The Green House® record for infectious disease control
The Green House model is proving effective at keeping infectious diseases such as COVID-19 at bay.
We recently inquired with a Green House Project manager on this topic and she reported, “Unofficially we have heard that out of 243 Green House homes there are only eight with people that are positive for COVID-19.”
She also explained that two of the eight homes were mandated by their state government to take in elders who were already infected with COVID-19 to reduce caseloads at hospitals. Accepting these people was beyond the control of the two communities.
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In addition to private bedrooms and bathrooms, spacious common areas enable social distancing.
With their private bedrooms/bathrooms, ample open spaces, and small resident and staff populations per home, people can easily maintain safe distances when needed. The separate-home layout of a Green House community also provides physical distancing benefits.
Other features too contribute to the advantages that Green Houses have over traditional nursing homes at mitigating the spread of infection:
- Fewer staff with less coming/going reduces the chance of importing infection
- De-centralized dining, laundry and housekeeping
- Low-turnover consistent staff who know their residents very well aids in early detection of disease symptoms both in staff members and residents
- Small home size encourages going outside on the grounds to get fresh air, sunshine and exercise
What’s more, if long-term isolation is required, the deep relationships that Green House staff develop with elders help make any lock down much easier to take.
