You share a room with another senior on a long hall, filled with medicine carts and staff hurrying from room to room. You smell antiseptic and pre-packaged foods. You are frustrated by regimented craft times. Because your time is not your own, your spirits are low. You want to go home.

The Green House Experience

Your private room is decorated to your taste, and located directly off the living room, dining room and kitchen. You smell each fresh ingredient and dish being prepared for your meals. You can take your morning coffee on the patio or enjoy a good read when you feel like it. The personal autonomy and relationships developed with staff brightens your mood. This is your home.

The Green House campaign

As we strive to establish our Green House® Residences, your support and donations through our “Green for the Green House” campaign allow us to build a list of advocates for the project. If you would like to be a part of the historic and compassionate work of bringing the Green House® model to Maryland, please consider making an online donation. Every dollar and name will help!

 

Current Progress

FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE

GEDCO just received notification of a Two Million Dollar grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to support this project. We wish to sincerely thank the Trustees of the Weinberg Foundation for their generosity and support of this innovative project.

In order to develop this project for the citizens of Stadium Place, Baltimore City and the State of Maryland, GEDCO is in the midst of a $14 million capital campaign, $12 million to support the predevelopment and capital costs, and $2 million for capital and operating reserves associated with this project. As of February, 2010, GEDCO has received commitments totaling approximately $8 million for the project, with an additional $3.7 million expected through the New Markets Tax Credit program. Supporters to date include the State of Maryland, Baltimore City, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Govans Presbyterian Church, the Presbytery of Baltimore, Second Presbyterian Church, Stony Run Friends Meeting, the Boards of Directors of GEDCO and Stadium Place, and over 150 residents of Stadium Place. 

In 2005, Johns Hopkins Bayview Care Center donated to GEDCO 49 expiring Comprehensive Care Facility (CCF) bed licenses from its long term care facility.  On April 17, 2008, the Maryland Health Care Commission approved a Certificate of Need (CON) for GEDCO to reactivate the licenses and construct a 49 bed long-term care facility to be known as the GREEN HOUSE® at Stadium Place, with at least 60% of the beds reserved for individuals with Medicaid eligibility. Approximately 1,000 elders will live in the building over its useful life. The CON timetable requires GEDCO to begin construction by August, 2010 and complete the project by October, 2011. The project has received Sub-Division and Development Plan approval by the Baltimore City Planning Commission. GEDCO filed for a construction permit in June, 2009.

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TODAY TO HELP BUILD THE FIRST GREEN HOUSE PROJECT IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND.

A Lifetime of Care

The Green House® Residences will help us achieve the vision of Stadium Place as a campus where seniors can “maximize their physical, social and spiritual potential through a holistic continuum of support services and senior housing,” allowing them to age in community. The building will be part of a larger "village center" where a variety of services, shopping, medical, social, and other needs of the North Baltimore community will be met. At least 60% of the rooms will be reserved for Medicaid-eligible individuals, continuing GEDCO’s commitment to supporting elders from working-class and low-income families.

Why the Green House® Model?

THE GREEN HOUSE® project is changing preconceptions of aging in long-term care settings by transforming the culture and place of care into vital and vibrant communities of individuals living together, at home. Working class families deserve a high quality of care for their parents and loved ones. Research at the initial pilot site has already shown higher satisfaction levels for residents, families, and staff, an increased sense of dignity, and more meaningful activity and relationships. Developed by Dr. Bill Thomas, an innovative geriatrician and the founder of the Eden Alternative, The Green House® Model is a unique approach for providing quality long-term care with compassion and respect for the individuals' desire to continue to thrive. The values of the model perfectly complement GEDCO’s long time dedication to building caring and compassionate communities.

About the Green House® Model

With replication support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NCB Capital Impact, there are more than 17 Green House projects operating in at least 10 states, with more than 20 others under development.

THE GREEN HOUSE® Model creates a small intentional community for a group of elders and staff. It is a place that focuses on life, and its heart is found in the relationships that flourish there. Its primary purpose is to serve as a place where elders can receive assistance and support with activities of daily living and clinical care, on their own time and a pace set to the natural rhythms of home.

A radical departure from traditional skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities, the Green House model comes with remarkable improvements:

• The focus is on the needs and desires of the residents, not the institution,
• Small facility size (12 beds per home),
• Cozy interior design (a hearth and living space surrounded by private rooms),
• Intimate staffing (certified nursing assistants called Shahbazim coordinate care, cooking, housekeeping, and laundry), and
• Home like, not hospital like, methods of delivering skilled professional services (with a clinical support team to support the elders and "Shahbazim" care takers).