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Red Beer... an Acquired Taste? - Rob on
Red Beer... an Acquired Taste?
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January 25, 2008 |Permalink |Comments (2)
Red Beer... an Acquired Taste?
More blog praise for the Newshour's special report on the Green House project:
I watch the Lehrer Newshour most night to unwind. By 8pm, I've eaten, cleaned up, and ready to sit on the couch for a while. Last night, the Newshour featured a new concept in nursing homes: the Green House. The idea came from a doctor in Nebraska who had worked in the elder care sector, and seen ways he thought he could improve the model. He has turned the institutional care facility that we are familiar with into a open-plan home. The home is built for about 12 to 15 elders each, and is tailored to their needs, rather than the needs of the institution. My favourite feature: twice weekly happy hours.
Thanks Rob, me too -- who doesn't love happy hour? Although after drinking Red Beer with Eva Goldsby, I still prefer my beer straight up. Also, Nebraska's a great state, but this doctor hails from upstate New York. And I'll correct you on one important note -- a critical part of the Green House model requires the household be limited to nine to 12 elders. The model cannot sustain an adequate level of care and community over that limit.
BlogHer
Virginia Debolt posted this video from YouTube showing what a Green House looks like and how the elders who live there react to the living arrangements:
Thanks also to Providence Women and Home Life News blogging about the Newshour story.
Click here to watch the Newshour segment.
Click here for more information on the Green House project.
Comments ( 2)
Hello Doc,
Thanks for the link. I've worked on a few design teams for nursing homes in Canada. I'm a mechanical engineer, so by the time I'm involved, the floor plans and overall programming have been completed, so my input into that portion of the design is limited. I still feel badly though looking at the rows of 20' x 10' rooms along long corridors.
You're probably well aware of the construction boom in nursing homes across this continent. I'm only 4 years into my professional career, and I've already been involved in four major projects. I'm hopeful that some of your ideas get picked up in my part of the world.
Dr. Thomas,
I was thrilled to see the video segment on the Green House at Tabitha Nursing Home. My husband, Kirk, worked there for 7 years as a C.N.A. so the story brought a lot of memories for both of us.
Kirk and I met about 15 years ago while both working as C.N.A.s in a nursing home in Lincoln, Nebraska. Today, I often tell my love story to our new employees at work. They seem to really enjoy hearing it and I suspect it is because nursing homes are considered to be an unlikely place for people to fall in love.
I disagree. What better way to evaluate a person's inner worth than to place him in conditions where humanness is the only value that ultimately matters?
I tell everyone that I fell in love with Kirk because the residents on his "team" were always clean and well groomed. More importantly, they seemed to have an overwhelming sense of dignity about them. They seemed to always be smiling and full of joy. Kirk had an almost magical effect on old people.
So I trusted my instincts and I married him. So far, it's paying off nicely, I must say.