The staffing crisis in the state's nursing home facilities is well-documented and often criticized. The cuts, Van Straten said, are the unfortunate cost of doing business. But for Zwicker and Van Straten, the nursing home business is not just business - it is their mission. Our cause is to bring meaning to their lives. Lakewood was the first nursing home in Wisconsin to embrace the Eden Alternative - a program which seeks to make the nursing home experience a more humane one.
Dogs walk the halls on leashes with smiling residents using walkers or wheelchairs in tow.
Children from local schools and scout troops visit residents and provide entertainment programs. There are community gatherings to combat loneliness, helplessness and boredom. People in other states want us to come there and transform their facilities the way we've done at Lakewood. When Brown County recently voted themselves a tax to give the Green Bay Packers a chance to win, Tom Moore shook his head on behalf of the elderly in the state of Wisconsin. It's not that Moore isn't a Packer fan, but as executive director of the Wisconsin Health Care Association, he is outraged by the lack of support for those too frail to help themselves.