MONROE — Recent grant funding has helped the county facilitate a more innovative method of helping elderly people suffering from dementia, Green County Human Services Department Director Greg Holcomb said to the county board May 14. 

It had been discussed for years. How professionals could create a space for people with “severe behavioral issues” dealing with the onset of dementia without transporting them for temporary care and retention hours away from their home. 

Maria Johnson of the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Southwest Wisconsin worked in collaboration with Pleasant View Nursing Home administration and the human services department. She said Pleasant View’s willingness to take on the project was instrumental in gaining grant funding to renovate a wing of the building to accommodate dementia patients from Green, Lafayette, Iowa and Grant County.

“Most other nursing homes would run scared from this type of patient,” Johnson said. “It’s the first of its kind in the state.”

In total, the Crisis Innovation Award granted by the Wisconsin Department of Human Services will provide the county with slightly more than $271,000. Holcomb said plans include work to create room for six beds when addressing the county board, which accepted nearly $136,000 in grant funding on behalf of the human services department during its May meeting. 

Short-term care for these types of dementia patients is generally 14 days. Funding will also allow organizers to provide specialized training for care of patients. Those trained to care for dementia patients are generally not trained to handle an encounter with someone who has a sudden burst of violence, Johnson said. 

Holcomb said plans were finally tangible after the Wisconsin Department of Health Services approved grant funding over the next year and a half for a project in conjunction with Pleasant View.

The improvements would possibly prevent sending someone with dementia to Winnebago County for immediate treatment when a severe behavioral problem occurs. Johnson said the use of a specialized wing allows for professionals to take roughly two weeks to make assessments like adjusting medications and other considerations in a “safe and secure” facility. 

“We don’t have these types of services in our area,” she said. 

Holcomb said finding open beds closer to Green County can be difficult. There are two spots at Clearview Nursing & Rehabilitation in Dodge County. Southwest Health in Platteville can also handle some cases, but Holcomb said the beds are usually unavailable when needed.

He told supervisors that Winnebago County tends to be one of the first available options, and that “unfortunately” people get sent there.

“It’s not fair to those individuals,” Holcomb said. 

Johnson said grant funding needs to be spent on the project by the end of 2020. She noted that planning for program use will be done in conjunction with the renovations and that it will be implemented soon after work is complete.