Inspired by the Netherlands, an alternative approach to memory care aims to invest $40 million toward opening a fake town in Wisconsin.
With aims to fill a growing need for palliative care in the Badger State, the nonprofit organization Agrace announced it would be breaking ground on its next project in Spring 2026. Seeking to have the facility up and running by September 2027, the new dementia village will cater to the increasing number of Wisconsinites suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.
“There’s going to be such a gap, such a need for additional memory care beds in our community that it was a slam dunk. It made sense to move forward with this,” Agrace CEO Lynee Sexton told WMTV 15 News of the project coming to Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
First ‘dementia village’ in US coming to Fitchburg
MORE: https://t.co/JGmBxfAkDn pic.twitter.com/OgSSK1NZXW— WMTV 15 News (@wmtv15news) February 10, 2026
Based on the Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands, the small community allows for autonomy as residents can interact with one another while many of the obstacles of their ailment are removed. This includes things like visiting the grocery store in the village and shopping as normal, wherein the only change is eliminating the need to pay at the register after items are rung up.
“Families aren’t happy, the people living in these memory care units aren’t always happy, and so really what we wanted to do was try to find a better solution. And this solution has been created in lots of other countries, just not the U.S.,” she expressed. “We want to create an environment where we restore as much autonomy and personal spontaneity as possible for those living with dementia.”
Currently, about 11% of Wisconsinites over 65-years-old have Alzheimer’s disease, and data from the state’s Department of Health Services details that there were around 135,000 residents with dementia as of 2025. That number is expected to grow to roughly 162,000 by 2030 and to about 213,000 by 2040.
Speaking with WMTV, Fitchburg Alder Logan Reigstad recalled, “My great grandma lived with me while she was suffering from dementia, and watching someone go through that is absolutely heart-wrenching.”
“I don’t often have words to describe it. But then there would be these glimmers, these little moments when she would come back. And it would be a memory of a song, or it would be something that would trigger that,” he added. “As I look at the dementia village concept, where it’s really trying to evoke that, I just think of how many more moments it could provide for families like mine and all of those suffering from dementia.”
While the costs have yet to be announced, Agrace explains that room and board will be paid out of pocket, whereas medical expenses will go through insurance for the facility expected to house up to 65 residents. As many as 40 to 50 visitors are expected to be permitted daily as club members.
Additionally, a spokesperson for Agrace told the Daily Mail there is “an endowment to provide a sliding fee scale for individuals who might not be able to afford the full amount.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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