Recent statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association estimate 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2025. Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. As the size of the older U.S. population continues to grow, so too will the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s is projected to be 12.7 million (alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures).
The number of dementia or memory care-based facilities in Dane County providing specialized care is increasing rapidly to meet the growing demand. Like everyone who ages, individuals with dementia want to be in an environment where they can continue to live as usual, with dignity and surrounded by the support they need.
The next generation of older adults are looking for a better, more humanistic way of caring for those with dementia and their partners. The Hogeweyk, in the Netherlands, opened the first gated model village in 2009 for elderly people with dementia. This complex has a town square, supermarket, hairdressing salon, theatre, pub, café-restaurant, as well as the 23 houses themselves. Each house reflects a style that is common to, and familiar for, the 6–7 people who live in that house.
In 2026 Dementia Innovations in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, plans to open the first of its kind “Dementia Village” in the U.S, named Livasu. Individuals diagnosed with dementia will be able to own homes, live alone or with loved ones, and continue typical routines from their homes as their disease progresses. The village will have 124 manufactured homes, a range of community amenities, and around-the-clock care and support. Rather than a fence surrounding the village, landscaping will direct people from their home toward the community’s “downtown.” We hope this is the first of many.
