St. Anne Center: Receives grant for north side family respite

Contact: Sharon Selz, September 28, 2016
(414) 977-5064; sselz@stanncenter.org

The Joan and Melita Pick Charitable Trust has designated a grant for $750,000 to go to St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care. The grant will fund the completion of a new overnight respite care wing at the Center’s Bucyrus Campus which opened in September 2015 at 2450 W. North Avenue.

The grant will meet a critical need for respite care in Milwaukee’s near north side community, said Sr. Edna Lonergan, president of St. Ann Center, for whom the new respite center will be named. “People who are caring for an elderly parent or an adult with disabilities at home have so many demands on their time—between their jobs and other family obligations. Our respite center will provide a safe, comfortable, welcoming place where their loved ones can stay for a night, a weekend or up to 21 days.”

The 10,000-square-foot respite center will include nine individual bedrooms, a bathing area with accessible tubs, a great room, laundry room and kitchen. Also in the plan is a gathering room to be used for client entertainment. The center will accommodate the frail elderly, people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and adults of all ages with severe physical or developmental disabilities.

St. Ann Center, which has drawn international attention for its model, provides child and adult day care—and a host of other services for families—under one roof. The Bucyrus Campus replicates the services provided for 17 years at the center’s Stein Campus on Milwaukee’s south side.

About $3 million remains in the capital campaign to complete the $21 million St. Ann Center Bucyrus Campus. That amount will cover construction of a state-of-the-art Alzheimer’s and dementia unit, two childcare classrooms, an indoor pool, 350-seat band shell and a safe, lighted walkway.