Healthy Alternative

Fast Company, March, 2005 by Chuck Salter

Three years ago, we introduced readers to Dr. Bill Thomas ("[Not] the Same Old Story," February 2002), a dynamic doctor in upstate New York who is determined to fix the nursing-home industry. His nonprofit company, Eden Alternative, "deinstitutionalizes" dreary facilities by introducing pets, plants, children, and dramatic cultural change to create a warmer environment. Thomas also hoped to build his own "Green Houses," small group homes designed around the Eden philosophy.

In spring 2003, the first Green Houses opened in Tupelo, Mississippi. Forty people moved into four single-story wood-and-brick homes built by Mississippi Methodist Senior Services. Each resident has a private room and bath, a rarity at traditional facilities. Overhead lifts help staff members move...

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