Culture Change
Adult Day Program Launches New Dining Experience
At Day Break Adult Day Program and across St. John’s, our goal is to provide the best possible choices and service. In the past, many have requested healthier food choices with local and seasonal ingredients and food that is prepa…
Full Story »More on Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes
Well, I’m back from Italy and have a lot of rants to share. But webmaster Kavan Peterson suggested I mention last Saturday’s large Boston Globe article on the problem of antipsychotic overuse in nursing homes, so I’ll start there: (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/04/29/nursing_home_residents_with_dementia_often_given_antipsychotics_despite_health_warnings/?page=1). … Continue reading →
Full Story »Bill for New Nursing Home Model Advances in Senate
The California Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a bill (SB 1228), by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara), that would establish a licensing category for a new nursing home model, known as the “Green House Project.” The model focuses on creating smaller, home-like facilities with a maximum of 10 residents. The Senate Health Committee approved the measure last week.
Full Story »Kinder, gentler nursing home movement making its way to California
A patient-centered nursing home movement that’s taken hold in other parts of the country is now making its way to California. It’s called the “green house project” and it promotes smaller, home-like facilities of 10 or fewer residents.
Full Story »“Caring Well for Residents with Mental Illness” – Part Three
By Barbara Speedling, Quality of Life Specialist, Director of Quality of Life Service for Healthcare Compliance Group, LLC Editor’s Note: This is the last post of a three-part blog. Two of the many pitfalls care teams face is a lack of education on mental illness and management strategies, and appropriate and timely communication between members of [...]
“Caring Well for Residents with Mental Illness” – Part Two
By Barbara Speedling, Quality of Life Specialist, Director of Quality of Life Service for Healthcare Compliance Group, LLC Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part blog. The Administrator’s approach to Jessie might have been appropriate for someone without a long-standing mental illness. An illness that robs the person of control of their extreme [...]
California Senate Committee approves a new nursing home licensing category that would allow Green House homes in the state
via CaliforniaHealthline.org “It puts the ‘home’ back into nursing home.” That’s how California Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) described SB 1228 when addressing the Senate Committee on Health this week. The bill would create a new health facility licensing category … Continue reading →
Full Story »Senate Committee Approves New Type of Nursing Home
A nursing home model — the "Green House Project" — bucks the cold, institutional feel of many long-term care facilities. "SB 1228 is a transformative bill …
Full Story »Ending The War on Aging
War? What is it good for? Well, on a metaphorical level it names an enemy and endows that enemy with a powerfully negative image. We have “wars” on drugs, cancer, heart disease, AIDS and obesity. There is also a “war” on aging.
Full Story »Just Like in the Tribes of Eden
Another cool case of life mirroring art. Golden Letters would fit right into the Shire. All they need is a young woman and a crazy wild horse.
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Tune-In To The Cindy Laverty Show Friday For an Hour of Tribes of Eden
Last week Tribes of Eden author William H. Thomas joined radio host Cindy Laverty to discuss the power of trust and relationship in both fiction and real life. Listen to the interview online here: The Cindy Laverty Show: 04/20 Cindy Talks with Dr. Bill Thomas About His New Book, Tribes of Eden
Full Story »The Enthusiasts
A website that bills itself as having the “biggest little list” of oxymorons on the internet offers all of the usual suspects including “enormously small,” a “genuine fake,” and “paid volunteer.” It also reveals our culture’s bias against aging. We find “active retirement,” a “young sixty” and “healthy aging” listed as oxymorons. It should come as no surprise then that the words “enthusiast” and “aging” just don’t seem to go together. All though it remains small and it is hidden in the shadows of society, there is a sub-culture that actually embraces and even celebrates the normal changes associated with normal human aging.
These are the Enthusiasts.
Full Story »Culture Change Advocates as “Wayfinders”
Life coach Martha Beck’s new book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, captures the key qualities of what she calls a “Wayfinder.” Wayfinders, by her definition, look a lot like culture change advocates to me. Beck describes Wayfinders as individuals driven by an authentic instinct to follow a specific path, with the goal of healing their world by discovering and embracing their own true nature. Culture changers across the care continuum often share stories of having experienced a deep, inner calling to “do what’s right” and begin seeing and addressing care through new eyes, in spite of the odds or barriers they face.
Full Story »Stadium Place Manifests Hope for Low and Moderate Income Elders
“We used to have home plate,” Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke told the crowd at Thursday’s opening ceremonies of The Green House Residences of Stadium Place . “Now we have home sweet home.” The Grand Opening of Stadium Place, … Continue reading →
Full Story »Nursing Home Aids Low-Income Seniors
On Thursday The Green House Project– an alternative to senior institutional care created by Dr. William H. Thomas, a geriatrician and self-described …
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A Green House Project In My Backyard
The grand opening of The Green House Residences at Stadium Place in Baltimore yesterday was a thrilling experience for me on a very personal level.
It was celebrated in great style with homage to Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, former home to the Colts and Orioles. Complete with hotdogs, peanuts and a stirring performance of the national anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by Baltimore City College’s award-winning choir, followed by a ceremonial “first pitch” thrown by Mrs. Shirley Dickens, Stadium Place’s first official resident.
Full Story »The People’s Champion
Eli Porter has shown us the exponential power of the internet as an effective tool for self-advocacy. Perhaps unexpected, he is a role-model. “The bar” for acceptable community inclusion has been forever raised. Going forward, inclusion must always be more than just “allowing people with intellectual disabilities to participate in an activity.”
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Living Off the GRID
For about 18 years Jude and I lived off the GRID on a horse/wind/sun powered farm we called Summer Hill. Living off the GRID for that long teaches you lessons that are hard to forget. We used as little power as we could, we watched the weather and we enjoyed the feeling that came with a windy day (lots of power from the wind generator) and a sunny day (lots of power from the solar panels). The worst were the dark February days when there seemed to be no sun or wind.
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Baltimore Answers Skilled-Nursing Care Shortage With Groundbreaking Green House Project at Stadium Place
With a looming shortage in long-term care options in poor neighborhoods around the U.S., Baltimore is leading the way with the opening of The Green House® Residences at Stadium Place on April 19, 2012, which will provide the area’s low-income seniors with a radically different, skilled-nursing home on the site of the former Memorial Stadium.
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