May 19th, 2010 Poway CA (North San Diego County) - Grand Opening event included a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Poway Chamber of Commerce and featuring guest speaker Dr. Uriel Cohen, a nationally acclaimed architect and gerontologist, his speech follows...
We would like to thank Sam Stelletello, Mathew Pollack, Jim Weil and Sunshine Care staff for inviting us to participate in this exciting project.
Let me start with a few words about the philosophy behind this building:
Rather than looking at the environment as an artifact [color, furniture, layout and sizes, etc.], the focus is on environment as experienced —how the environment supports residents’ physical and emotional comfort, activities, life-style and culture.
The Small house is the generic name for a deinstitutionalized nursing home. This is a concept that took roots in the early 1990’s and to which Sunshine Care have subscribed since its beginning.
The goal of the small house is to provide the elder with opportunities to experience individualized lifestyle to the extent possible in communal living;
To exercise normalized and meaningful activities and engagement despite frailty;
To live in an environment responsive to individuals’ cultural heritage and life experience;
There are a set of characteristics that define the environment of the small house. They include: the creation of a small intentional community (8-12 elders) as the social-physical building block of this setting.
The domestic kitchen, living and activity spaces, gardens and outdoor yards support life-enhancing activities and human growth.
The second important aspect of the small house is its intimate organizational scale; it empowers the staff to provide care which is based on responsive knowing.
The strawberries:
On May 31st, 2001, we gathered 200 yards down the road to celebrate the opening of Mountain Vistas. Among other things, I shared with the audience a short story about strawberries. The story addresses the rigidity of institutions, and the difficulty of establishing resident-centered care environment.
It was written by Jayne Harvey, a nurse in a Canadian nursing home.
“During a pre application tour, I was asked by a family if their mother could have strawberries for breakfast.
I brought the strawberries question to the multi-disciplinary team that makes policy decisions in our nursing home. Their answers were fascinating:
The dietary department was concerned about the effect of the strawberries on cost-per resident day
The Housekeeping staff was concerned about strawberries stains on their linen.
The administration was concerned about setting a precedent
The activity department was quick to point out they had an ice cream social once-a month with strawberry flavor ice cream.”
We concluded with the prediction that Mountain Vistas will be a place where you can get strawberries any time, literally and figuratively.
But we didn’t know Sam Stelletello’s ambitious dream!
Fast forward to 2009. Last year Sunshine Care served not only their own home grown strawberries, but also:
Jumbo carrots—330 #
Cucumbers— 443 #
Green bell peppers—174 #
Zucchini—1,260 #
Tomatoes –1,479 #
205 #s of Basil—someone here must be Italian!
The 2009 Total production of over 30 types of produce was about 5,470 #
Why is this significant?
Today, in addition to being a resident-centered environment, Sunshine Care is on the cutting edge of the Green Environment movement and its integration with residents’ life and care. The campus has now an on-site greenhouse and orchards where fruits, vegetables and herbs are grown from seed and later integrated into the house menu. But the significance of this enterprise is going far beyond the production of organic fruits and vegetables.
- It provides connection to nature as restorative environment for residents, staff and visitors
- It is focus of meaningful activities—from garden observation stations to participation in hands-on horticultural activities in the green house
- It provides connections to the community, with intergenerational programs connecting younger visitors with the residents
- It is Ecologically responsive design—recycling and composting, water-saving irrigation, return to native flowers, and no more lawn mowers and pollution.
In 2001 we described how Sunshine Care was ahead of the typical LTC facility
Today we describe how Sunshine Care is ahead of the typical Assisted living facility.
We can’t wait to be standing here in 2019 to describe your next innovations and accomplishments. Until then, congratulations for this wonderful environment.
ABOUT SUNSHINE CARE, POWAY, CALIFORNIA (North San Diego County)
Established in 1990, Sunshine Care is a community of assisted-living homes on a 28-acre Campus in
Poway, California. This unique alternative for assisted living specializes in Alzheimer’s and Dementia
care while providing an environment with all the comforts and reminders of home. Sunshine care
provides the highest level of individualized care and attention that we would want for our own loved
ones. Sunshine Care is also on the cutting edge of activities and going green, from our
intergenerational programming to our organic farming. The campus has an on-site greenhouse and
orchards where organic fruits, vegetables and herbs are grown from seed. For more information,
please visit http://www.sunshinecare.com
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