What is the Post Occupancy Evaluation Process?
The SAGE Wisconsin Steering Committee obtains agreement from the owner of a recently constructed or renovated facility for older adults to carry out a one day multi-disciplinary Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) of the project. The Steering Committee selects a POE team representing a variety of disciplines interested in improving built environments for older adults. An evaluation tool, developed with assistance from the University of Wisconsin Institute on Aging and Environment, is utilized by the POE team.
The post occupancy evaluation tool is based on a holistic approach to resident care. Evaluators are asked to consider each of the following elements and record their comments and observations:
| Functional status - environment encourages practice or continued use of everyday skills (e.g. ADLs to avoid unnecessary dependence or disability). |
| Privacy - residents are afforded appropriate opportunities for private space and privacy in visits. |
| Accessibility - residents are able to move about freely as able with access to services and assistance unimpeded; outdoor access is available. |
| Wayfinding - signs and cues provide opportunity for residents to orient themselves to the environment. |
| Personalization - opportunities exist for residents to personalize their living area. |
| Community - environment encourages sense of community with inviting, identifiable, accessible common spaces. |
| Safety and Security - environment minimizes threat to resident safety and the security of their possessions. |
| Organization - workspaces organized to provide efficient care delivery with appropriate attention to resident needs for accessibility to staff. |
| Communication - environment supports communication among staff, among residents, and between staff and residents. |
| Technology - extent to which new or innovative technology enhances care delivery. |
| The extent to which the following elements contribute to quality of life for the residents and enhance care capabilities of the staff - lighting; signs; use of colors; floor coverings; wall coverings; window treatments; accessories; acoustical features; ventilation (temperature, absence of odors); circulation pattern; fixed furnishings and equipment; movable furnishings and equipment; plumbing and fire protection; heating ventilation and air conditioning; and electrical systems. |
A few weeks after the POE visit, an invited multi-disciplinary group comes to the facility to hear presentations by the facility staff and the POE team. Participants tour the facility in small groups which then meet to discuss and share with the total group what they learned that can be applied in the planning and designing of future building projects.
Listed below are some Post Occupancy Evaluations from past SAGE Days.
2005 - St. Mary's Care Center, Madison
On October 13, 2005 SAGE Wisconsin sponsored a SAGE Day that featured St. Mary's Care Center in Madison, Wisconsin. A seven person multidisciplinary team assembled in September to conduct a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) of the facility. The daylong activities, hosted by Administrator Bill Bender, included a tour of the building as well as a brief review of the project history, project objectives, staffing, design features and project costs. Following a tour of the facility in which the team became acquainted with the physical environment, they had the opportunity to sit down and speak with staff and residents.
Approximately sixty people attended the POE Day presentation and were afforded a tour of the building, as well as a multidisciplinary review by the team and St. Mary's staff. The POE team discussed their observations in relation to the SAGE Design Principles based on OBRA (1987). One example of this was the issue of personal autonomy. Residents have the freedom and are encouraged to personalize their rooms. Some other talking points that came up were:
| St. Mary's efforts to allow staff to have a voice in which household they would like to work, and to maintain continuity of staffing in order to reinforce relationships between residents and staff. |
| Residents have access to safe and secure communal outdoor and indoor spaces. |
| St. Mary's was designed to create a supportive environment that is resident centered. It minimized resident disruption through the development of smaller households, decentralized dining on the households, the omission of overhead paging, and the use of carpeting that help to reduce noise. |
The presentation allowed registrants to hear candid discussions by the team, St. Mary's staff, as well as comments of the attendees themselves. In addition, David Soens of the Department of Health and Family Services shared information relative to general code issues in nursing homes on topics such as wireless call systems and soiled utility rooms, and Brian Schoeneck gave an overview of the state nursing homes and some financial incentives for remodeling projects.
2003 - Upland Hills, Dodgeville
(Evaluation of October 9, 2003 SAGE Day will be added here)
2002 - Brewster Village, Appleton
Brewster Village, which began operations on October 1, 2001 is a 204 bed free-standing, skilled nursing facility owned and operated by Outagamie County.
Planning for the project started in 1995 when Outagamie County began to consider alternatives because of needed, costly renovations to the old Health Center. The heating plant was outdated, roofs needed to be replaced, and the plumbing and electrical in the 1940’s section of the building were inadequate. Other options that were explored included privatization and expansion of services.
Once the decision was made to build a replacement facility, Outagamie County hired an owner’s consultant whose primary responsibilities were to assist with identifying program requirements and review design concepts. We were fortunate to have Gerald Weisman as our consultant. As the project developed, a research opportunity evolved. UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning was interested in examining how environments affect behavior and psychological functioning. They wanted to compare how resident behavior, staff satisfaction, and family perceptions were affected by different environments. Andrew Alden, then a graduate student at UW-Milwaukee, is currently preparing Phase 3 of that study.
2001 - Attic Angel, Middleton
On April 10, 2000, Attic Angel Place opened its doors to its new home on Madison's far west side. The goal of the project was to design a new community that would provide a continuum of care, offering independent living apartments, household style assisted living suites, and a skilled nursing facility. In its previous home, "The Towers" (located at North Segoe Road) Attic Angel was landlocked and unable to provide the mid-level of assisted care within its current structure.
Located on 15 acres, Attic Angel Place achieved its vision, now housing three levels of care within the 188,000 square foot building. The RCAC includes 74 apartments for independent living and 36 assisted living suites designed in a household model. The skilled nursing facility holds 44 beds for short-term recuperative care and long-term needs. Independent apartments are spread across four floors along two wings of the building. On the opposite wing, the skilled nursing facility resides on the first floor with two floors of assisted living households above.
1999 - St. Francis Home, Fond du Lac
On March 31, 1998, St. Francis Home opened the doors to its new facility located adjacent to the previous home. Using the "household" design concept in nursing home care, the new home generates a more home-like feeling for its residents. Eight single rooms are clustered around a central living room area in each household, an arrangement that encourages residents to come out and visit with other residents, friends, and family. Nursing staff gain from the concept as well. Stationed within the household, they become more familiar with the singular needs of their residents and, at the same time, enjoy the ease of working in a smaller area. The new St. Francis Home has 106 licensed beds. A 13 unit RCAC in the newly remodeled "old" nursing home and a 30 apartment independent living facility complete the continuum of care.
1998 - Evergreen Retirement Community, Oshkosh
Bringing Evergreen's Household/Neighborhood, Creekview, to the reality of construction and operation in June of 1997 took ten years of visioning, planning, revising, and hard work by many people working together.
The dream of Creekview began in 1987 following a formal evaluation of Evergreen's Health Center which identified a number of physical limitations in the current structure. These limitations were a barrier to providing residents with the best possible living arrangements and maintaining Evergreen's high standards of care - a hallmark of the organization since its inception.
With persistence, Evergreen developed an architectural design that satisfies all the criteria important to residents, family members, and primary care givers.
In November 1995, a change in the rules of the Wisconsin Stats Resource Allocation Program (RAP) became effective that allowed up to three innovative nursing home demonstration projects. Until the rule change was complete, Evergreen could not submit an application to build Creekview since the cost per bed would exceed the limits under the current rule.
The hope is that Evergreen's decade of making the dream come true will change and improve nursing home design throughout the United States and improve the quality of life for elderly people requiring 24 hour nursing care everywhere.
1997 - Marquardt Manor, Watertown
Marquardt Manor is a 140 bed skilled nursing facility. In 1997, it completed a $3.7 million renovation and facility addition. The project provided Marquardt with 100% private resident rooms, replacing its former 51 semi-private and 38 private rooms.