TdHomeImprovement.com » Nursing

BREAKING NEWS: THE ?GREEN HOUSE?? MODEL RESHAPES THE TRADITIONAL NURSING HOME TO BECKON BOOMERS

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:53:45 +0000

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that there are 306 million Americans, 78.2 million of whommore than one-quarterare Baby Boomers. The oldest Boomers began turning 60 on New Years Day, 2006, slightly more than 40 months ago. The generation that sincerely believed that it would never grow old is doing precisely that.
This generation, the pig moving through the python–a disparaging reference to its size–is both the largest in American history and the first to have significant responsibilities for its aging, frequently infirm, parents needshousing, healthcare, insurance, end-of-life planning, and a lot more.
As we Boomers school ourselves about caregiving options for our parents, most of us ought to be thinking about our own advancing age and figuring out how were going to pay for our care. We may consider nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or an alternative that will enable us to continue to live at home and receive the care well need, such as InHomeHealthCareor AdultDayCare. But its a demographic inevitability that as life expectancies continues to extend, were going to need help with basic daily functionsdressing, bathing, cooking, to name a fewperhaps for decades.
How will Boomers select OUR senior housing? Proponents of generational marketing believe that generational values drive product marketing, and that each generation has unique values that are determined by their life experiences, lifestyles and social values. Baby Boomers are routinely characterized as the me generation, the most egocentric in history. This is the generation, after all, that grew up believing that the economic prosperity that existed after World War II would continue indefinitely. Shop till you drop, and He who dies with the most toys wins! are slogans that are claimed to reflect Boomers values and buying habits.

On the other hand, Baby Boomers are also the Woodstock Generation, an age group that raged against their parents attitudes and mores, embracing the hippie lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Many of them rejected the traditional family formation and structure, opting instead for informal, even communal, living arrangements, often seeking self-sufficiency by living off the land.

It is this latter modality that has gotten increasing traction as Boomers age. After decades of indulging every shameless, greedy impulse, our generation seems to want to age gracefully and adopt healthy lifestyles. Health, wellness and sustainability have become compatible and complementary to us.

As a result, it may be no surprise that the greenest Americans are the oldest Americans. As reported by WSL Strategic Retail (http://www.wslstrategicretail.com) a research firm that provides marketing information to retailers and manufacturers, fully 85 percent of those over 55 try to conserve energy or use natural products, for example, compared to only 65 percent of Americans under age 35.

The emerging model of elder living for Boomers. In 2002, Dr. William Thomas began to develop an alternative to traditional nursing home care that he called the Eden Alternative. Heres how he describes his motivation for changing the culture of nursing facilities:

I went to the nursing home and sat. Yes, I just sat and watched. . . . I was just observing. I sat in the lobby. I sat in the dining room. I sat in the solarium. What I saw was something I had been too busy to see before. What I saw were the elders suffering not from the physical ailments that brought them to the nursing home, but from plagues of the human spirit. I saw patients suffering and dying from loneliness, helplessness, and boredom.
I knew that I had to do something. This brought me to the story of Eden. Every child in America knows this story of world-making. Yes, I thought, Human beings were not meant to live in a cold, sterile environment. They were meant to live in a garden. That is a true human habitat. We must create a place for our elders that is much more like a garden the Garden of Eden!
Dr. Thomas developed the Green House model, a small, intentional community that is a radical departure from the traditional nursing home or assisted living facility. This model changes the size of the facility, its interior design and staffing patterns, and, most important, the methodology for delivering services. The Green House website (http://www.thegreenhouseproject.org) describes this approach as a place where elders can receive assistance and support with activities of daily living and clinical care, without the assistance and care becoming the focus of their existence.
The Green House serves six to ten elders, blending architecturally with neighboring homes. Each resident has a private room or unit with a private bathroom. The rooms are bathed with sunlight and are organized around a hearth, an open kitchen and dining area. Theyre intended to look and feel like a home, with few medical signposts. The floorplans, dcor and furnishings provide a sense of warmth, while the use of smart technology (e.g., computers, wireless pagers, electronic ceiling lifts, and adaptive devices) demonstrates sustainable, green practices.

