

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  • “At a time when hospitals continued to push more post-surgical patients straight to home care, Londonderry Village in Palmyra, PA, decided to invest in six Green House homes with 10 beds each. ‘We believed in that culture and that quality of care,’ said President and CEO Jeff Shireman. ‘People have great experiences in that environment.'”

  • From Senator Ed Markey to select board chair Art Smadbeck, a mix of high-level politicians and local figures broke ground in Edgartown on the 70-bed, $68 million Navigator Homes elderly housing project intended to replace the Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on the Vineyard. “This is going to be a place that really helps families, and that cares for their loved ones in a way that is almost family-like,” Markey said.

  • “A small but growing group of nursing homes are already implementing these changes. Collectively called ‘household models,’ these nursing homes have generated enthusiasm among diverse stakeholders and long-term care experts. Because of its scale and consistency across homes, the Green House approach has been the most frequently studied household model.”

  • “Alternatives to traditional nursing homes for older adults who cannot remain in their own homes has prompted interest in smaller, community-style facilities such as the Green House model. Staff are used more flexibly in the Green House model, and work with small clusters of residents; the model’s success, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has attracted interest as an alternative to traditional nursing homes.