Smoke Signals
6 APRIL 15, 2005
Elder Care Homes Set for Summer Completion
HOMES continued
from front page
tion of three buildings and site
preparation for a fourth was about
$2 million, said Carina Kistler
Ginter, Executive Director of the
Tribal Housing Authority, and the
Elder's community center budget is
about $2.4 million, both divided
between Tribal funds and federal
government funds.
Particularly for the housing part
of this project, the Tribe is recast
ing and updating an old, family
style of taking care of Elders at
home. With each housing unit de
signed for five Elders and a care
taker, it aims to succeed where
larger, more impersonal, single
building facilities have proved over
whelming an unattractive for ag
ing and fragile Elders.
Guiding the process is a steering
committee comprised of Elders both
who will live in the facility and those
who are not scheduled to live there,
as well as representatives of Tribal
youth, Health and Wellness, Social
Services, Cultural Resources and
others who will be involved with the
lives of Elders living there.
"It took incredible Tribal collabo
ration among Tribal departments,
the Tribal government and the
Housing Authority to make this
happen," said Kistler Ginter.
As project leader, Duane
Hussey's ideas have popped up from
everywhere.
The idea of incorporating color
into the design for the hard-of-see-ing
came from his wife, who works
at the Optometry
School at Pacific Uni
versity. Items like rail
ings will have colors or
shades of their own,
and shiny, not matte,
surfaces to help those
without the greatest
vision to learn, almost
instinctively by the col
ors and shades, to
know what is what.
Tribal Grant Writer
Bob McElderry (Flat
head) suggested
money in the Tribal
diabetes project be
used to buy picnic
tables and benches for
the outside areas, with
the idea that diabetes
patients will benefit
from going out and ex
ercising, enjoying the
fresh air, said Hussey.
Tribal Elder and
Wellness Manager
Bonnie Tom approved
the idea that will tie
walkways from the new units to an
existing path designed to encour
age Elders to get out and walk more.
The plan provides for the "dignity,
privacy and respect that should be
shown Elders," said Hussey. As a
result, every room will have wheel
chair accessible private shower and
bath facilities, cable television and
internet services, and the facilities
are wired to provide nurse call sta
tions if they are ever needed. The
hallways are six feet wide allowing
wheelchairs to pass each other.
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From a cultural standpoint, the
homes include elements of
longhouse design with logs strate
gically placed. They are designed
to be removed, carved, and replaced
as time and interest allow.
From an environmental stand
point, the facility will have its own
sewer system with a treatment
plant for recycling water that then
may be reused for things like wash-
bunch of issues that Elders shared
in the discussion process.
"There's isolation in aging," said
Hussey. "A lot are thinking they're
heavy burdens on their families,
that they're not physically able to
keep up." So, the question came up:
"How do we reach them?"
One way is to bring the activities
to the least mobile, instead of the
other way around. Another is pro-
Ml :i tZ U :';t'--- - i
Homeplace Early Spring weather has been a blessing for making progress on the Elder Foster Care
Facilities and has made it possible for the proj ect to be well ahead of schedule. One of three initial build
ings is seen here in a photo taken on Thursday, April 7. Photo by Marty George
ing cars.
Raised flower beds and plants will
be placed both for the views and for
the privacy of the occupants, said
Hussey.
And all this is only the beginning.
Studies show that eventually, the
three planned buildings serving 15,
could be expanded to serve some 50
anticipated to be needed in the
Tribal community in the years
ahead.
Included in the calculations for
developing this project were a whole
vide "a comfortable place where you
could gather, like city centers with
parks," said Hussey. Later this
year, a community center will be
built here for these Elders with the
idea that all community center func
tions will be not only inviting but
very near to these Elders. Crafts
will take place here. Initially sched
uled for a May groundbreaking, the
schedule for this building has
slipped a little, said Hussey.
"They want to live in a country
home with a caring environment,"
said Hussey. "I can build the best
place in the world but you still need
caring individuals to operate it."
Enter Michael DeShane, presi
dent of Clackamas-based Concept
in Community Living (CCL). The
company operates High Lookee
Lodge, the assisted living facility for
Warm Springs Elders. But CCL is
only helping to design and train
employees for the operation here in
Grand Ronde. Ultimately,
said DeShane, CCL expects
to turn over operations to
the Tribe.
Where the Warm Springs
facility has more rooms than
Elders to fill it, an advan
tage of the Grand Ronde
facility is that because each
building holds only five El
ders, Grand Ronde "can
build it until they don't have
any more market."
CCL is currently evaluat
ing possible ways of staffing
the facilities. The firehouse
model, where employees
work for three days on and
three days off "is clearly
more expensive," said
DeShane. Still under con
sideration, however, is one
model where generalist
staffers live at the cottages
more or less around the
clock with breaks provided
by other staffers. The other
model under consideration
seeks people to work specific
shifts, so that those with more spe
cific skills would work during the
waking hours and those with more
general skills might sleep at the fa
cility in case an emergency comes
up.
"We want (the project) to have an
immediate message," said Hussey,
"that it is absolutely friendly."
Tribal members potentially inter
ested in the assisted living facility
for themselves or a family member
should contact the Tribal Housing
Authority to get on an interest list.
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