WAI Milwaukee Services
Using our motto “meet the people where they are,” we foster partnerships to deliver culturally appropriate education, training and outreach programs to providers, those living with dementia, and family caregivers. Annually the WAI Regional Milwaukee Office reaches over 30,000 individuals and households through our programs and activities. Our efforts focus on dementia-related early detection/risk reduction, treatment, psycho-social management, and caregiver interventions. Professional training offers state-of-the-art education around best practices to provide culturally-sensitive care to patients and effectively address community and family needs.
Building advocacy
At the inception of the WAI Regional Milwaukee Office in 2008, the Community Advisory Board (CAB) was formed to be a voice to, and from, the community. Today, this Board is one of the longest-running boards of its kind in the country, and serves as counsel to the University of Wisconsin and WAI Regional Milwaukee Office team on outreach, research retention/recruitment strategies, and advises on barriers to research participation.
The CAB’s mission is to provide a voice for the community, counsel on outreach and recruitment strategies that are culturally sensitive, identify and address barriers to research participation, and become a conduit for supporting community-based participatory research.
Example of the Milwaukee CAB Activities
- Provides meaningful insight and support to UW investigators on research projects; resulting in funding for those projects provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Recognized by the UW and Aurora researchers for its expertise and recommendations on innovative research proposals for the African American community
- Guidance was instrumental in UW ADRC hiring an African American scientist researching Alzheimer’s disease
About WAI Milwaukee services
Join in
Community workshops, resource fairs, chorus concerts, and much more
Supporting access to comprehensive care
By reducing barriers that impede access to information and services, the WAI Regional Milwaukee Office has connected families to health care services through more than 500 in-home care visits and 500 memory and health screenings –resulting in at least 175 individuals obtaining an accurate memory diagnosis.
More than 200 families have been connected to social services, ultimately allowing people living with dementia to remain at home–safer, longer. Our lifestyle intervention program focuses on community members at risk for dementia. Our signature program, the Amazing Grace Chorus®, improves the quality of life of its participants and caregivers through socialization and music while integrating the pillars of education and service.
In-Home Memory Assessment
Community-Based Dementia Screening and Cognitive Testing
Personalized Care and Treatment Planning
Dementia Care Service and Resource Connectors
Milwaukee Health Services Diagnostic Memory Clinic
Community-Based Dementia Care and Programming
We partner with several local clinics that serve as memory clinics including:
Senior Memory Assessment Center-St. Anne’s
Milwaukee
Center for Senior Health and Longevity
Aurora Sinai Medical Center, Milwaukee
Geriatrics Memory Disorders Clinic – Froedtert & MCW
Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee
Latino Geriatric Center Memory Clinic
Milwaukee
Memory Disorders Clinic at Froedtert & MCW
Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, Milwaukee
Milwaukee Health Services
MLK Heritage Health Center, Milwaukee
Research – WRAP Milwaukee
Today, there is no known cure and there are no survivors of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. It is the 6th leading cause of death in adults and affects all demographic groups regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. But despite the extent of illness in all community sectors, communities of color are at 1.4 to 2 times greater risk of developing the disease and are generally under-represented in research and in the groups involved in receiving services for dementia.
Recognizing the emerging public health crisis this poses for the African American community, the WAI Regional Milwaukee Office is advancing dementia and health disparities research by actively engaging under-represented populations in more scientific studies. Today more 1,500 participants are enrolled in the WAI’s Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP), the world’s largest study of its kind. Retention of research participants in WRAP is vital to unlocking the answers of why communities of color are at a higher risk of developing the disease, thus this remains a high priority for our program.
