A year after the opening of the Blanche Robertson Garden Cottage, Penick Village administrators, staff and cottage residents met with the project’s design team to talk about project successes and lessons learned. Part of the community’s efforts to deinstitutionalize healthcare and create better environments for residents, the LEED for Homes Silver certified 10-bedroom/10-bath Garden Cottage is Penick Village’s first small-home model facility. 

 

The close involvement of the NC Department of Health Services Regulation (NC DHSR) throughout the design process was critical. Project designers CJMW Architecture and Penick Village worked closely with the regulatory agency to explore “equivalency measures,” providing a high level of safety for residents without the institutional features of a typical nursing home.

 

Perhaps one of the more surprising lessons learned is that it can be difficult to deinstitutionalize those who are already institutionalized. Current Cottage residents previously lived in a more traditional model assisted living environment and had become accustomed to that environment. For example, residents were less interested in re-learning how much cream to pour in their coffee from the family-style pitcher than in continuing to use pre-packaged creamers. And while some enjoy participating in everyday household activities (for example, one resident collects and delivers the mail to other residents daily and others help in food preparation) others say they consider themselves “retired” and like being served.