This isn’t your grandma’s nursing home.
The nation’s first “dementia village” is coming to Wisconsin, a $40 million undertaking aimed at helping residents preserve community, connection and quality of life even as their illness progresses.
“Living at this campus will not feel like an institution — we are building individual households that look and feel just like a home,” Lynne Sexten, president and CEO of Agrace, the nonprofit healthcare agency behind the community, said in a press release.
The Madison-area development will feature eight household units, each with private bedrooms and shared kitchens and living rooms designed to feel warm and familiar rather than clinical.
Each home will host eight residents grouped by similar interests and life experiences, who will take part in daily activities and programming together.
Staff will live on-site as well.
Specially trained caretakers will have their own private studios, a setup Agrace hopes will attract professionals seeking hands-on, relationship-focused work while also helping to ease the staffing shortages that often plague the long-term care industry.
The campus will also boast a restaurant, spa, grocery store, shops, a movie theater and outdoor green spaces like parks and gardens, giving residents freedom to roam within a secure setting.
“The village will be thoughtfully designed to support those with dementia to keep them safe while providing them with access to a robust social network they can be excited about participating in,” Sexten said.
While a first in the US, the concept draws inspiration from the groundbreaking Hogeweyk model in the Netherlands.
Since its debut in 2009, the village-style approach has spread across Europe, Australia, China and Canada, transforming sterile wards into neighborhoods that treat autonomy and social connection as just as important as medical care.
Experts say the model has a tangible impact on patient well-being and outcomes.
“We see that people stay for a much longer period in a better physical, mental, social, spiritual condition,” Eloy van Hal, who founded the original Hogeweyk village in the Netherlands, told Madison’s Cap Times.
With dementia rates rising around the globe, the stakes have never been higher.
In the US, a half-million people receive a diagnosis each year, a number that is expected to reach 1 million annually by 2060 as the population ages.
The nation is already struggling to keep up with the heavy toll of dementia. Research shows that many of the more than 6 million Americans currently living with dementia lack consistent, high-quality, coordinated care, resulting in frequent hospitalizations and significant strain on family members.
“Study after study in the United States shows that quality of life from the moment of diagnosis through death is just a precipitous decline,” Sexten said.
The Wisconsin village is expected to house up to 65 full-time residents. It will also welcome roughly 40 to 50 Day Club members, adults with dementia who live at home but spend their days participating in activities alongside village residents.
Agrace hasn’t released pricing details for the community yet. Families will cover room and board, while medical costs may be billed to insurance.
“Residents will pay monthly rates comparable to what they would otherwise pay at assisted living facilities,” an Agrace spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
“Agrace also has an endowment to provide a sliding fee scale for individuals who might not be able to afford the full amount.”
The palliative care and hospice provider plans to break ground this spring on its Fitchburg campus near Madison, with the village slated to open in September 2027.
