Mamaroneck, NY - Jewish Home Lifecare is collaborating with The Green House® Project to redesign its Sarah Neuman Center in Westchester with a revolutionary new approach to eldercare.

The planned expansion and renovations to the Sarah Neuman Center will be based on the nationally-acclaimed Green House® model, in which skilled nursing facilities are designed and operated as small, nurturing households where residents have more privacy, autonomy and choice, and staff report greater job satisfaction and fulfillment.

The Green House® model transforms traditional views of long-term care in every way, establishing a household model of care where residents live in homes rather than in a hospital-like environment. Using this household model of care as the foundation for its new building plans, Jewish Home Lifecare will reinvigorate how we live as we age, providing the highest standard of care in a setting that nurtures and supports not only the physical well-being of elders but also their individuality, dignity and joy of life.

Jewish Home Lifecare’s project at the Sarah Neuman Center will include a new two-story Green House® facility serving two households with 12 residents each and the renovation of the existing Pavilion Building to create five small houses inspired by The Green House® model, each serving 12 to 13 residents.

Life in a Green House
In the new Green House® facility at the Sarah Neuman Center, the residents will live in households, each with 12 private bedrooms and private bathrooms with a shower surrounding a spacious living room with a hearth, a complete kitchen with community dining area, a den for recreation, a spa room, and a new garden space for a “backyard”. The households in the redesigned Pavilion Building will have the same elements, but with a mixture of shared and private rooms. The look and feel of each household will be reminiscent of a warm, bustling family home.

The essence of the household model of care is that there is no "typical day." Each resident will decide how the day will proceed based on his or her preferences – whether it’s to have a hand in preparing a family-style meal, take a stroll in the gardens or simply sit by the hearth and read. The operation of the household doesn't just cater to these individual preferences and needs – it revolves around them and evolves to meet them.
The model being constructed at Sarah Neuman dispenses with the traditional model of a nursing home (e.g., a nursing station in the center with residential rooms off long corridors).  In this model, elders will receive personal care from a clinical support team and the skilled nursing they need in a living space designed as a private home, without clinical services becoming the focus of their existence.

At Home with Specialized Staff
In each household, there will be dedicated Jewish Home Lifecare staff persons whose job it will be to nurture and facilitate the elders’ preferences and choices. These individuals will be selected for each household, enabling them to know each resident well and understand how best to meet each person’s interests and needs. The result will be a strong bond between the caregiver and the elder and an improved ability to care for very frail and medically complex elders.

These staff members will be certified nursing assistants who will have received an additional 120 hours of specialized training in the household model. In addition to providing direct care, these men and women will help the household with cooking, laundry and cleaning duties. What differentiates them from traditional nursing home staff is the amount of time they spend caring for and engaging with the elders. Studies have shown that staff in Green House® households reported higher job satisfaction and increased likelihood of remaining in their jobs compared to staff in traditional nursing homes.

Part of a Larger Plan
The renovation of the Pavilion Building will begin in August of 2012, and the construction of The Green House® building is slated to begin in mid-2014. During the renovation period, Sarah Neuman Center’s total bed-count will average around 300 but will re-settle at 300 upon completion.  Construction will take place in coordinated phases, ensuring each elder’s new home is available when it is time to renovate their current household.

The plans for the Sarah Neuman Center are part of Jewish Home Lifecare’s capital campaign to change how we live as we age. In January 2010, Jewish Home Lifecare formally adopted The Green House® model of care as the best expression of person-centered care and is using it as the foundation for new building plans in Westchester and in Manhattan.

Jewish Home Lifecare is also building a new facility in Manhattan which will be called the "Living Center of Manhattan" and will mark the first time that the nationally-acclaimed Green House® model is constructed in a highly-populated urban setting. Designed to complement the aesthetics of the surrounding neighborhood, the Living Center is scheduled to break ground in 2014 and will be completed three years later. The Living Center, which will be built on 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam, follows years of planning to replace Jewish Home Lifecare’s outmoded, inefficient physical plant, currently located on West 106th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

Sarah Neuman Center, Westchester is located at 845 Palmer Avenue, Mamaroneck, New York 10543.  For more information, visit www.JewishHome.org.

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