Dismantling Institutional Culture in Long-Term Care

When The Green House Project talks about bringing an end to the institutional nursing home, we don't just mean the outdated, hospital-like buildings where so many elders live: We also mean the institutional culture that dehumanizes real people by treating them solely as collections of symptoms to manage. Sonya Barsness describes her role as a revisionary gerontologist, someone who challenges the institutional structure of nursing homes that exist only because we've always done things that way. In her work as a lecturer at Georgetown University and her own company, Sonya Barsness Consulting, she encourages individuals and organizations to build caring communities around people, not brute-force efficiency. It's not just good for elders, she argues; it's vital for developing the next generation of caregivers and leaders amid an historic workforce crisis. Barsness joins "Elevate Eldercare" to discuss her own personal experience fighting the institutional urge, as well as her prescriptions for building truly elder-directed care options for the future. Read Sonya's blog post bidding farewell to the traditional nursing home: http://sbcgerontology.com/blog.html Show notes/call to action: Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org