Wisconsin
Medical College of Wisconsin to invest $50 million in improving three areas in next 5-10 years
GREEN BAY – The Medical College of Wisconsin is turning its attention to hypertension, childhood behavioral health, and the well-being of the state’s health care workers.
At a news conference Thursday at Lambeau Field, the Medical College of Wisconsin announced it will be investing $50 million as part of the MCW’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment into the three areas to improve them statewide over the next five to 10 years.
The three health-related issues were determined to be priorities based on state data and 18 months of focus groups, surveys, and discussions with health care workers and community partners, said Jesse Ehrenfeld, director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment.
Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin was established by MCW to steward funds from Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin. Since 2004, the endowment has invested $338 million into 643 projects statewide including the creation of the MCW Green Bay and Wausau campuses. La Crosse, Racine, Winnebago, Brown, and Marathon counties have the most projects of at least nine funded by AHW.
It’s unclear what activities or specific projects will be supported by the $50 million invested into the three areas, but the investment is meant to “move the needle” on improving residents’ health in the three areas and expands research, said Joseph Kerschner, MCW dean of the School of Medicine, provost and executive vice president.
High blood pressure
About 1.3 million Wisconsinites have hypertension, and about half of them don’t have it under control, according to data from the state Department of Health Services. About one in six people who have it don’t know they have high blood pressure.
Ehrenfeld said access to care and home blood pressure monitors is important to helping people lower their blood pressure.
Health workforce well-being
Health care workers in the state are still dealing with levels of burnout especially after the pandemic. The Wisconsin Hospital Association described the state’s health care workforce as “critical but stable” in its 2024 Health Care Workforce Report. In 2022, staffing vacancy rates in hospitals was 9.9%, according to the report.
With many workers heading to retirement, Ehrenfield said the endowment decided to prioritize reducing burnout and improving well-being at hospitals to improve the state’s physician shortage. Many health care workers don’t reach out for mental health or substance abuse support because they are afraid of being reprimanded by a medical board or losing their license, Ehrenfield said.
“We need to reduce that stigma,” he said. “They need to be well themselves to take care of others.
Childhood behavioral health
Over half of Wisconsin early care and education professionals reported an increase in challenging behaviors, according to a 2021 survey and are leading to childhood expulsions.
Ehrenfield said the funding will go toward creating more “support systems” around the state and continue the work of a previously AHW behavioral health project.
More: Family circles, robust resource databases, peer-support: what 8 years of mental health progress looks like
Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com.
Laurel Burleson, a Dane County chef, thinks ugly apples make the best dishes.
One of her goals as a chef and restaurant owner is to save usable produce from the waste bin.
“I know how hard (Wisconsin farmers) work every day, making these products that are delicious and nutritious and for anything to get thrown away just because it’s not aesthetically perfect is just outrageous,” said Burleson, owner of Ugly Apple Cafe.
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The latest fruit monitoring report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows many parts of the state having great harvests, although northeastern Wisconsin orchards suffered from a cool spring. But most apple orchards are busy with the fall harvest. So what do you do with that abundance of apples?
Burleson shared some recipes and her philosophy on cooking with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Rob Ferrett: What do you like to do with apples apart from just eating them?
Laurel Burleson: One that I really like to do is making apple marmalade. That is shredding apples and preserving them in sugar so that they keep their structure. It’s kind of the opposite of making applesauce.
But we also make a lot of apple sauce and apple butter. That’s a good way to use a lot of apples all at once.
RF: What goes into making apple butter?
LB: Very basically you make applesauce, so just cook down your apples and blend them up. Then you take that applesauce and cook it extremely slowly, either in a slow cooker or in the oven. Cook it down until it’s dark and rich and more closely resembling a peanut butter than applesauce.
From there, you can put in whatever spices you want: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, bay leaf. You just have to be careful because whatever you start with in the big batch will get super concentrated and reduced in your end product.
RF: With applesauce or apple butter, do we have to be fussy about the type of apples? Or can we mix and match?
LB: I like to mix and match, especially because the apple season starts really early. Some years you can get the first season apples in July.
They don’t hold very long and they’re very juicy, so they break down really easily, but they are very tart. I like to get some of those early season apples and make them into applesauce and freeze them and then when I have other sweeter varieties later I mix them and then reduce that all down into butter.
RF: You shared a savory recipe with us for pork chops with apple bacon cabbage. Tell us a little bit about this recipe.
LB: It’s really fun for the fall and even into the winter. You can kind of use any kind of variety of apple that’s a little bit tart and it’s OK if it breaks down and blends in because the cabbage is going to maintain its structure.
If the onions and apples melt away into a delicious sauce it’s just fine. But also, if you end up with some apple pieces, then it’s a nice little surprise like a little sweetness.
The Ugly Apple Cafe operates cafes inside the Dane County Courthouse and the City County Building in Madison and sells its products at the Monona Farmers Market.
While the Wisconsin Badgers struggle on the football field, sitting at a disappointing 2-2 through four weeks, some of the program’s former transfers continue to find success.
One of those players is tight end Riley Nowakowski, who transferred to Indiana this offseason after five years with the Badgers. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native originally walked on to the program as an unranked outside linebacker. After playing sparingly during his first few seasons with the Badgers, he flipped over to fullback in 2022, then out to tight end after Phil Longo arrived in 2023. Nowakowski totaled 18 receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown from 2023-24; his two years as a primary offensive contributor.
The former Badger is already making significant progress toward those totals, now just four games into his Indiana career. He has four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, plus one carry for a one-yard score. The versatile fullback/tight end delivered the highlight play of his career during Indiana’s blowout win over Illinois on Saturday, taking a 1st-down screen pass 43 yards to the house.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, has received solid contributions from Montana State transfer tight end Lance Mason. The veteran has 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns to date, leading the team in each of those respective categories.
While Mason has been one of the Badgers’ few bright spots through four weeks, it’s hard to ignore Nowakowski’s emergence as one of Indiana’s dependable offensive playmakers.
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Get ready for an overall warmer stretch of weather as we head into this upcoming workweek. After some fog lifts this morning, we’ll have plenty of sunshine today with highs in the mid to upper 70s along the lake and low 80s inland.
Tonight will be dry with lows in the low 60s lakeside and upper 50s inland.
Monday through Wednesday should be very similar, with upper 70s to near 80 near the lake and low to mid 80s inland with plenty of sun.
We’ll start to bring in chances of showers or a T’storm starting Thursday right on into the weekend.
WATCH: Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
Southeast Wisconsin weather: Dry Today, Warm Workweek Ahead
TODAY: Any fog lifting through the morning, then becoming mostly sunny.
High: 77 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: E 5-10 MPH.
TONIGHT: Mostly clear.
Low: 62.
Wind: ESE 3-8 MPH.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny.
Highs: 78 lakefront… 83 inland.
Wind: ESE 5-10 MPH.
TUES: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 80 lakefront… 84 inland.
WEDS: Mostly sunny and warm.
High: 81 lakefront… 85 inland.
THUR: Partly cloudy with a chance of a shower
or T’storm.
High: 80.
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