Honors and awards

Blog entry by Amy Ambrose, executive director, Milwaukee Aging Consortium.

I love a story about gut-intuition that turns out to be right. And I love a story about people investing in services for older people where they are needed most. Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI Awards) celebration, hosted by Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC-Milwaukee).

The Milwaukee Aging Consortium sponsored a nomination for Community Care under the category of Building Blocks Award: Large Project. Last year's winner was the Dr. Wesley L. Scott Senior Living Community, developed by our friends (and a sponsor of our April 4 housing conference ) the Gorman and Company and the Milwaukee Urban League.

Community Care, a Milwaukee Aging Consortium member, is a private non-profit organization that provides health, home and community services to low-income frail elderly and adults with disabilities. The organization's mission is to provide the support people need to stay in their homes and communities, where they can continue to enjoy the fellowship of friends and family and play a vital role in their community.

Here's where the intuition gone right part comes in. In order to better meet the needs in Milwaukee, Community Care recently invested $5 million dollars in a property on Vliet Street in the Walnut Hill neighborhood. They turned an old factory building into a state-of-the-art adult day health center that includes examination rooms, a dental clinic, rehabilitation facilities, day center space for social activities and hot meals, and a full-sized commercial kitchen.

The Vliet Street Adult Day Health Center and clinics now serves about 200 participants. Physicians and nurses; physical, occupational and recreational therapists; dietitians, dentists and other health care providers all are part of the caring team.

According to Kirby Shoaf, Community Care founder and president, this choice of location was not met with great enthusiasm at first. Crime in the area is high, and the economy is poor. Security and staff satisfaction were concerns. But Kirby and others reasoned that the organization needed to be centered where the need was greatest.

They reasoned correctly. Now, they have created a gem in the heart of the city that not only serves the basic needs of elders and their families, but also conveys respect for them and their neighborhood. The Community Care Vliet Street location is now a favored place for staff members to work.

Community Care -- and the community -- "won" in our books, though they did not receive a MANDI award.

But I am proud to say that the winner in the large project category was another Milwaukee Aging Consortium member and sponsor: Manpower. The global headquarters of Manpower, located along the Milwaukee River in the Schlitz Park area, is another example of great investment in our town.

Dozens more innovative companies were honored as a part of the program. If your agency or your company is doing great things for older people, especially by reinvesting in senior services in the city, we’d love to hear about it.

Send your comments to this blog or to cmclaughlin@milwagingconsortium.org.