“The [Green House] model has been praised by academics and doctors and seems far better suited than traditional facilities to stave off the spread of infection and the isolation that has devastated the elderly in recent months.”

“Well, one idea that’s got a lot of currency now has been around for nearly 20 years. It’s called the Green House Project. These are nursing homes with an emphasis on the home part of it. They’re small, with maybe eight to 12 residents. That cuts down on infection spread. Everyone has a private room, which also helps control infection. And during the pandemic, Green House homes have been one-fifth as likely to have cases of COVID-19 as traditional nursing homes.”

“Smaller-scale, high-quality group models, such as the Green House Project, provide care in small, self-contained, family-style houses with a small number of residents. Such models could offer one community-based alternative to nursing homes.”

“It’s time to really focus on private rooms in nursing homes,” said Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist and researcher at Cornell University. In the Green House model, for example, a dozen residents live in private rooms with homelike common spaces and assigned staff who know them well.