Jackson Manor honored for being 'neighborly'

Residents in the Country Meadow Lane neighborhood at Jackson Manor can boast that the nursing home has won a state award for innovative decor. (Fred Lynch) [Click to enlarge]

For 26 years the Jackson Manor staff followed a medical model where the lives of residents revolved around routine. But when the building at 710 Broadridge in Jackson was up for major remodeling in 2005, the manor's administration decided to use the opportunity to change their overall philosophy and make the residents feel at home instead of in an institution.

Last month the Missouri Coalition Celebrating Care Continuum Change recognized the 90-bed skilled nursing home for best representing the volunteer organization's mission of creating an environment that allows the person receiving care to take precedence.

"Traditional nursing home schedules and routine take over the resident's life," said Dave Walker, administrator of Jackson Manor. "Residents are typically told when they have to eat and when to go to bed. We've moved away from that and let our residents make their own choices."

Individual decor

For example, a resident who likes to take a nap on the sofa in the living room is no longer taken to her bed when she falls asleep. "She used to sleep in her chair at home, so we let her," Walker said.

The nursing home is divided into three neighborhoods, named Country Meadow Lane, Blueberry Lane and Wisteria Court by the residents. Health Care Management Inc., the owner of the Jackson nursing home, provided around $20,000 per neighborhood for improvements. From the carpeted halls outside the rooms, the entrances are designed to look like the front door to a house, with porch lights, mailboxes and nearby shutters surrounding mirrors instead of windows.

According to Catherine Gill, director of Nursing Home and Home Health Services at Primaris, a member organization of MC5, adopting a neighborhood concept is an advanced step in the adult-care field. "It means a small number of staff will really get to know their patients well."

The resident's rooms are decorated on an individual basis. One resident has a computer in his room, for instance, and another has a cat.

"They've done what they want their whole life," said Myrna Favier, director of nurses at Jackson Manor, adding that residents are told their rights when they move in.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137