OK, Mary, I'm going to do your hair,
then we're going to go get some breakfast, you hungry?
Oh yeah.
OK.
[Reporter] It's mid-morning outside Toledo, Ohio, and Mary Nicodemus is just getting up.
I like coffee.
She loves her coffee.
OK, come on. Let's go get something to eat.
[Reporter] She's one of only ten residents in this nursing home,
which is redefining what these homes look like.
Dena Webb is a caregiver here.
Your spot.
All right.
I just think of some of the other long term care facilities.
I've been in Canada and it's not like this.
Everybody gets up like a conveyor belt at the same time, they get woken up,
they get showers, they get dressed
and then get brought to dinner and it's dozens of people.
This is very different.
Yes, I used to work in a facility like that.
You have more time to spend with the elders, so it's not like traditional.
Everybody got to get up at this time.
Everybody got lay down at that time because everybody is different.
Mm-Hmm. And it recognizes that.
[Reporter] Another big difference
there isn't some mass kitchen cooking for hundreds, just Dina
and another caregiver collaborating each week with the elders on a menu.
Now, with Mary, she's not picky with food.
Some of them are, and we do make them accordingly what they like.
For instance, Jenny don't like eggs, so we gave her a waffle.
But Mary, she will eat whatever you give her.
[Reporter] With a smaller home
it also doesn't take long for staff to respond.
When Mariah Jones's pager goes off, it's Jenny Itner
asking for help to get into her chair.
Yes. Hi, Jenny.
And unlike thousands of seniors in Ontario,
Jenny doesn't share this room with anyone.
I have my own room.
I can do it
anyway I want it and I have my own bathroom.
I feel comfortable here.
Most of the girls know who we are and Dina knows
what you like, what you don't like.
- Would that happen in a bigger long term care home? - No.
What's the secret here?
So we have fewer elders in house, and out elder assistants
we have two that work in a house.
They really get to know our elders.
[Reporter] Tammy Allison is in charge here.
Shirley, here's your water ice water.
[Reporter] But there are fewer managers than at other homes.
The money, focused instead on frontline care.
The concept far less top down than many homes in Canada.
You might find yourself
involved in laundry or serving food, or helping with food preparation
or just sitting down and chatting with somebody.
Done all of those this week already.
So yeah, just wherever the need is, the other assistants know
they can call me and say, Hey, I need some help and you know,
they can call any of our leadership team and we'll be right there.
I don't spend my day in an office.
It really, truly does feel like a family.
We all just kind of jump in and work together.
[Reporter] This concept of care, called Green House Model Homes, has had neighborhoods
like this across the U.S.
for 17 years,
including this not for profit facility, which looks like a subdivision.
It's run by Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices.
Jill Wilson is the President and CEO.
We call it the liberation at Otterbein.
What are you liberating from?
So we're actually liberating from this notion
that people who need care and support and are
older have to give up a home.
But even
Jill thought having fewer residents in smaller homes
with just as many staff was unworkable at first.
When her then boss told her to move entirely to this model,
she pushed back and immediately turns red.
Right immediately turns red, and he said, No, we're not going to talk about it.
We're going to do it.
Do you hear me?
We're going to do this now
you get your butt down at Tupelo, Mississippi,
and look at it and come back because you're going to do it.
And I was like, OK.
So I went down to Mississippi and I walked in to a house.
And the first thing I said to myself, I mean, this most selfish thing
I said
I could do this if I needed to be
in a nursing home, I could be here.
She was convinced right away, but Jill also knew
the concept couldn't cast radically more than other homes.
So this isn't just a place for the wealthy.
This is a place that is affordable.
Yeah, what most of the folks here have have no money.
Yeah, and are on some sort of government.
Yes, on on Medicaid, on Medicaid.
But is Medicaid paying way more than they would at an institution? No,
no, no.
Absolutely not.
[Reporter] And there is a difference in care.
On average, Ontario seniors get fewer than three hours of direct care a day.
In homes like this
it's almost double.
But no matter how attentive the care, no home is perfect.
Caring for people with complex health concerns is challenging.
Even this one has had citations for deficiencies
and the fact remains that most hope to avoid
spending the last years of their lives in a nursing home.
The decision hard on families.
Helen Anson, who's almost 90, lived with her daughter Sue
McCloskey until about seven years ago when it became too much.
It's a big step when you put a loved one in a nursing home.
It was tough to make this decision, but after I came in here and felt
warm and invited, we knew that this was the right move for her.
And Helen was reluctant to, but convinced
once she visited.
This is not institutional.
Institutional rules are different.
And you could go to bed any time you want to, and it was more homey
the table with people sitting there
chewing and chatting and that really caught my eye.
[Reporter] Especially during COVID
with smaller homes, less turnover of staff and only private rooms.
Greenhouse had significantly fewer COVID cases
and deaths compared to other American nursing homes.
Did you have some comfort knowing that she was here?
Very comforted by that.
She was in a smaller facility that was following protocols.
Very, very careful.
- Does this feel like home? - Closest, yes.
[Reporter] As Ontario now embarks on a massive effort to expand long term care
homes like this show
You don't have to follow the past that this could be a model of the future.
David Common, CBC News, Toledo, Ohio.