Tockwotton Home to become lab for better elder care

TOCKWOTTON HOME is engaged in building the 'Nursing Home of the Future' both literally and figuratively. This rendering shows the nursing home/assisted living center's planned new home in East Providence, while the institution takes part in a study to reimagine how nursing homes are designed. /
TOCKWOTTON HOME is engaged in building the 'Nursing Home of the Future' both literally and figuratively. This rendering shows the nursing home/assisted living center's planned new home in East Providence, while the institution takes part in a study to reimagine how nursing homes are designed. /

PROVIDENCE – Tockwotton Home is partnering with three regional research and development entities to create what they call “a real-world laboratory” for new products, models and approaches in elder care.
Established in 1856, Tockwotton Home in a nonprofit 42-bed nursing home and 30-bed assisted-living residence. Now in the Fox Point section of Providence, it is slated to move to the East Providence waterfront in the next two years.
The new project, dubbed the “Nursing Home of the Future,” will begin by analyzing the current experience of nursing home and assisted-living residents, identify unmet needs, identify and prioritize “target opportunities,” look at new architectural designs for patient units, and get input from a range of people.
The work will help shape Tockwotton Home’s plans for its new, 150-bed facility, which is slated to open in 2010. A patient unit and common living areas will be devoted to the initiative, providing an opportunity for the project partners to design a new kind of living space, conduct research and try innovative approaches in care delivery.
The project will leverage the BIF Experience Lab platform as well as the expertise of Quality Partners of Rhode Island, which has been the federally designated National Nursing Home Quality Improvement Organization Support Center since 2002.
Dr. Stefan Gravenstein of Quality Partners, a nationally renowned geriatrician and professor at Brown University with extensive experience related to the design, development and implementation of nursing home quality initiatives, will serve as clinical director.
“Nursing home care needs much more than incremental improvements to face the challenges of changing demographics, meet the growing demand for more complex medical care and provide our elders with the higher quality of life they deserve,” Gravenstein said in a news release. “But we cannot expect to achieve this level of innovation without working directly with residents in their native environment. … We will directly determine what works, what doesn’t, and what is financially viable by putting new ideas to work in the real world with feedback from our elders as they live in this environment.”
BIF has set up a national advisory group to assist with the endeavor, including Joe Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab; Dr. Richard Besdine, director of the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University; and Scott Williams, chief marketing officer of Morgans Hotel Group.
“The elderly population is exploding and our country is not prepared to meet the challenges of delivering high-quality and cost-effective care. We must act now to design a new model for elderly care and improve the experience of seniors who require assistance,” said BIF founder Saul Kaplan, who is also executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
“The Nursing Home of the Future initiative will enable us to quickly and cost effectively test big-win solutions in a manageable environment and then to scale those ideas nationally,” Kaplan added. “This bold approach gives elders the lead voice in improving their care and quality of life.”
The partners are now recruiting sponsors for Phase 1, the analysis stage, and beginning to work on the project.

For more information on the Nursing Home of the Future, go to www.businessinnovationfactory.com.

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