Milwaukee VA community home celebrates a decade, and age-friendly recognition

Initially referred to as the “green house” because of its design, the building was used as a model for a VA initiative to provide safe, supportive nursing homes for eligible Veterans.

“Ten years ago, we had the joy of celebrating the opening of the first home,” said Rebekah Picard, assistant nurse manager during the anniversary celebration. 

Ten years – and two additional homes later – the homes transitioned from the Green House concept to a Community Living Center (CLC) which provides a stable environment for Veterans to receive the care and assistance they require including assisted and skilled nursing-level care.

“We really try very hard to offer that home feel – a home-away-from-home – and we prepare meals family style and try to make that best close-to-home environment,” Picard said.

One of the OG

U.S. Army Veteran Tom Cary was the first Veteran to move into the new facility on Nov. 20, 2014, with eight other residents.

“It was built to be environmentally friendly with wide windows so a lot of sunlight could come in, (and) patios, gardens,, …, ,stuff like that. That’s where the name green house came from,” Cary said. “It was a big deal.

“They used my room as the showcase room. It’s in a really good location on the far west side of the building, and I had a number of people coming through there on tours.” 

Cary expressed the appreciation he felt about his living situation. 

“I walk 10 miles a day, 5 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon, and the staff have been very good,” he said. “They realize that for people like me it’s very important that we get walking in every day. They are very good about encouraging independence.

“I’m a strong advocate for the staff,” he said. “We are very blessed, and I will always use the expression, ‘We are treated like kings here’. My experience at the VA is people generally love to serve the Veterans.”

Cary said that’s important to him as a Vietnam Veteran.

“We were the only generation of war Veterans who were disrespected,” he said. “So, for a person like me, it’s like getting the respect that we should have got when we first came back from Vietnam.”

The CLC mission is to provide the care Veterans need to operate at their highest level of well-being, prevent declines in health and provide comfort at the end of life.

The 10-year celebration was not just a nod to the past but a commitment to the future of every Veteran who served honorably.

Icing on the cake

The celebration came at the same time as recognition from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an Age-Friendly Health System.

Milwaukee VA’s Community Living Centers earned Committed to Care Excellence, Level 2 recognition. 

Age-Friendly Health System is an initiative to deliver safe, reliable, high-quality health care in every setting based on what matters most to Veterans. 

The initiative promotes four evidence-based elements of high-quality care known as the four M’s: What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility.

“When you impact one of those M’s for any resident, what you end up doing is impacting all of those four M’s,” said Kate Matz, CLC coordinator. “The ‘What Matters’ is really the guiding principle for the four M’s, but when we make improvements toward mobility, we’re also going to improve mentation, and we’re also opening up the door toward decreasing medications.”

One step the CLC took to improve the quality of care for Veterans is implementing dementia-friendly name badges for staff. The laminated name badges include the caregiver’s first name in black on a yellow placard.

“We have Veterans in the CLC with all sorts of cognitive, hearing and visual impairments, and the name badge really helps bridge the gap and address those needs,” Matz said.

She added that the name badges help reduce the chance of Veterans feeling bad about not remembering staff names, and not using phrases such as ‘Hey you’ or ‘Hey honey’ to get the caregiver’s attention.

Building trust

“Relationship building, really hits on the ‘what matters,’ too,” Matz said. “At the end of the day, we need to partner with our residents and make sure that we’re on the same team and making that relationship stronger. 

“Building those trust foundations is really going to help us in the end be more successful with our outcomes and satisfaction.”

Kayla Atlija, a clinical nurse specialist, partnered with Matz in 2022 to help spread the age-friendly framework within the CLC, and in turn, they have both seen it spread throughout the Milwaukee VA in acute care, home-based primary care and some outpatient clinics. 

She emphasized the importance of having trusted relationships with the Veterans.

“I think overall the ‘what matters’ really promotes making sure the Veteran is part of that conversation of the treatment plan,” Atlija said. “So, if the way the Veteran is being treated right now is not aligning with what matters to the individual, we have to adapt our treatment plan. 

“We have to make sure the whole care team is on board to make sure that everything is aligning with what they want. It's very Veteran- specific and a whole health approach.”

For more information on Age-Friendly Health Systems in VA, visit www.va.gov/geriatrics/pages/VA_Age_Friendly_Health_Systems_Initiative.asp.