GEDCO is determined to bring a new model of caring and compassionate long-term care for the frail elderly of Baltimore City and the State of Maryland to our Stadium Place campus. Our four Green House® Residences will be home to 49 elders in an environment that is designed and acculturated to replicate the social supports and physical cues of living at home with loved ones. As envisioned by Harvard-educated geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas, and supported for replication nationwide by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this model exemplifies GEDCO’s mission of providing “housing with services.” And thanks to the vision of individuals and institutions who have committed our earliest seed capital funding, we are on our way to making this $14 million project a reality!

After receiving the prerequisite Certificate of Need from the Maryland Health Care Commission in April 2008, we began to search for funding. To cover start up costs for our fundraising efforts, the Kautz Family Foundation provided $25,000. During the 2008 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly, led by Senator Joan Carter Conway and Delegates Doory, McIntosh and Anderson, approved $100,000 for predevelopment activities. Our first request to the faith community and our Member Organizations was to Govans Presbyterian Church, which, in keeping with their historical leadership of GEDCO and Stadium Place, offered a grant of $100,000. This was closely followed by a commitment of $50,000 from the Baltimore Presbytery. Then, during the summer of 2008, all 31 individuals who are current members of the Boards of Directors of GEDCO and Stadium Place pledged a combined total of more than $290,000! These early gifts will be remembered as the most important seeds of support for the Green House® Residences at Stadium Place.

GEDCO is one of the first organizations in the nation to embrace this trend-setting 21st century version of a nursing home, which currently operates in only 10 states. There are 15 functioning Green House projects at present, and 19 others in development or construction across 21 states – plus ours in Maryland. At the first annual Green House national conference, held in St. Louis in August, over 100 passionate long-term care professionals from around the country engaged in stimulating discussions and exchanged their experiences regarding their Green House® homes. Heartwarming stories of measurable improvements in the quality of life of Green House residents inspired our staff to redouble GEDCO’s commitment to the success of this project.

Developing the Green House® Residences at Stadium Placec learly is GEDCO’s most ambitious project to date. But we have the opportunity and the obligation to bring this new vision of care for the frail elderly to our community. To learn more about how you can help us accomplish this imperative, visit our website at www.gedco.org or call Mitch Posner or Ann Murray at the GEDCO office. To learn more about the national Green House movement go to www.ncbcapitalimpact.org.