By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
MANHATTAN
Most people dread the thought of living in a nursing home.
Not Edna Richardson. She has nothing but good things to say about Meadowlark Hills, a nonprofit retirement community in Manhattan that”s helping overhaul the nation”s approach for caring for the elderly.
“It”s the best place I can think of,” she said. “They take care of every need I have.”
Richardson, 86, has lived in Ptacek House, a 25-bed, critical-care unit within the Meadowlark Hills complex, since breaking a hip in 2003.
“I wish everybody had a place like this to live,” she said.
Located on a 40-acre campus about a mile east of Kansas State University”s football stadium, Meadowlark Hills is unique.
“We don”t use the term “nursing home” because it has so little to do with what we do,” said Jeff Chapman, a senior administrator at Meadowlark Hills. “We”re not what they are.”
At Meadowlark Hills, residents are in charge. They decide when to get up in the morning. They eat when they feel like eating, nap when they feel like napping.
With the help of nurses and aides, they spend their days doing what they want to do.
“It”s a home-like environment,” Chapman said. “It really is.”
At Ptacek House, there are no long hallways. The nursing station has been replaced with a not-so-imposing roll-top desk. The ever-dinging call lights are gone.
Not a single resident is parked in a wheelchair in front of a blaring TV.
“I like it here, it gives us a lot of freedom,” said 87-year-old Ralph Perry, a comptroller at KSU for many years. He lives in an assisted living unit. His wife, Edythe, 86, lives in the 13-bed Lyle House.
“Totally unacceptable”
Meadowlark Hills” success is rooted in the 1999 death of CEO Steve Shields” mother, Marge Shields, a once-vibrant woman who”d taught dance and aerobics for more than 30 years, piano for more than 50 years.
“My mom got sick with Alzheimer”s in her late 50s,” Shields said. “My dad got sick with Parkinson”s in his 60s. He took wonderful care of her until he just couldn”t do it anymore.”
Soon, a nursing home became the family”s only option.
“It was just totally unacceptable,” Shields said. “It got to the point where we almost didn”t recognize her.”
Family members, he said, often found his mother disheveled and tied in a chair with a vacant look on her face.
“We just had to get her out of there,” said Shields, who, at the time, worked overseas for an oil drilling company. “I switched careers, got a job at Meadowlark Hills and brought her here. It was such a relief, the care was so much better.”
For years, Shields assumed his mother”s decline was a consequence of her disease.
“She was on her death bed, when it hit me people”s conditions are more related to the system of care and the environment than they are to aging and disease,” he said.
His commitment to what he now calls resident-directed lifestyles a radical concept at the time became irreversible.
“It changed people”s lives dramatically and our turnover dropped dramatically,” he said of the changes made at Meadowlark. “After that, we felt duty-bound. Once you”re aware of something, you carry an obligation, and we couldn”t turn our backs on that obligation.”
Epicenter of change
Meadowlark Hills” venture into the unknown hasn”t gone unnoticed.
“There is no question, Meadowlark Hills is a leader in (nursing home) culture change, absolutely,” said Lauren Shaham, a spokeswoman for the National Consumer Coalition for Nursing Home Reform in Washington, D.C.
“They”ve made Kansas the epicenter of the resident-centered care movement,” she said.
Meadowlark Hills has been featured on CBS” “The Early Show” and “Eye on America,” and in several national magazines and newspapers.
“We”re always kind of amazed when people think there”s a story here,” said Chapman, whose duties include responding to the media. “And then when they get here and we show them what we do, it all seems so simple.”
Meadowlark Hills” approach, he said, is built on the premise that residents
no matter how frail
know what they like and dislike.
“We try to find out what their likes are,” Chapman said, “If they can”t talk, we”ll look for a smile, a nod or a squeeze of the hand.”
Once residents realize they still have a say in their lives, Chapman said, they blossom.
“They”re happy
and when residents are happy, your staff is happy,” he said. “When your staff is happy, you have less turnover, and when your turnover”s down everything else falls into place.”
Chapman said Meadowlark Hills maintains waiting lists for residents as well as aides.
Jennifer Collins, household coordinator at Honstaed House, has worked for Meadowlark Hills for four and half years.
“I love my job,” she said. “I like the autonomy. I like knowing that my judgment counts, that I am valued.”
Instead of always being told what to do, Collins said she and the aides consult with the residents. “Every day is different,” she said.
Because residents” wants and schedules vary, their aides come and go throughout the day.
“We have a lot of flex-time,” Collins said. “We have a K-State student who”s leaving early tonight to take a test and then coming back. That”s unheard of in most places.” She added: “We don”t have an absentee problem.
Just do it
Meadowlark Hills” success has made Shields an in-demand proselytizer for resident-directed lifestyles.
“I”ve been in 26 states in the last two years,” he said.
He”s noticed that while most people want to hear about nursing home reform, few want to talk about nursing home conditions.
“It”s the strangest thing I”ve ever seen,” Shields said. “It”s like there”s a silent grief out there that nobody talks about because it”s not nice dinnertime conversation. But if you can get past that initial resistance, everybody has a story about what they”ve been through with a loved one. It”s a very emotional thing.”
Once his audiences realize there”s an alternative, he said, they become hopeful.
“My dream is that the provider community can get past the is-this-a-good-thing-or-not stage, the I-need-more-information stage and just do it,” Shields said. “You”ll never have enough information. At some point, you just have to do it.”
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.