Equally important, residents are not subject to the limitations of the typical institutional schedule. They sleep, eat, and participate in activities according to their own schedules. Meals are prepared in the open kitchen and served at a large dining table where staff, elders and visitors enjoy nutritious food and good conversation with people who care about each other.

Tabitha Health Care Services Nursing Home Introduces the Green House Project, Part II

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:07:02 +0000

This month we continue our discussion with Joyce Ebmeier of Tabitha Health Care Services. A 25-year veteran of the nursing home industry, Ebmeier talked about the social benefits of the Green House and a phenomenon she calls the “Green House Creep,” explaining how the model of care is leading to positive change at Tabitha’s 205-bed traditional nursing home, affectionately known as “the mothership.” Mary’s story To many, the social benefits of this house are undeniable. Living in a smaller community operating under its own set of rules makes for a happy household. When Mary, one of the first elders to move into the House, celebrated her 101st birthday, the staff asked her what she wanted. Ebmeier sounds wistful when she recalls, “Mary and her daughter sitting on the porch enjoying a margarita and a cigarette.” This year on her birthday, everyone gathered on the porch and had margaritas to honor her memory. Community before business It always is painful to lose someone you love, but Ebmeier says in the Green House it is “that intense and more. [Death] impacts the dynamics acutely.” After the first death in the House, Tabitha staff acted to fill the spot. The residents and staff of the Green House pushed back, saying they “had not grieved enough yet” and needed more time. Tabitha’s administration agreed, writing a policy for theHouse, outlining the steps to be taken when an elder died, in order to allow time for everyone to grieve properly. Collaborative change Tabitha’s administration worked with the community to develop guidelines and a timeframe that worked. Ebmeier describes the policy as “an opportunity to honor that member of the household.” After the initial grieving period, staff members and residents will welcome the newest member to the Green House. The outcome has had a profound effect on the mothership as well. Its staff and residents quickly developed their own policy so that they, too, could grieve for neighbors and friends who had died.

“green Houses” Offer an Alternative to Nursing Homes

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:59:42 +0000

Green Houses provide an environment in which residents receive nursing support and clinical care without the care becoming the focus of their existence.

By altering facility sizes, interior designs, staffing patterns and methods of delivering skilled services, the Green House model provides greater health and lifestyle benefits compared to traditional nursing homes and assisted living communities. Here’s more:

A Green House is designed to look like a private home or apartment, with seven to ten bedrooms for seniors, so that each resident has his or her own room.

The common living space comprises a shared living room, dining room and kitchen facilities. The common room centers around a single big table where the group–residents, staff, caregivers, family and friends–sits down to dinner every night together.

“The Green House is based on deep relationships, nurturing, sustaining and protecting each person,” says Joyce Ebmeier, a guide for a nine-person home in Nebraska. “Excellent medical treatment is a key component of life in a Green House, but it is delivered discretely and supportively, respecting the rhythm of each elder’s life.”

The concept has spread from four Green House homes in Tupelo, Mississippi, to more than 40 homes operating in 10 states. NCB Capital Impact of Oakland, Calif., under the leadership of Robert Jenkens, has received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to replicate the Green House model nationally, with the goal of developing 50 such homes by 2010.

“We are trying to create a nursing home that people will want to live and work in,” says Jenkens. “We want to make nursing homes places where people get care but their lives have meaning and purpose.”

The Green House concept has spread from four Green House homes in Tupelo, Mississippi., to more than 40 Green House homes operating in nine states. An additional 79 homes are under construction or in development, and close to 80 homes are planned in the coming years. Four Green House nursing homes in Florida are under development.

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NCB Capital Impact is providing technical assistance and pre-development loans to organizations to facilitate replication of the Green House model nationally.