**Ruth Von Behren Award

Diana Brown, N.E.W. Curative, Green Bay, Wisconsin

This award is named for Ruth Von Behren, a former NADSA Chair, internationally renowned for her pioneering work in California and throughout the country. The award was created in 1992 to recognize the personal achievements and commitment of individuals in the field of Adult Day Services who have had a national impact on Adult Day Services. It is given to an outstanding volunteer or employee of an organization that directly supports and/or operates an Adult Day Services program.

Diana Brown (left) with a N.E.W. Curative Client __________________

Diana Brown is and has been a wonderful advocate for Adult Day Services, both on the local and national levels, for the past 25 years.

Diana has always been a leader in providing quality adult day services and was instrumental in 1996 in revising the State of Wisconsin's Certification Standards for Adult Day Services. She worked hand in hand with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services to develop these standards of quality as a guideline for other centers and to pave the way for possible funding sources in the future.

I personally met Diana in 1997 when she was President of WADSA. At that time, she was working hard making WADSA financially stable. Diana was looking at ways WADSA could partner with others to reorganize workloads. She was also an advocate for growing membership. Today WADSA is a financially sound organization due to steps she put in place many years ago.

Diana just had her 30 year anniversary with N.E.W. Curative Rehabilitation, Inc. this year. Today N.E.W. Curative is the organization of choice in Northeastern Wisconsin. Diana has developed programs specific to meet the needs of the community. She started all five Adult Day Programs:

• Inhouse Adult Day Program
• Insiders I Adult Day Program (Dementia Specific)
• Insiders II Adult Day Program (Dementia Specific)
• Alzheimer's Adult Day Program at the Could Family Care Center (Dementia Specific)
• Older Americans Club in Shawano.

What sets Diana apart? Aside from her wealth of knowledge and experience in the aging field, she is always willing to lend a helping hand to whoever may be struggling to start programs, end programs or just maintain their programs. She is an amazing woman, both professionally and personally. She has taught many people how to grow in the field of aging and in our own personal lives. She has this cool calmness about her that is contagious. She is ALWAYS thinking of the client first, if that be a participant in our Day Programs, in the agency, our funding sources, our families, or our staff. She is fair and reasonable in every decision that she makes. She is a giant behind the scenes and never solely wants to take credit for the great successes that she has had in her career. Yet, it is not just a career for her—aging services is her life and she puts 100% effort into whatever she takes on. I think the most important part of her successes, and she would say so too, is her partnerships with area agencies that are in the aging field.

Diana has been involved in many projects over the 30 years in senior services, too many to mention! She has been instrumental to many groups in the Northeast Wisconsin area, Wisconsin as a state, and nationwide. Partnering with agencies such as the Bay Area Agency on Aging, the Alzheimer's Association, Aging and Disability Resource Center, CWAG, Helen Bader Foundation, NADSA, and WADSA, she served on many of these agency boards.

In 2004 Diana was the State Association Liaison for the NADSA Board. Diana has always seen the need for local and national organizations to work together. It was through her leadership that NADSA also relooked at the way it works with the state organizations. She was the pioneer in starting the collaboration of state membership and national membership and looking at ways both can work together for all to succeed. This model is successful and continues to be used today, and Diana remains active on a committee level.

Diana also continues to serve on the WADSA board as the Public Policy Chairperson. She has been active with legislators and senators locally and nationally to put adult day services in the forefront. She has made several visits to Capitol Hill to benefit all day centers.

As you can see, Diana has been a pioneer and advocate for all adult day centers and we all have benefitted from her leadership and vision.

Written by Jennifer Nowak, President of the Wisconsin Adult Day Services Association (WADSA) on behalf of the members of WADSA