Construction Completion, Tours of the Green House Residences

Crews have been working hard the last 2 months to complete the interior and finishes of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Green House Residences at Stadium Place. The Hearth area, with fireplace and kitchen, are surely eye-catching and very different for a small home providing skilled nursing care.

After a series of inspections, we received our Occupancy Permit today!

We also submitted our request for First Use Review to the Maryland Health Care Commission today. We hope that the first elders will move into the first Green House model in the State of Maryland by the end of March.

Associated Catholic Charities will be the operator of the project. They have conducted a series of job fairs on the Stadium Place campus and have begun training the first group of Shahbazim, universal care workers who will provide loving care and companionship for the elders in the Green House Residences.

Please join us for an open house on Wednesday, February 8 from 7:30 - 9 am or Friday, February 10 from 3-6 pm. Please RSVP to Roxanne Fiddler at rfiddler@gedco.org if you plan to join us.

Green House Residences - Construction Progress Moving Inside

After putting up the steel, the building team is moving inside to work on mechanical, plumbing and electrical lines. Bricklayers are busy on the outside, and windows are now installed around the building. One picture shows the front side of the Green House Residences with small porches next to the elevator shaft. To the right, Memorial Field at the Y/Ripken Field (on the site of the former Memorial Stadium). Top picture shows the labyrinth at ThanksGiving Place, the meditative open space at Stadium Place, as well as the independent living apartments.

Construction is scheduled to be complete in January, with elders moving into their new home in March, 2012.

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.

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.

Foundation Work Continues

During the past week, work crews have been busy working on the the elevator pit. The Green House Residences will be the second urban Green House project, with a total of four floors and a lower level. Each floor will be a self-contained residence for 12 elders and their own team of Shahbazim (specially training universal care workers who are responsible for personal care and managing the household).

Yesterday, construction crews continued to pour concrete for the foundation and started pouring the base of the elevator shaft.

Buying the Land

GEDCO, through its subsidiary Windemere Long Term Care, LLC, has purchased the land from Baltimore City to build THE GREEN HOUSE(R) Residences at Stadium Place. As part of a Land Disposition Agreement, GEDCO has been working for the past 10 years on developing Stadium Place, on the site of the former Memorial Stadium in Baltimore City, into an urban retirement community. The next phase of development is the Green House Residences at Stadium Place, which will be the first Green House model of long term care in Maryland. The deed has been signed with Baltimore City, and it will be recorded today.