1-17-11: Growing People in a Green House
January 17, 2011 at 8:03 am 4 comments
Gedco, the Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation, made up of 50 community and faith-based organizations, has started building a group of new Green Houses at Stadium Place in Waverly. Not greenhouses for plants – Green Houses to take the place of nursing homes.
It was a radical idea when geriatrician Bill Thomas, who is also on the faculty of the Erickson School at UMBC, started the movement a decade ago. Now there are Green Houses open or in construction in 25 states. The ones in Waverly are the first in Maryland.
Sheilah talked with him about the new project. There’s also more of the conversation here:
Entry filed under: Health, Medicine, On Air. Tags: elder care, Green Houses, hospice, nursing homes.
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Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast 
1.
Diogenes | January 17, 2011 at 9:27 am
Thank you for being skeptical, Sheila. Mr. Thomas is obviously expert at spending “other people’s money.”
2.
Helene King | January 17, 2011 at 9:53 am
Hello,
I just finished listening to your wonderful segment with Dr. Thomas. I’m from Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital in Baltimore, and we are an Eden Alternative center-which is the forerunner of the Greenhouse concept. In addition, we already train our staff members with his Person First methods and work with the Pioneer Network on this. In January, we broke ground to build an expansion of Levindale, using the Greenhouse model. However, because our space is limited in the city, we are building the smaller neighborhoods vertically, rather than horozontially.
Please consider having someone from Levindale on your broadcast to tell you listeners how this concept works practically…and not just in theory. I know it affects many families in your listening audience. I think they would really get a lot out of listening to some staff members from Levindale…and how it actually works.
Thanks for your time,
Helene King
Communications coordinator
Levindale Hebrew Geriatriac Center and Hospital
410-601-2296
Hking@lifebridgehealth.org
3. 4-20-12: The Future of Senior Living « Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast | April 20, 2012 at 8:16 am
[…] Listen to our interview last year with Bill Thomas. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]
4.
delores | December 30, 2012 at 5:06 pm
thank you for this. I have experiences when my Mom was in a Nursing home before her person. thank god she had her daughters to oversee her. I know what he is talking about with crowding elderly into crowded rooms with no privacy and lower level staff not very well trained staff.