‘Dementia Village’ in Wisconsin to House Patients in ‘Main Street USA’ Setting

For the millions of people living with dementia, quality of life is often significantly reduced. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Agrace Hospice is planning a new village to be built in Madison, WI, that will house dementia patients on “Main Street USA”.

“We will restore a sense of independence and mobility, as well as a return to the normal daily rhythm that a person had before the diagnosis of dementia,” it said. Lynne SextenCEO of Agrace Hospice.

“He might say, ‘I was supposed to go to my mahjong club today but I don’t want to go, I want to sit and read a book or sleep’,” he said. “And they can do that. Or they can walk on their own and not be followed by an employee.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with the disease, about 1 in 9 people. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 13 million.

Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia can cause severe memory loss and other behavioral changes and disabilities.

A loved one’s diagnosis of dementia may mean that person must move to a memory care facility that offers “an institutional lifestyle where residents have very little spontaneity or contact with normal life.”

“As your disease progresses, people want to keep you safe, so they start limiting your world,” Sexten said.

The $40 million Agrace Dementia Village, to be built on the hospital’s 6-acre campus, will provide a real village, where patients can walk through narrow streets lined with shops, hang out in parks with friends or family, and generally feel like they’re living a normal life.

There will be eight single-level houses, each housing eight residents, with a kitchen, living and dining area, separate bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, and a front porch.

“It will look like any typical farmhouse anywhere in the US,” Sexten said. “People will cook and clean and live a normal life like they used to.”

The main difference is that these homes are safe for debilitated patients and come with a full-time caregiver. Residents will also be screened for interests and lifestyle, so housemates have the best chance of living in harmony.

Additionally, the village will host 40 to 50 “day club” members who do not live on site but come daily for indoor and outdoor recreation and amenities, all in a dementia-friendly, safe environment.

Another thing that has been planned for this town are staff houses so that university students can be trained to do health work.

Sexten hopes that this will not only attract more people to the long-term care field, but also give young people ample opportunity to interact with those with dementia, which will benefit both groups.

Inspiration: The Netherlands

Agrace Village is based on the Hogeweyk Dementia Village, which is just outside of Amsterdam.

“The Hogeweyk model maintains a high quality of life for a long time,” Sexten said. “And finally, when a person dies, it comes quickly, rather than this long, painful way of dying for many months.”

This style of dementia care—gaining popularity in Europe, Australia, China, and Canada—has been slow to catch on in the US It may not be a coincidence that the US is the only place with a for-profit medical care system.

“I wonder why [Agrace] “It’s able to make this leap forward because we’re not for-profit,” Sexten said.[The village] We should be financially strong, but we won’t have a lot of investors looking for a significant return on their investment. A fair number of top institutions across the country are not for profit, but their focus is on investors. “

However, he says the cost to village residents will be the same as traditional memory care facilities.

And in Wisconsin, another development led by a nonprofit, Dementia Innovations in Sheboygan County, is building a similar dementia care village called Livasu, also based in Hogeweyk.

The township will offer 124 manufactured homes for sale in the $95,000 to $175,000 range, all with dementia-friendly design such as single-level living and bedrooms with a direct line of sight to the bathroom, helping to prevent incontinence.

Instead of a fence, special landscaping will prevent wandering, and there will be maintenance workers living on site.

Entering the village

Those interested in Agrace Dementia Village, which opens in the fall of 2027, can sign up now to be notified when the waiting list opens.

“I think we’re going to have a big waiting list,” Sexten said. “All memory care centers have waiting lists, and I don’t think ours will be any different. There’s been a lot of excitement about the concept.”

He says it’s “about time” rural dementia care started in the US

“This is a method whose time has come,” he said. “People with dementia are your neighbors—they’re just normal people who need to live in a slightly different environment.”

“We’re trying something that’s never been done before, and we’re excited to see the positive impact it will have on those living with dementia.”