Enterprise Community Partners has awarded Presbyterian Villages of Michigan Foundation a research grant to analyze the impact of having different levels of housing and healthcare on one campus to better meet the needs of older adults as they age.
The research grant from Enterprise will analyze the impact of Thome Rivertown and create a guide for others to build similar senior housing. The guide will show how the different types of housing – independent living, services and nursing home level of care – and different senior services come together to make Thome Rivertown Neighborhood possible and affordable. This guide will also outline how Thome Rivertown was financed and how others can replicate this model in communities across America. This research grant and guide will help increase affordable housing and healthcare for older adults with low incomes.
Thome Rivertown Neighborhood is one of the first of its kind in creating a continuing care model specifically for older adults with low incomes. Thome is a continuing care or life plan model in that it offers the different types of senior living – independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing care – all on one campus. While this exists for seniors with financial means, Thome is among the first to make this model affordable for senior with low incomes.
The grant work will be conducted in collaboration with several researchers from the Center for Innovation, the nonprofit parent of The Green House Project and Pioneer Network, including CEO Susan Ryan, communications director Alex Spanko, and strategic advisor Anne Montgomery (Principal Investigator), as well as gerontologist and Medicare/Medicaid payment expert Joe Angelelli.
Presbyterian Villages of Michigan is a senior living and services non-profit that creates diverse environments, programs, and services where seniors are able to achieve their best possibilities and purposes in life. By offering a wide variety of residential living options and home and community-based services, PVM embraces and engages more than 7,500 seniors of all faiths and financial needs in many villages conveniently located throughout the state. Guided by our Christian heritage, we serve all seniors, creating new possibilities for quality living.
Thome Rivertown Neighborhood is in downtown Detroit. It serves over 600 older adults with low incomes annually with 50 subsidized independent living apartments, apartments for 80 residents receiving assisted living services, 21 residents receive skilled nursing care who are living in Weinberg Green Houses (private rooms with shared living space and easy outdoor access to a rooftop setting) and a PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) center that serves over 500 older adults annually. Thome Rivertown is a collaboration among Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, Brio Living Services and Henry Ford Health Systems.
The Center for Innovation is the non-profit parent of multiple brands dedicated to changing the environment and culture of eldercare settings: The Green House Project, Pioneer Network, and EmpowerED. Since 2003, The Green House Project has helped eldercare organizations across the United States and the world build Green House homes, small-scale alternatives nursing homes. Founded in 1997, Pioneer Network works to transform the culture of traditional nursing homes, assisted living and memory care communities, and other communal eldercare settings. EmpowerED, our newest brand, provides on-demand eLearning services to providers across the entire care continuum, enabling organizations to infuse person-directed living practices into any care setting.
