Goodbye Nursing Home, Hello Green House
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Can you imagine a home in which an Alzheimer’s patient can live, surrounded by caring, round-the-clock professionals – and a flock of birds, cats, dogs, rabbits and hens?
Believe it.
The Chase Memorial Nursing Home in Chenango County in upstate New York transformed itself into such a place under the leadership of Dr. William H. Thomas, a geriatric specialist in Sherburne, New York and his wife, Judy Meyers Thomas.
Along with the administrative staff of what had been a standard long-term care facility, Dr. Thomas created a new world in the field of elder care, with the development of a system – now a non-profit organization -- known as the “Eden Alternative.”
The 80-bed facility is far from the traditional button-down sterile nursing home environment, with 70 birds, five cats, a dog, a garden and an on-site child care center.
Skilled nurses and other support staff also find the environment inviting; there is much less turnover that is seen in other facilities. The residents do better as well;
Chase CEO Roger Halbert explained in a 2003 interview published in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin that residents are “surrounded by life, an emphasis on life. [They] don’t come here to die – many of them die while they’re here – but they come here to live.”
The Eden Alternative concept is an example of thinking “outside the box” about how to humanize the environment in which fragile senior citizens need to live because they require skilled nursing care. The traditional long-term care facility today reflects a medical model. Pet therapy, when available, means someone bringing in an animal for the residents to touch and see.
In an Eden Alternative home, pet therapy is taken to a wild new level, with a cacophony of animal sounds emanating from various rooms. The sound of children’s laughter, and sometimes tears, echoes into the corridor from the on-site child care center provided for the staff. It serves another purpose as well: residents of the home can visit with the children and watch them play.
Flower and vegetable gardens provide a little produce for the home, but more important, they provide another activity for residents who love to work the soil and watch their garden grow. The gardens are designed to meet the accessibility needs of the residents, with paved walkways wide enough for wheelchairs, raised garden beds that are easier for the elderly gardeners to reach, benches and shade.
Playgrounds are often built on the grounds as well, usually near the garden where residents can enjoy the greenery while watching the children play. It’s a more welcoming environment for family members who would otherwise shy away from bringing their children to visit their loved one.
The Eden Alternative recently gave birth to a new type of eldercare residence, called the “Green House,” also the brainchild of Dr. Thomas, who says the goal is to “de-institutionalize long-term care.”
The Green House is a scaled down, even less formal environment than Chase, accepting up to 8 to 10 residents only in a large residential home staffed by skilled nurses as well as certified caregivers.
With a front yard, a back yard and patio, bedrooms furnished with the residents’ own belongings, each with its own bathroom, and a cozy dining room for meals, the Green House also provides rehabilitation care as well as programs for people with Alzheimer’s disease and developmental disabilities.
There are 29 Green Houses located in 19 states, including Alaska, Montana, Michigan, Ohio, New York and Florida, with Dr. Thomas expecting to see at least one Green House in every state within the next five years. He hopes there will be at least 160,000 such homes established by communities across the country in the next 20 years.
Said Dr. Thomas in an interview with the ElderLawAnswers website, “I want to be there when they turn the lights out on the last nursing home in America.”
To find out where you can find better homes for people with dementia, check out these sites:
1. NCB Capital Impact - News & Events
2. The Eden Alternative website
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2. NCB Capital Impact - News & Events
3. The Eden Alternative website
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