When people think of skilled nursing care, the image that tends to prevail is that of the institutional nursing home with an entrance dominated by a large nurses’ station and medicine carts parked in sterile, linoleum halls patrolled by white-coated nurses.

But this isn’t the case of the senior care at the retirement communities of Episcopal Retirement Homes. The senior rehabilitation services at ERH’s senior living communities have a reputation for excellence in both ministry and nursing care. People tend to describe their experience at our Cincinnati senior living communities as a combination of a luxury resort, summer camp, and college, and our skilled nursing as just as good (if not better) than a private hospital.

All of our residents—whether they live in independent, assisted, or our skilled nursing communities— live on their own terms with dignity and purpose, free from restrictive routines. That is because we ascribe to a philosophy of Person-Centered Care—a philosophy that residents were instrumental in bringing into our communities.

The Person-Centered Philosophy at Episcopal Retirement Homes.

As a member of the board and an active resident of Marjorie P. Lee, Hans Amstein was part of the team that set the course for Person-Centered Care at Episcopal Retirement Homes. He undertook the responsibility of overseeing, directing and resourcing the person-centered care cultural transformation.

As Hans’ knowledge about Person-Centered Care increased, so did his passion about the initiative. For Hans, encouraging ERH to adopt the person-centered care model was not just about his conviction to help bring better nursing care to ERH communities.

And our nursing care is better with a Person-Centered Approach.

Senior care and rehabilitation services are reimagined with Person-Centered Care.

Focusing on residents and clients as individuals with unique needs and personalities drives us to exceed the normal standards of senior care and changes how we measure service. Person-Centered Care allows us to interact with older adults on a higher level of empathy and understanding. That means you’ll never see a hint of the oppressive institutional experience in our nursing care centers— no matter if you’re staying with us for the short or long term.

“Our goal with Person-Centered Care is to ensure that the seniors we serve have: freedom, choice, and purpose in their lives,” says Episcopal Retirement Homes President and CEO Doug Spitler.

What a Person-Centered Philosophy of Senior Care Looks Like in Practice.

In skilled nursing care at all of the Episcopal Retirement Homes communities, seniors live just as they did in their own homes as much as possible. We encourage our nursing care residents to continue living with freedom, choice, and purpose— as they did before injury or illness brought them to our doors.

ERH’s Medical Director Dr. Jason Graff says that the freedom of a Person-Centered approach is just what the doctor ordered for senior rehabilitation services, since dignity, independence, and continued quality of life helps stimulate recovery.

“People are less likely to ‘give up’ [in an environment like Lee Gardens or Deupree Cottages]. When they have a belief in their treatment program, they do well,” he says.

Access to highly trained professional therapists and state-of-the-art equipment, at both the Deupree Cottages and the Lee Gardens at Marjorie P. Lee, also helps speed the recovery process. The caliber of our program gives our transitional residents the tools they need to rebuild strength, improve balance, and get back on their feet, while providing dignified senior living for our more permanent residents.

Dignity and purpose in senior care promotes the core desire to help older adults live well into the future at the skilled nursing care centers of the Episcopal Retirement Homes communities.