Wisconsin Site Visit

With over 100 pictures to choose from its difficult
to decide which ones to share on my Blog, but
here are a few.

Amanda and our project architect, Brian Trott,
joined me on a 2-day site visit to Appleton &
Oshkosh, Wisconsin to look,listen and learn from some pioneers who have built "culture change"
nursing homes similar to the model we anticipate for the new Kirkhaven. Our trip was amazing!

Our journey started at 6:30 a.m. at the Rochester airport where we caught a flight to Chicago with a connecting flight to Appleton. After picking up our rental car we drove the 20 miles to Oshkosh to visit our first stop- Evergreen Retirement Community. The CEO spent the entire afternoon with us, talking and
touring us around their beautiful home comprised
of 8 neighborhoods of households with 9 residents
in each household. The households were awesome
with 9 private rooms around a large common area that comprised a kitchen/dining area, living room, activity area and spa with easy access to an outside courtyard. Although it provided for the necessary staff and operational amenities, it looked and felt like home. Each household connected to a large shared area that housed common services.

After our first site visit we were so excited we could not stop talking and designing our own home. We drove back to Appleton, checked into our motel and went out for dinner and more discussion. We went thru many napkins as we kept designing the images that flowed thru our heads.
The next day we headed out to our second visit at Brewster Village. Here we met with many staff and got a grand tour of their magnificent facility. It too used the household model but with a few different twists. Some we liked, some we didn't. The highlight was the central town square where each household connected to and included a grand atrium glassed dome that gave a feeling of being outside on the square. Here is where residents would find the beauty shop, fitness center, ice cream parlor, workshop and so much more.

Our final stop was just down the road at Peabody Manor where we were told by experts to first drive around the campus and take notice of the individual entrances to each household. It was so divine. The households were comprised of 12 residents each that had a living and activity room and shared a country kitchen with the adjoining household. The facility was beautiful and we loved the individual household entrances, but it was amazing how evident it was that they had not really adopted culture change in their operations, only in their physical building.

At the end of the trip, we were tired but pumped with information and even a greater passion for our mission. Amanda and I both liked the same things and Brian was able to get a greater understanding of what we are looking to design. Poor Amanda caught a bad cold the second day and struggled through the day, but it didn't damper her enthusiasm. Our flight home had a slight delay that resulted in our returning home after midnight, but that was the only kink in our itinerary (except giving us smoking rooms instead of what we asked for).

Our objective now is to share our information and vision with the Board and others to ensure we all stay consistent in our objectives. We have a few more site visits to make before we feel we have done complete due diligence with this leg of our evaluation.

Next week should be busy with the Seniorsfirst Board meeting, our staff recognition luncheon at Casa Larga Vineyards, Senior Leadership meeting and several other project meetings. This is really starting to get fun. Stay tuned for more updates.