As a nurse, occupational and massage therapist and gerontologist, Sister Edna Lonergan is a leading advocate promoting the benefits of intergenerational programs.
Through her vision and guidance, St. Ann Center became the first dementia-specific day care in Milwaukee and one of the first fully integrated intergenerational day cares in the United States—serving children, the frail elderly and adults with disabilities and their caregivers in one homelike setting. Since opening St. Ann Center’s Stein Campus on Milwaukee’s south side in 1999, she replicated the center at the Bucyrus Campus, opened in 2015, on the city’s near north side—one of the poorest and most underserved areas of Milwaukee.
Intergenerational care for all ages & abilities in Milwaukee
Serving clients from throughout Greater Milwaukee, St. Ann Center adds new life and purpose to the years of our adult day care clients by bringing them together with children enrolled in our childcare program and teen volunteers. Daily interactions with young people leave older adults feeling loved and needed. In turn, children receive valuable attention and mentoring. They learn to embrace difference instead of fearing it—counting older adults and people with disabilities among their friends.
