Nursing Home Looks Normal On Outside – Inside Is Designed Like A 1940s Neighborhood

#1 The Lantern

There is a beautiful and quaint nursing home in Chagrin Falls, Ohio which was designed with Alzheimer's and dementia patients in mind, hoping to transport them back to a simpler time, like the middle 1940s.

#2 The Details

On the outside, it looks like any other nursing home, perhaps even nondescript. But on the inside, the home is designed to resemble old-style homes that have porches with green front lawns, rocking chairs, and pathways leading to a lush golf course. Each porch leads into a 'tiny home' style apartment that is developed with each individual patient's needs in mind.

#3 Lighting

Designers and electricians used special fibre optic lighting to create a ceiling that resembles a beautiful blue sky filled with clouds, a bright sunny day, and even a star-filled night sky. The lighting is all based on actual weather and timing from national services, providing exact outdoor conditions when needed, but mostly a light blue, puffy cloud effect is used to help relieve stress.

#4 The Atmosphere

"Every little thing you see, the wall color, the paint, actually has a therapeutic benefit, a therapeutic value," CEO Jean Makesh told reporters. As a trained occupational therapist, Makesh has created the perfect environment for these special patients. The facility includes a putting green, hair salon, candy shop, diner, two gazebos and a movie theater for the residents.

#5 The Environment

Even the environment outside of the patient's rooms is therapeutic. The floors of the facility are painted green to represent the grass, and an array of sound effects such as bird chirps are played throughout. After dark crickets can be heard in the distance for patients who enjoy sitting on their front porch at night.

#6 Anxiety Reduction

After studying patients with disorders like Alzheimers, Makesh formulated a plan for his nursing facility that would take the coldness and sterility out of the equation. He believes that controlled environments can lead to major reductions in anxiety, anger, and depression, and can help patients feel more at ease in their own surroundings.

#7 Peaceful Living

Lantern provides residents with an assortment of daily classes to help them re-learn and retain basic skills and functions. Every meal is spent with other residents in a common eating space that is bright and cheery. Therapists work individually with each patient and as a group, providing classes on art, memory, current events, and social anxiety.

#8 There Is Hope

"I take them back to those memories. I create a time capsule. It enables them to embrace everything around them," Makesh told reporters when they held an open house for the families of future residents at the facility. "They are told nothing can be done for Alzheimer's, but there is hope," he said. "We are 20 years ahead of anyone else. ... I believe the program is the only program like it in the world."

#9 Making Progress

Using his methods, Makesh hopes that he can slow down the progression of Alzheimers and similar disease by making life more enjoyable for those inflicted. He hopes that his contributions in rehabilitation for these patients will produce a large amount of positive change. He said that his patients are 65% more active than those in a traditional nursing home facility. He plans to open two other similar facilities in the next 2 years with different designs, noting that not everyone wants to return to the 1940s.

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