Jewish Senior Life, a local provider of nursing home and other facilities in the Rochester area, broke ground Thursday on a major initiative.
It's an $83 million project that involves transforming its long-term care operation into a model that is based on a home setting, with construction of individual homes that will hold just a dozen residents per building, as well as making major renovations in the main building, the Jewish Home of Rochester.
The changes are based on a new model called the 'Green House' project, and this will be one of the largest of its type in the country.
The president and CEO of Jewish Senior Life, Mike King, says these smaller, more intimate settings have proven to be a much better model for both residents and staff.
“One of the things we’ve learned is that the environment makes a difference. It makes a difference in the way our caregivers are engaged with the elders, it makes a difference in terms of their relationships that get built between the elders and the staff and it really sets up a sense of community.”
King says this is really going back to a model that began last century when the Jewish Home began.
“We all grew up in homes and actually the Jewish Home started in 1920 as a small house on St. Paul Street; 7 residents lived in that house so it’s interesting we’re actually going back to the future, we’ve learned that the household model , the home, makes a difference,” King told WXXI News.
The project is being paid for through financing and a fundraising campaign. It should be completed in February of 2019
