The job of making it work fell to Lois Greising, the
directorofnursing.Shewasinhersixtiesandhadbeen
workinginnursinghomesforyears.Thechancetotrya
newwayofimprovingthelivesoftheelderlywasdeeply
appealingtoher.Shetoldmethatitfeltlike“thisgreat
experiment,” and she decided that her task was to
navigate between Thomas’s sometimes oblivious
optimism and the fears and inertia of the staff members.
Thistaskwasnotsmall.Everyplacehasadeep-seated
cultureas tohowthingsaredone. “Cultureisthesum
totalofsharedhabitsandexpectations,”Thomastoldme.
As he saw it, habits and expectations had made
institutional routines and safety greater priorities than
livinga goodlifeandhad preventedthenursinghome
fromsuccessfullybringinginevenonedogtolivewith
the residents. He wanted to bring in enough animals,
plants,andchildrentomakethemaregularpartofevery
nursing home resident’s life. Inevitably the settled
routinesofthestaffwouldbedisrupted,butthenwasn’t
that part of the aim?
“Culture hastremendousinertia,”he said.“That’swhy
it’s culture.It works becauseitlasts. Culturestrangles
innovation in the crib.”
To combat the inertia, he decided theyshould go up
against the resistance directly—“hit it hard,” Thomas
said.HecalledittheBigBang.Theywouldn’t bringa
dog or a cat ora bird and waitto see howeveryone
responded.They’dbringalltheanimalsinmoreorlessat
once.