In an IIRP news article, Joshua Wachtel writes:
“Nursing homes, even very nice ones, tend to regiment life for their residents, based on the rhythms established by the institution. But at Maranatha House Aged Care Facility, staff have taken a different approach to help residents ‘live life my way, made easy,’ to paraphrase the organization’s motto. Restorative practices is helping Maranatha fulfill that mission.
General Manager Debra Wells says the idea is to ‘deinstitutionalize’ the system and ‘put residents in charge.’ Rather than having to live each day by staff routines, residents at Maranatha House, in Wellington, New South Wales, a town and rural region of about 10,000 people located 225 miles from Sydney, Australia, are greeted with choices and conversations that allow them to express their needs.
Wells criticizes the institutional approach: ‘It makes aging a medical illness instead of a process that happens to all of us. At Maranatha, we’re having the right conversations with residents and their families instead of hiding behind red tape and bureaucracy.’ ”
