Steve McAlilly receives award for 20 years of work with Green House Project
Aug. 5—TUPELO — Steve McAlilly was honored with the 2023 Center for Innovation Trailblazer Award last week during the center's annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
McAlilly, president and CEO of Mississippi Methodist Senior Services (MSS), was speaking on a panel about the 20th anniversary of the Green House Project's first homes on July 25 when he received the award from the Center for Innovation (CFI), the nonprofit parent organization of the Green House Project and the Pioneer Network.
He and the MSS team took the Green House concept, developed by geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas, from idea to reality. McAlilly oversaw the first implementation of the Green House model.
More than two decades ago, as the Traceway Retirement Community Board of Directors mulled a replacement for its outdated traditional nursing home, the team searched for ideas.
McAlilly got to know Thomas and learned more about his concept for replacing nursing homes with cozy homes that could provide care for a small group of elders with the goal of combatting the feelings of loneliness, helplessness and boredom often experienced by those in traditional facilities.
"As fate would have it, our organization was ready to go and build," McAlilly said. "I walked into our board of directors here in Tupelo and said, 'Y'all, if we build the state-of-the-art nursing home that we've been working on, I think it'll be obsolete the day we open the doors. I think we need to look at this thing that Bill Thomas calls the Green House.' They had the courage to do it."
The first Green House was constructed at the Traceway Retirement Community in Tupelo in 2003. There are now 10 Green House homes, each equipped to house 10 or 12 residents, for a total of 112 residents in the All-America City.
In the 20 years since those first homes were built, nearly 400 have been constructed around the world.
"I call Steve McAlilly the Godfather of Green House, because without his vision, the model never would have made the transition from a concept to bricks and mortar," CFI CEO Susan Ryan said in a press release. "The entire elder care reform movement owes an incredible debt to Steve for having the vision, courage and dedication to go beyond the status quo and commit to creating a better world for elders."
The Green House concept just makes perfect sense for elder care, McAlilly said.
Each approximately 6,500 square-foot house accommodates 10 or 12 elders. Residents have private rooms with private bathrooms.
Staff members surround elders with the care and support they need, from cooking and serving meals to planning activities with residents.
At the center of the home is a large common room with a hearth and seating area for residents to socialize and watch television together.
"It's built around the concept of home," McAlilly said. "It's their home, and we just happen to work there."
There's also a sizable kitchen and dining room where staff prepare meals and elders gather to eat at a long dining table.
"The meals are cooked in the home. The food residents eat are the things they want to eat," McAlilly said. "They wake up in the morning, and they hear dishes rattling, smell coffee brewing and bacon frying and wander out of their bedroom to the breakfast table and eat what they want to eat."
Outside, there's a patio area and plenty of outdoor space for recreation.
The Green House concept has stood the test of time over the last two decades.
"Probably the most profound thing we've seen is that people who were in a traditional nursing home setting, who really weren't eating well or walking much or talking much, they come back to life when they move into a Green House home," McAlilly said.
Another positive change they noticed is that family members became more involved in their loved ones' lives because the Green Houses feel like home.
For several decades, McAlilly has had a passion for elder care. Through his role with MSS and integral role with the Green House Project, he continues to promote elder care reform.
"They're the people who made us who we are," McAlilly said of the people he serves. "We're called to honor, respect and love them. That's what our organization does. That's what I try to do in my work."
