Organizations in Arizona, Nebraska and Michigan have committed to building long-term care “Green Houses” over the next two years, according to officials with The Green House Project.

An outgrowth of the Eden Alternative, the Green House Project aims to change the residential and working cultures in long-term care toward a less institutional feel.

Tabitha Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Lincoln, NE, plans to break ground this fall, while the Presbyterian Villages of Michigan in suburban Detroit hope to start in late fall. Pinecrest Medical Care Facility in Powers, MI, hopes to break ground in May 2005 on the first of five Green Houses. Pinecrest, which is owned by Delta, Dickinson and Menominee counties, plans to transfer some of the residents of its 174-bed nursing home to the new Green Houses as well as house new residents. Eight residents will live in each of the new homes

The first four Green Houses began housing elderly residents last year in Tupelo, MS. For more on this Robert Woods Johnson Foundation-supported movement, visit http://wire-source.com/t/68983/62349/517/0/.