GREEN HOUSE at Saint Elizabeth Community brings innovation to traditional nursing home care

Saint Elizabeth Community in East Greenwich celebrated the opening of THE GREEN HOUSE Homes at Saint Elizabeth Home Friday with a Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, followed by a luncheon and tours. This innovative model of nursing home care is a first for Rhode Island, and only one of two GREEN HOUSE Home communities in New England.   Four 8,000 sq. ft. homes, each with 12 private bedrooms and private bathrooms have been built adjacent to Saint Elizabeth Home on a newly built cul-de-sac. The homes feature shared living space including a spacious kitchen and dining area, a hearth room with gas fireplace, a den and outdoor courtyard. Two of the homes opened in April and two more will open in June, adding 48 nursing home beds to Saint Elizabeth Home’s license, which increased from 120 to 168 beds. Additionally, 70 new jobs have been created to staff these four nursing homes. Steven J. Horowitz, president and CEO of Saint Elizabeth Community said in a statement, “This innovative model of care is a first for Rhode Island and these four homes represent an end to the moratorium that has been in place for over 25 years in RI on adding beds to the current nursing home system.” The green house model of care was developed by Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of THE GREEN HOUSE Project (www.greenhouseproject.org). The model brings nursing home care into a real home, where 24/7 nursing care is provided employing cross trained certified nursing assistants, nurses and physicians and other specialists including a social worker, dietician and physical and occupational therapists. The CNAs not only provide personal care, but they received four weeks of additional training in safe food preparation, laundry and housekeeping. In a green house home the CNAs are called Shahbaz, which is a Persian word for Falcon- and these Shahbaz watch over the elders in the home and share life with them. “The model has proven that relationships flourish in green house homes,” says Matt Trimble, “relationships between residents and caregivers, relationships amongst the elders, and among families.” Saint Elizabeth Home, a not for profit founded in Providence in 1882, has a long history of caring for Rhode Island seniors. In 1999 Saint Elizabeth Home purchased the former Hill-Top Drive in property, and in 2001 Saint Elizabeth Home moved to East Greenwich upon the completion of their new state of the art nursing home. In October 2015, ground was broken on THE GREEN HOUSE Homes at Saint Elizabeth Home. These four homes are situated on the same property spanning five acres adjacent to Saint Elizabeth Home. To obtain permission to build new nursing homes, Saint Elizabeth Home responded to a request for applications from the RI Department of Health. Saint Elizabeth Home was one of three applications submitted to the RI DOH for beds that had been held in a pool for future use. An innovative model of care had to be employed by applicants. Saint Elizabeth Home was the only awardee of beds. “The unintended consequence of the moratorium on adding licensed nursing home beds to the system was that it stifled innovation,” said Matt Trimble, COO of Saint Elizabeth Community. “By creating a process to place beds in a pool for future use by current licensed nursing home providers, the state allows for innovation and growth in the industry.” Applications and more information are available on Saint Elizabeth Community’s website at www.stelizabethcommunity.org. In support of THE GREEN HOUSE Homes as well as other initiatives within Saint Elizabeth Community, a capital campaign ELDERCARE REDEFINED to raise $4.5 million is underway. To date over $3.6 million have been secured, and the campaign continues under the leadership of campaign co-chairs Craig and Susan Carpenter.