Dementia-Capable Wisconsin

I listened in on a Wisconsin Department of Health Services, or DHS, webinar recently on Dementia-Capable Wisconsin. Sessions were held around the state, and if you couldn’t attend in person, you could listen online, which is what I chose. (https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/dementia/index.htm)

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be an overview of where we are at as a state when it comes to dementia. Some of it I was familiar with, having attended some conferences this year and done some research.

Some key topics addressed were the Music & Memory program (which is fascinating and deserves its own blog post at some point, and which we’d love to do at Hilltop); dementia-friendly communities; dementia training opportunities; and the dementia-friendly employers’ toolkit.

The neat thing about most of these programs is how they are growing organically, from the ground up, not the top down.

Wisconsin was the first state in the country to take on Music & Memory program, and it took off like wildfire. DHS intended to introduce it to nursing homes, and what they found was many more wanting to add it, writing their own grants to get funding and finding creative ways to start the program. Music & Memory creates individual playlists for residents and provides that music on an iPod with headphones. Residents can listen to the music they grew up with and remember, to help put them at ease and to make them feel better. The results can be amazing. (Watch “Alive Inside,” a documentary about how Music & Memory came to be and the lives it has transformed. http://www.aliveinside.us/)

Dementia-friendly communities are springing up across the state. DHS has encouraged communities to take the program and make it their own rather than having it be a government program dictated to communities. There are different takes on it in different places. A toolkit helps provide specific information to specific businesses, for example restaurants or stores.

The employers’ toolkit was put together because most caregivers are still in the workforce. DHS wanted a way to reach them, and it made sense to get to them through work. The toolkit provides resources and helps business owners understand what their workers might be going through as caregivers and how to help them.

After working in a memory care facility and co-facilitating the Alzheimer’s caregiver support group, it’s good to see so much happening in our state to address dementia. It’s good to know there are more resources out there.