You can watch the extended
interviews with Doctor Osterholm,
as well as Senator Baldwin and
Representative Style on our website.
In other health news, nearly 7
million people in the U.S.
are living with dementia.
And experts say that number will
double by the year 2060.
In Wisconsin, 130,000
people have Alzheimer's, making
up half of all nursing home
residents.
As this population continues
to grow, so does the strain
on caregivers.
One group is looking to an
alternative care model, creating
a dementia village in
Sheboygan.
A local nonprofit says this
will be the first of its kind
in the United States.
Modeled after a world renowned
village in the Netherlands.
The 79 acre plot will
contain On-Site care workers
more than 100 homes and
have amenities like a grocery
store, restaurant and theater.
For more, we turn to Dementia
Innovations co-founder and
board president Mary Pitch and
Mary. Thanks very much for being
here.
Thank you for inviting me.
So describe for us what makes
this planned village, which you
were calling Le Vasa,
different from a nursing home.
It's different on so many levels.
I think one of the things to think
about is nursing homes
were really designed for people
with frail that are frail elderly
people, not for those with
dementia.
Our village lives who is designed
specifically for the unique needs
of the person with dementia.
And tell me what Lavasa means.
So lavasa is really a new word.
This is a new concept of care and
support.
And we brought words together.
Living as usual,
living as usual, as one of the core
care concepts of the village.
And it really just means that living
is usual, allowing the person
with dementia to open their front
door and walk outside.
Living in a home that they own.
An environment that is designed to
meet their needs again, just living
as usual.
Why is that better for residents?
I mean, it seems obvious, but what
have you learned?
You know, I think as we age,
there's a feeling often times that
safety at all cost, right?
That safety at all costs.
And what is that cost?
All of us take risk every day.
We drove.
We walked across the street.
But as we age, and especially as
we age with dementia,
we kind of lose the person
besides their dementia, and
allowing them to be able to
live in an environment that has
positive risk acceptance.
We know there's going to be some
risk. We know they can live as
usual. Allows them to not
lose their personhood,
not become only defined
by their dementia, but really about
still being a person even as they
age with dementia.
What what sparked this idea?
So there's a bit of a story to that.
I'll make it as short as I can, but
there was a group of us that got
together to work on
our way that we responded
to dementia crisis in our community,
and we weren't doing a great job
about that.
So if somebody with dementia was
having some behaviors, we would
send law enforcement.
They're not criminals.
So we changed the way we respond.
And now we have EMS respond.
We've trained over 4000 caregivers
and professionals
and de-escalation in place.
But we knew we could do better.
We knew that was still a Band-Aid
approach.
And we said, how do we do better is
by starting to look at the beginning
and that's their environment.
How do we never have to get to that
response in the first place?
So we created and designed this
environment.
How costly will it be
for people to live there?
So we are a nonprofit, and we
made that decision to be a nonprofit
so that we could really support
all income levels to be able to
live at La Vista.
We are looking at fees
to be able to be right in line with
traditional care settings, but they
get so much more.
And then we'll also have levels
of care and support, which is
different than traditional levels of
care, generally speaking, who are
kind of A11 fee
no matter if you need it or not.
And we're going to be able to give
them choices.
In addition, we do plan to have an
endowment that will continue to
support those who are not able to
afford it.
So this is the first of its kind
in the United States.
Is it your expectation that this
will be a model for other
places.
We sure hope so.
Somebody has to be first.
We often get asked why aren't others
doing it? And I really believe the
answer is because it's a lot of
work.
Every decision we are making is a
new decision, but somebody
has to be first, and then we can
help make sure that that model, this
movement of care and
support, a change in how we look
at dementia, will move throughout
the country.
Nice. Mary, thanks very much.
Thank you.
For more on this and other issues
facing Wisconsin, visit our website
at PBS wisconsin.org/news.
And you can watch short
about our reporting on the PBS
Wisconsin YouTube and Facebook
pages.
That's our program for tonight.
I'm Frederica Freiberg.
Have a good weekend.