Pennybyrn at Maryfield
High Point, NC

Pennybyrn at Maryfield Aerial View Pennybyrn at Maryfield Entrance Pennybyrn at Maryfield Model Pennybyrn at Maryfield Household Kitchen Pennybyrn at Maryfield Floor Plan

Project Specs
Construction Cost:  $58M (Estimated)
Completion Date:  2006 (Estimated)

New Construction
Independent Living Apartments:  131
Cottages:  19
Assisted Living:  24 beds
Assisted Living Memory Support:  24 beds

Renovation
Nursing:  106 beds
Nursing Memory Support:  19 beds

Narrative
Pennybyrn at Maryfield was founded by a Catholic Congregation of Sisters from Ireland and England. Inspired by the kindness shown to them by American soldiers during World War II, the Sisters began operating Maryfield in 1947. With this expansion, Pennybyrn at Maryfield will grow from a 125-bed nursing facility with a few cottages to a full continuing care retirement community.

The plans include additional cottages and a new waterfront building housing a new community center and spacious one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments. The community center will include amenities such as underground parking, a concierge, bank and business center, a private dining room, terrace dining with a water view, and an Irish style pub—recalling the Sisters’ Irish heritage.

New construction also includes a new wellness center with an indoor pool, as well as a clinic and rehabilitation center, meditation chapel, and maintenance building. A new assisted living building attached to the existing nursing facility will provide two households for assisted living residents and two households for residents in memory support.

Culture Change at Pennybyrn at Maryfield
While this expansion will be a dramatic change in itself, the most significant transformation is in the way the staff will interact with the residents, especially in the renovated nursing facility. Pennybyrn at Maryfield has embraced the culture change ideas of the Pioneer Network, which replaces institutional, staff-directed care with households where seniors live in family units and they themselves make the decisions which affect their daily lives. Steve Shields (a leader in the national culture change movement) and Action Pact, Inc. are providing consulting assistance for this transition.

The existing nursing building—with its long, terrazzo-floored corridors, large production kitchen, and central dining/activity spaces scaled for all 125 residents—is characteristic of the institutionalization common in many nursing homes. Pennybyrn looked to SFCS’s extensive senior living experience to help them create true homes for its residents. This approach required the team to abandon most of the traditional nursing home norms and rethink the idea of what makes a “home.”

To realize this new vision, the design team is renovating the existing nursing facility to create six unique households, each home to 19-22 residents. Each household will have a dedicated group of staff who become members of that household. Meals will be cooked in each household by the staff members who may later be helping with activities or cleaning bedrooms.

The households are organized around a central indoor town square, which provides a large group gathering space for programmed entertainment. At other times, the town square fountain and café will provide another venue outside of the households where residents can interact with friends and family. A small children’s play room off the town square will provide a place to keep toys and encourage young visitors. The beauty shop, post office, clinic, fitness space, solarium, and chapel are some of the town center activity spaces that are easily accessed off the town square.

Everyone who is visiting a household—including Pennybyrn staff who are not household members—must ring the household’s front door bell and wait to be invited to enter. In this way, the sanctity and privacy of home are maintained. Off the foyer will be a small parlor with a fireplace where residents can entertain visitors or just relax. Past the foyer will be a living room with a beam-coffered ceiling and an entertainment center. The dining room will open to a large kitchen that can actually be used by the residents, yet meets local county health ordinances for the production of meals. The staff will work from a den-like room off the living room or dining area. Also connected to the living room or dining space are an outdoor patio and garden area, which residents can enjoy without permission from staff. The bedrooms are located at the rear of the household, so visitors will never walk past a bedroom unless invited in by a resident.

SFCS’s transformation strategy for nursing facilities can be implemented at other communities, providing a cost-effective way to renovate older nursing care facilities in order to better serve their residents, market competitively, attract and retain highly-qualified staff, preserve financial stability, and achieve the community’s mission.

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