Pauline McAnallen, a resident of Chicora Medical Center, plays with Parker, the facility's pet dog, on March 17. To help promote more of a neighborhood-minded way of living, Chicora Medical is home to Parker and three pet birds. The facility also works to get residents and their families involved in decisions, such as how to remodel courtyards.

CHICORA — Chicora Medical Center is committed to providing its patients and residents with not just medical care, but a home away from home.

Welcome to Mr. Tack's neighborhood, where units are not known as "assisted living" or "rehabilitation," but called "Miller's Crossing" and "Vista Royale."

Matt Tack is a third-generation administrator of the center, one of eight facilities owned and run by the Tack family in Western Pennsylvania. The family bought Chicora Medical Center in 1996 and has since added a pharmacy and a new medical building.

"Most of the changes have been cosmetic," Tack said. "But we've broken the huge building into neighborhoods. We'd like to see more community events mixing those neighborhoods."

Strolling the halls in khakis and a button-up shirt in lieu of laced-up tennis shoes and a sweater, a neighborly Tack greets residents by name, asks how they are doing, and gets hugs and kisses on the cheek along the way.

"These are people. You can't just treat them like a bunch of diagnoses," he said.

"The quality of care is great and the staffing is as good as it's been in years. Most of our staff are very experienced, as well. Some of them have been here for 20 or 30 years."

Tack shuddered at the standard for medical care when his grandparents bought the family's first location, Sugarcreek Rest Home in Armstrong County.

"You look 35 or 40 years ago, chamber pots under the chairs served as bathrooms for nursing home residents, and physical restraint was common. It seems just barbaric now," he said.The medical center provides a multitude of services in its four-building facility, including short- and long-term rehabilitation, independent living, personal care assisted living, outpatient services and a pharmacy.Therapy types include physical, speech, occupational and respiratory."It's quite the snapshot of everything," Tack said.The medical center is a continued care retirement community licensed for 114 residents and has about 97 now. At any given time, up to 50 of the facility's 122 staff members are on duty.The facility has the atmosphere of a college dormitory, with all of the posters and event flyers posted, but with wheelchairs streaking down the halls instead of skateboards."It's kind of similar. I guess you could compare my job to a cruise director," Tack joked.Like a small cruise ship, the facility has a chapel, an activity bulletin board filled with events from bingo to kickball, and even a car-themed, 1950s soda shop."We want to improve our relationship in doing things with the residents, not just for them," Tack said."For example, we'd like to revamp our courtyard area. But, instead of just saying, 'Oh, let's throw in six spruce trees,' we're forming a committee and we'll leave the decisions to the residents and families,"The facility's Memory Lane, a unit for patients with dementia or Alzheimer's, is another area where Tack would like to see continued improvement."The staff is specially trained and selected to work in here," Tack said. "They're extremely patient and excellent role players."

He said the staff considers interaction with those patients just as important as any other, but music- and food-related activities often take the place of hard-to-follow games or the Nintendo Wii video games enjoyed by other residents."The idea of a culture change is to make the home more of a home," said Tera Warnock, advertising coordinator for Quality Life Services, which oversees the facility.To that end, Chicora Medical Center is home to a Shetland Sheepdog mix named Parker and three birds, the liveliest of which is a parrot named Russell."Parker gets a lot of treats. We had to put him on a diet or he'd be 500 pounds," Tack said.Additionally, even aesthetics can make a difference.Tack said the facility is switching to medical carts that look like wooden dressers and aren't so "institutional."The changes are being implemented not just at Chicora Medical Center, but at the Tack family's other facilities, including Fairwinds Manor in Sligo, two facilities in Mercer County, two in Fayette County and one in Venango County."There are different specialties in each, and some are farther along in their culture change," Warnock said.

Connie Bishop, a resident of Chicora Medical Center, has a word with Russell, the center's pet parrot, on March 17.

Matt Tack, administrator of Chicora Medical Center, goes for a walk with Oscar Moore on March 17 at the center, which is one of eight facilities run by the Tack family.