Menomonee Falls Collective Impact

Exposure to reading at a young age is crucial for long-term success in school and beyond.

With the growing number of young children in Menomonee Falls, the Early Literacy Team seeks to provide families with resources to support literacy and language development. With the support of a Community Outreach Grant from Froedtert Menomonee Falls, the team has assembled 150 “Brain Bags” that contains a guide to support babies’ brain development, a children’s book, educational and information resources of local partner organizations. The Froedtert Town Hall Clinic will distribute Brain Bags to families at their infant’s three-month check-up appointment. Surveys are in place to help gain feedback from families receiving the bags.

MISSION: Improve the mental health of the Menomonee Falls community

VISION: Mental health is the foundation for the well-being of the collective community.

Core Values:

• Inclusive
• Supportive
• Connected
• Compassionate

The mental health initiative brings together local service providers and community organizations to reduce mental health stigma and improve early interventions for people living with mental health conditions. The mental health team includes a coalition of educators, healthcare providers, and residents who are addressing barriers and areas of influence for supporting mental health in the Village.

The School District of Menomonee Falls received a Mental Health Grant and has opened clinics staffed by outside providers in the high school, middle school and two 3rd-5th grade elementary schools. In addition, all schools are increasing mental health training initiatives.

The full mental health team continues to communicate and look at existing systems to help improve ways to address mental health needs that are becoming more prevalent. To increase awareness and reduce stigma for mental health conditions across the community, the team promoted Mental Health Month in May by sharing green ribbons, informational fliers, and posters from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

The data shows our senior (80+) population growing. The intent of this work group is foster an all inclusive community where those with dementia will be enabled to live as independently as possible and continue to be engaged in community life.

What is a Dementia-Friendly Community?

• Recognizes dementia
• Promotes early detection
• Creates dementia-friendly environments
• Holds the capacity for a crisis response system
• Trains businesses to be dementia -friendly
• Provides services and support to have individuals with dementia have the highest quality of life

There are several ways the initiative has made Menomonee Falls more dementia friendly in 2019:

1. Obtained Village Board support (a resolution was adopted in February supporting the Dementia Friendly Communities designation)

2. Developed and distributed dementia awareness brochures

3. Partnered with the Waukesha County Aging and Disability Resource Center to offer dementia training sessions for first responders, healthcare workers, local businesses, and other stakeholders.

What’s next – the Purple Tube Project. The Purple Tube Project will ensure that people living on their own with dementia receive the best care possible from first responders. Purple tubes will contain useful information including medical history, instructions on how to interact with the dementia patient, powers of attorney, and a photo if that person is known to wander. The tubes will be placed in freezers and signs will be posted so emergency crews can easily identify homes with dementia patients. The roll out of the Purple Tube Project is expected to begin in late 2019.

Go to the Village website to learn more about Dementia-Friendly Menomonee Falls.

Join the Facebook Group: Dementia-Friendly Menomonee Falls