A Nursing Home Alternative in Wisconsin

Helen's House is an innovative approach to delivering long-term care that is designed to restore dignity, hope and meaning to Seniors who would otherwise be placed in traditional long-term care facilities and nursing homes.

The living environment at Helen's House is a beautiful, custom built four-bedroom home in an actual neighborhood that is staffed 24/7 by a team of caregivers and nurses, providing a true nursing home alternative for the residents of the Fox Cities. 

Helen's House provides an environment complete with home cooked meals, deep friendships and a family atmosphere. Helen’s House creates an environment where our beautiful Seniors including those with irreversible dementia or Alzheimer's can live a full life regardless of their health conditions. Our residents thrive in homes and neighborhoods where they are not defined by their medical condition, but rather by who they are as individuals. Helen's House encourages our residents’ autonomy, respects their need for physical and emotional privacy, and takes their preferences, choices and status as an adult into consideration when providing care, supervision and activities.

Helen's House was established in 2013 by Helen's family. Helen, a lifelong resident of Appleton, Wisconsin, lived a fiercely independent life, living alone in her home for 24 years following the passing of her husband. Helen drove her car, went out to eat with her lifelong friends and even tended to her beloved hostas.

In May, 2012, Helen suffered a mild heart attack.  After an angioplasty procedure, Helen returned home with in-home care arranged a few hours each day to help her with her daily activities. On two separate occasions while alone in her home, Helen fell, necessitating trips to the local ER. It wasn't until after the second fall, that Helen agreed to go to a local nursing home for rehabilitative care with a planned transition into long term care. Just five months after her heart attack and only three months after moving into a local nursing home, Helen passed away on October 6, 2012 at the age of 90.

Helen's youngest son, Christopher, was living in Appleton and had never experienced a nursing home before.  Everything -- from the smells, sounds and institutional feel  -- was previously unknown to Christopher.  Christopher was also surprised to see how a previously independent person quickly lost her sense of individuality and was "molded" by her institutional surroundings.  While this facility was arguably one of the best in the Fox Cities and the staff did everything they possibly could given their staffing levels, there were times when it took a significant amount of time for assistance to come when Helen pressed her call button.

After Helen passed away, Christopher had a chance to step back and analyze the last months of his mother's life.  Christopher knew there had to be a better way -- a more dignified and home-like way, with higher levels of care -- to treat the beloved Seniors in our community. Christopher contacted his nephew who works for Brookside Homes of America (Brookside) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Christopher knew that Brookside had developed an innovative alternative to nursing home care in the Pennsylvania market and was successful in establishing these homes -- over 75 of them in operation or under development -- in their local market over the past 10 years and is currently licensing this alternative to long term care to other organizations. After touring several of these homes in the Erie area and meeting the management team of Brookside, Christopher quickly discovered that Brookside was not only an innovator of the alternative nursing home model, but also an expert in reproducing it into new markets. Christopher and Brookside joined forces to bring this proven model of a nursing home alternative to the residents of the Fox Cities.

The first Helen's House is located at 5211 W. Century Farm Boulevard, Appleton, WI 54913.