Improve Nursing Homes Options for Our Loved Ones
Hall County’s age 65+ population is growing along with its reputation as a desirable place to retire. However, for those who need skilled nursing services (long-term care or nursing homes), now or in the future, innovative care choices are few.
Wisdom Project 2030’s Green House Committee is committed to bringing Green House homes, which offer a significantly different model of long-term care with a better quality of life, to Hall County.
Green House homes are real homes, a true residential environment where meals are home-cooked, rooms and baths are private, and community is built around a big dining room table. Imagine a place where YOU control the rhythms of daily life and care is given based on “what would you do at home?” Here you can continue to grow, live a meaningful life, and enjoy spontaneity that capitalizes on your abilities, not your disabilities!
While only one percent of Americans live in nursing homes, 38% of COVID deaths occurred there. The small home model had significantly different results compared to traditional homes, with only half the rate of infection and 30% the rate of death. Their architecture, philosophy, and organization made the difference for their residents
Read more about Green House Homes in Boom Magazine: "The Greenhouse Project: Reimagining Nursing Homes" or from Health Affairs: “The Big Idea Behind a New Model of Small Nursing Homes”.
We are currently working through the Georgia Coalition on Aging’s 2022 Co-Age Legislative Priorities process to request that the Georgia State Legislature establish a Legislative Study Committee. The Study Committee can learn from experts and advocates about already existing innovative person-centered long-term care models that are more like homes than hospitals, including the Green House, cottage, small house, and household models. It can also review policies, practices, and regulations used by other states which have pioneered new approaches to long-term care, and which encourage adoption of these care models. Finally, the Study Committee can identify ways to use Georgia’s existing resources to implement changes which can expand and elevate long-term care options for all of Georgia’s seniors.
We welcome your help to bring better quality long-term care options for seniors in Hall County and across Georgia. If you would like to volunteer in this effort, please contact us at info@WisdomProject2030.org.
Updated October 5, 2021
“Every senior has earned the right to live a full life to their last moment in a place where their individual capabilities and life experiences are respected and valued. I want a better choice for me and my loved ones than what is currently available.”
Carol, Committee Member