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The Green House Project: Not Just a Home—YOUR Home

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“I just don’t want to have to eat cat food.” My mother likes to joke about this statement, which my grandmother made many years back, but it’s a valid fear. While the odds of her finding the only affordable form of nutrition in tiny, tuna-sized cans are slim, there’s something else going on here that’s bigger than her cat food phobia. Underneath the words is the sentiment that she doesn’t want to lower her standards or quality of life. No one should have to—and the innovators at the forefront of the Green House Project believe this 100 percent.

The Green House Project, initiated in 2002, adheres to the Eden Alternative—a care philosophy based on ten principles for minimizing feelings of loneliness, helplessness and boredom—all of which are prevalent in traditional nursing home settings. According to the Eden Alternative, the foundation of a meaningful life is based on: respect for wisdom acquired with age; being around children, animals and plants; variety and spontaneity; growth as an essential aspect of life; and “genuine human caring” at the heart of medical treatment. Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative and a Harvard-educated gerontologist, helped develop The Green House program. It was first implemented to deinstitutionalize long-term care by Mississippi Methodist Senior Services in Tupelo, Mississippi. A Green House houses ten residents with a common living room and a large, open kitchen at its core, where all meals are cooked and eaten. Current Green Houses are situated within existing senior communities, but the goal is to integrate the houses with others on residential streets. Green House residents receive clinical care through a team of visiting physicians, which helps keep their focus on life, not medical treatment. Green House training teaches the caregivers to let residents make their own decisions. Couple that with the homelike atmosphere, and not only is the environment deinstitutionalized, the residents maintain their sense of dignity, autonomy and vigor.

While the founders tout the project as economically viable, considering the smaller office staff, Beverly Enterprises, which renovated 39 of its 351 institutions in 2005, asserts that adding a living room and retraining staff could cost upward of a million dollars. However, the cost may just be worth it—for both residents and organizations. The US Census Bureau expects the over-85 population to double over the next 30 years, increasing the need for industry reform as baby boomers—well-educated after choosing long-term care for their parents, and many of whom are accustomed to a certain lifestyle—need care. Development for 20 Green Houses is currently underway in 15 states. If a Green House isn’t slated to pop up in your area any time soon, there very well may be a nearby facility adhering to the Eden Alternative.

Sometimes it IS easy being green—

Lori Deschene

Posted in: Editorials

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