New York Times Calls The Green House, “A Better Kind of Nursing Home”
By Rachel Scher McLean / Posted on December 22nd, 2017
At The Green House, vision is merged with rigor, passion with determination, and a belief that there’s never a best that can’t be made better. In their article, “A Better Kind of Nursing Home”, The New York Times says, The Green House model is demonstrating that life in long term care can be different. With real life experiences to support the movement, and world-class research to keep improving, the potential for future impact is vast.
“Lots of things look different when you step into a small Green House nursing home. The bright living and dining space, filled with holiday baubles at this season. The adjacent open kitchen, where the staff is making lunch. The private bedrooms and baths. The lack of long stark corridors, medication carts and other reminders of hospital wards.”
Robyn Grant, public policy director for The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, emphasizes that the goal of this shift that The Green House Project is leading means “deinstitutionalizing nursing homes, making them more like the way we’ve lived all our lives, with our own routines and familiar objects.”
The national initiative has committed itself to the rigors of research in pursuit of continued growth. Research has shown that model components such as consistent and increased staffing, lead to deep knowing of the elder and early detection of health changes, “The [THRIVE] researchers found that Green House residents were 16 percent less likely to be bedridden, 38 percent less likely to have pressure ulcers and 45 percent less likely to have catheters. Avoidable hospitalizations and readmissions were also lower, reassuring observers who wondered if the Green Houses’ emphasis on quality of life meant sacrificing quality of care.”
In a dynamic world and healthcare landscape, it is essential to be a part of the solution. The Green House Project “Compared to traditional nursing homes, no doubt about it,” said Dr. Sheryl Zimmerman of the THRIVE research team. “It’s a preferable model of care.”
