January 5, 2012 Click on each thumbnail to see a larger image. To learn more please read these posts about Woodland Park Green House Homes, a new community at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. Woodland Park Green Houses Have Roofs, June 3, 2012 Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012 Green House Homes … Continue reading
Filed under Green House Project …
Green House Homes Groundbreaking at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community
Late yesterday afternoon, January 5, 2012, I attended a groundbreaking event at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). Several hundred residents, family members, VMRC staff, board members, and friends celebrated the beginning of construction on three new Green House® Homes — the first residences in a new community to be called Woodland Park. While most of the event … Continue reading
Green House Homes are Coming: Following the Construction #1
Earlier this month (July 2011) I took pictures (see below) of the demolition at the site of the future Green House® Homes at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). In a recent article in the Harrisonburg News-Record, VMRC Vice President for Support Living, Melissa Fortner, reminded readers that the goal is for these new homes is to blend … Continue reading
Green House Home Video Tour
Head over to the always information-filled and sometimes wonderfully provocative ChangingAging blog to see a guided video tour of a Green House Home. Led by elder advocate Dr. Bill Thomas, the walk-through is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand exactly what a Green House looks like as well as learn more about this … Continue reading
Building a Green House Home-The Inside: Part IV
If you are an adult child who’s spent even a little time searching for the right living arrangement for an elderly parent who needs a lot of extra care, it doesn’t take long to understand the terrain. You see lots of hallways, sometimes laid out in a hub, or in a square, or sometimes just … Continue reading
Nuts and Bolts of Green House Planning: Part III
“Whatever form they take, there should always be as little distinction as possible between a Green House and the other housing nearby.” What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World by William H. Thomas, M.D. (page 233) The Green House vision projected by Dr. Thomas has become a small, growing movement with … Continue reading
Replacing a Nursing Community with Green Houses: Part II
Ideas about changing the nursing care at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) began when carpets were replaced in one of the memory neighborhoods. For several days residents with memory disabilities spent their waking hours visiting a more home-like assisted living area. The caregivers immediately spotted a change — people from the memory neighborhood were more … Continue reading
Green Houses for Older Elders: Part I
The Boston Globe published a terrific article, A ‘Green House’ in Chelsea Provides Skilled or Elder Care on a Family-like Site, about Green Housing for the elderly, describing newly a constructed community in the Chelsea section of Boston. According to the August 30, 2010 article by Kay Lazar, the new housing provides “alternatives to traditional institutional care … Continue reading
Caring for Aging Parents…Balancing Life… Podcasts
Take a few minutes to read the post Striking a Balance: Eldercare and the Workplace over at Changing Aging, the blog of geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas (his bio at As Time Goes By). The post discusses how to balance parent caregiving with the rest of life. He was joined in a presentation by Dr. Judah Ronch (both men … Continue reading
How My Parents Selected a Retirement Community
My parents have moved through three or four retirement periods. At any given time, it seemed like one of them had a retirement job of some type, and my father, until a couple of years ago, accepted regular “fill-in” church assignments, helping out a church for a week or two here and there. They have … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 