Presentations on the Guide!

On Monday, August 15, 2011, John Amanat and Jane Rohde will be presenting the Senior Living Sustainability Guide® to the offices of Perkins Eastman across the country!  This is an exciting opportunity to get the word out about the Guide.  Stay tuned for educational offerings; including the Senior Living Sustainability Guide®: A Fresh Approachand a "How-to Use" series that is underdevelopment.  For more information on setting up a continuing education session via web or in person regarding the Guide, please contact me atjane@jsrassociates.net.  Thanks.

Integrated Approach for Successful Projects

Through discussions with the volunteer committee working on continual improvements to the Senior Living Sustainability Guide®, the group confirmed the need for continuity between each stage of a project development process in order to create a successful project.   In examples discussed, the reason culture change initiatives sometimes falter, is because there is not an integrated approach that follows through an entire project process.  There may only be a single strong advocate or a person leaves a community during the process, leaving a void that does not provide consistent information to the different teams working on portions of a project.  As a result, Version 2 of the Guide will include an Advisory Council that may be made up of 3 to 5 people that provide organizational, resident care model, operational, and programming information to integrated teams that are working on specific tasks during the overall project process.  The committee recommends including residents, dedicated staff, and board members to make up the Sustainability Advisory Council.  

Senior Living Sustainability Guide wins Innovation Award!

The Guide was selected as a winner of the 2011 Green Economy Business Opportunity Conference Innovator Contest!  The prize included the opportunity to pitch a business plan for expanding the Senior Living Sustainability Guide into an electronic platformed survey tool and an additional phase including full blown assessment and certification for senior living communities.   Lauren Erickson from JSR Associates, Inc. completed the presentation to local interested businesses in Baltimore, Maryland!  The best result of the award is the completion of a business plan for the future development of the Guide!  When we hear more about monetary contributions, we'll keep you posted!  Thanks. 

Welcome to the With Seniors in Mind, Inc. Blog for the Senior Living Sustainability Guide®!

Welcome to With Seniors in Mind, Inc. Blog for the Senior Living Sustainability Guide®!

So what is the Senior Living Sustainability Guide®?
It is a collaboration of a group of dedicated volunteers that wanted to expand the concept of sustainability beyond the physical environment; to include a process that supported resident-centered care models and culture change. The result includes addressing the pre-development stage of design, socio-cultural context, and the utilization of Four Dimensions – Resident, Organization, Operations and Physical Setting. The overall direction is to realize that sustaining outcomes over time is the most important for a resident living in a senior living setting. 

We hope to hear from you, as you start to explore and utilize the Guide. We are looking for input and comments to continually improve the Guide. Checklists are the next step in the development of the Guide and are currently planned to be available in November, 2011. 

In addition, we have set up this Blog in hopes of an exchange of ideas to occur on a regular basis; including senior living questions, interesting articles, sharing good news, etc! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks!

Jane Rohde, AIA, FIIDA, ACHA, AAHID, LEED® AP
Chair of the SLSG Committee