Amsterdam House, Home to Hundreds of Elders in our Community

Located in the heart of Morningside Village at 1040 Amsterdam Avenue, is Amsterdam House, where culture change is happening. Traditionally, people who enter nursing homes don’t have many chances to decide on what they will do and when. In an in­ter­view with Bar­bara Bell, Re­creat­ion Di­rect­or, we learned that the Home has be­gun a­dop­ting re­si­dent-cent­ered care po­li­cies.

For example, now residents are asked about their preferred routines and contribute to creating their own care plans. And, as of July, they can receive visits 24 hours a day. In time, more changes will come. The ultimate aim of this transformation process is to improve the all around health of residents.

Currently, there is a call for vo­lun­teers. Some of the re­si­dents’ fa­mi­lies and/or friends live far a­way or are unable to make frequent visits to their loved one, and some residents have even outlived their families and friends. So there is a strong need there for friendly visits from people who can reach out to residents, many of whom are unable to go outside un­ac­com­pa­nied. Ms. Bell be­lieves that be­cause Morn­ing­side Vil­la­gers live in close proximity to the nursing home, our contributions can be highly enriching to residents.

The enrichment goes both ways, says John H, resident of 111^th Street. “When I recently went walking about the Cathedral garden with Arthur, an Amsterdam House resident with an interesting past, I thoroughly enjoyed a work-break meandering among the birds and bees, the lilies and the fruit trees.”