Date: June 30, 2005
Contact: Barbara Schoof Conant
barbaraconant@aging.state.ks.us
Director of Communications
(785) 296-6154
Friendly Acres
Heather Benard
Director of Marketing
Phone: 316-283-4770
heatherb@friendlyacres.org
Mennonite Manor
Evelyn Walters
Health Care Administrator
620-663-7175
walterse@mennonitemanor.org
Two south central retirement communities have been selected by the Kansas Department on Aging (KDOA) as recipients for low-interest loans to build the first Green Houses® in Kansas for seniors. Friendly Acres, Newton, and the Mennonite Friendship Manor, South Hutchinson, will share $750,000 in loaned funds to develop homes offering frail, elderly residents an autonomous living environment.
“The Green House® project combines the time-honored Kansas tradition of respect and compassion for our elders with an innovative eye to seniors’ needs and a concern for future State resources,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “The Green House® exemplifies my administration’s commitment to improving health care, streamlining access to services and broadening the care options for Kansas seniors and their families.”
A Green House® is a group home for no more than 10 elders, built to residential scale while complying with federal and state regulations for nursing homes. They have the outward appearance of a “housing community” with homey amenities but also provide for the long-term health care needs of the residents. The elders have easy access to all areas of the home, including the kitchen and laundry areas, outdoor garden and patio. The KDOA-funded projects will include private rooms and bathrooms decorated with the residents’ own belongings replacing an equivalent number of existing nursing home beds.
KDOA Secretary Pamela Johnson-Betts said Kansas is a leader in nursing home culture change and is among the first states to embrace the Green House® concept. She added that this project contributes to the State’s investment to make resident-centered care a priority for elders in Kansas.
“We all know there is ‘no place like home,’ and for seniors needing long-term nursing care, the Green House® most closely replicates one’s own home environment that optimally allows residents to maintain control over their life.”
The two Kansas homes will be among only 16 Green House® facilities across the United States. Another Kansas provider, Lakeview Village, Lenexa, also plans to build a Green House® facility.
Friendly Acres, a ministry of the United Methodist Church in Newton, is home to more than 200 residents. The continuing care retirement community is situated on 34 acres and offers independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, including a memory support program for individuals with Alzheimer's and other dementia disorders, and an intergenerational program through a licensed early childhood program located on-site. Construction on the first of six Green Houses is planned to begin in December.
Mennonite Friendship Manor, located on a 170-acre campus in South Hutchinson, is home to more than 270 elders who reside in a variety of living environments. Over the next several years, the facility plans to develop six Green Houses, replacing the current 116-bed Medicare/Medicaid-certified health care facility. Construction of two Green Houses® is included in the first phase with an anticipated move-in during spring 2006.
The loan funds were made available from the KDOA Partnership Loan Program. The Partnership Loan Program (PLP), a component of the Kansas Intergovernmental Transfer Loan and Grant Fund, supports the expansion of housing alternatives and services for senior Kansans.
The PLP program has funded loans totaling nearly $5 million, supporting the construction and long-term financing of various housing projects including assisted living, senior apartments, duplexes, and home plus for elderly Kansans.
Secretary Johnson-Betts visited the first Green House® facility in Tupelo, MS, earlier this year. The on-site visit reinforced her commitment to the project and the need for developing additional nursing home transformation options.
“They have had phenomenal success in improving the quality of life for elders,” she said. “In this model, aging is celebrated in an intentional community where elders come to live rather than go to die. Nationally, we, in Kansas, are being recognized as leaders in the ‘cultural change’ movement. Kansas - the Heartland of America - is seen as being on the cutting edge in advancing care and living environments that are centered on elders’ needs and preferences.”
The Green House® model was developed by geriatrician and author William Thomas, MD, president and founder of the Center for Growing and Becoming. In a recent interview with National Public Radio, Dr. Thomas said, “at the center of the Green House® is quality of life - meaning, worth and dignity. At the Green House®, we put those things at the center of life.”