Creating a Tailored Approach: The Transformation of Jewish Senior Life

Abstract

This chapter shares the story of Jewish Senior Life, a senior living community located near Rochester, New York, that adopted a person-centered care approach for its operational practices and facilities. When the community decided to revamp their model of care, they knew the physical environment also needed to be modernized to better support their goals. Jewish Senior Life embarked on a multi-year journey, teaming with designers at Perkins Eastman and consultants from The Green House Project. The result was a series of new, state-of-the-art living environments whose design began with strategic visioning and site planning to accommodate future community growth. The Jewish Senior Life campus now features three new multi-story Green Houses and the renovation of an existing residential skilled nursing tower. In this chapter, we outline the design goals of the renovation and new construction and explain the process of redesigning the physical environment using research-based evidence to make more informed decisions. We also share features of the final design and its impact on the community, highlighting how a tailored design approach rooted in principles of person-centered care can transform a community for the better.