Green House model Celebrations

Next week Green House adopters from around the nation will gather in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 7-9 for the Fourth Annual Green House Meeting and Celebration. Many sessions will be broadcast live over the internet, including keynote addresses by Dr. Bill Thomas and Pioneer Network CEO Dr. Peter Reed and a panel of elders who live in Green House homes.

GEDCO, NCB Capital Impact and Catholic Charities, the operator of the Green House Residences, hosted a Community Orientation, Update and Celebration this week, to educate the Baltimore community about the Green House model and celebrate our progress. We expect to complete construction in January and open the building in March, 2012. See www.gedco.org/greenhouse for more information.

The concrete for the fourth floor is now in place. This picture shows the front of the building, with the front porch and hearth area to the left of the elevator shaft. Each floor or Residence will have a porch on each side of the building, to provide easy access to the outdoors. The hearth area and outdoor access are important features of this innovative model of long-term care.

The Building Takes Shape

The construction site is more and more busy these days, with deliveries of steel and equipment. The second floor has been poured, and the concrete blocks are in place for the elevator shaft and the north stairwell. In addition, conduits are being laid for various utilities.

The GEDCO team recently toured the lower level to view its new offices.

Pouring the first floor

After much preparation, the steel deck for the first floor was complete and the concrete was poured this week.

Welding the Steel, Construction Webcam

Construction crews have been busy welding steel to the frame for the lower level. Concrete will be poured for the first floor in the next week.

We now have a webcam with live coverage of the construction site:

http://70.90.90.161/CgiStart?page=Single&Language=0

The feed works without any add-ons in Firefox and Chrome. If you want to use Internet Explorer, it will ask you to download and install an ActiveX control.

The Steel Has Arrived

After a few months of working in the basement, the steel has arrived on site. The crane is ready to start moving steel into position in this first picture, and the first beams are in place in the second picture.

Windows into a New Building

Brick by brick, the Green House Residences building is coming into view. As construction of the lower level of the continues, Mitch Posner talks about the construction project in this short video, filmed by Kavan Peterson, Co-Founder & Editor of ChangingAging.org. These pictures show the windows for the GEDCO offices in the lower level and the start of the utility work in the basement area.

Decade's Top 10 Senior Design Innovations

Thanks to THE GREEN HOUSE PROJECT Blog and Long Term Living magazine's March issue, which rounds up the top 10 senior design innovations that have transformed nursing home and long term care in the past decade. "It's no surprise that The Green House Project not only makes the top 10, but it embodies nearly every other item on the list. Here's a quick synopsis of the top 10 innovations compiled by Margaret P. Calkins, PhD, for Long Term Living."

The list includes intentional elder-friendly communities, smaller is better, THE GREEN HOUSE Project, codifying person-centered care and the household model, private bathrooms are better, eliminating nursing stations and medicine carts, lighted grab bars, and better ceiling lifts.

For more questions about The Green House Residences at Stadium Place, and to add your name to the mailing list, please call Catholic Charities at 410-646-6580.