Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this December 22, 2023.
Have your host, James J. Mail, up here. Thanks so much for joining us.
At 3.30, we're going to welcome in Craig Broren,
super-intended at Wisconsin-Ravics Public Schools.
He's got Ron Rasmussen and maybe some other Lincoln High School members with us.
We're looking forward to talk with them.
Right now, in studio, we have our good friend, Kim Inda,
resource specialist with the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin.
Kim, good to see you.
Yeah, you too. Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
It is great to have you guys here.
Not only to be able to talk a little ADRC with you all,
and update people about your schedule and some other things, your holiday hours.
But really, I think of our last guests of the holiday week here
being you guys in Wisconsin-Ravics Public Schools.
Perfect guests.
Perfect guests. Shout out Pam Hilke.
Nice work, Pam. Nice work.
Kim, how are things over at the ADRC?
Well, we're doing good.
Good. Yeah.
Every day, we're just plugging away with taking phone calls
and visiting with our community members
to teach them more about the resources that are out there.
And we know how vital that is in our community,
how much of our population is benefited from the ADRC.
And keeping that in mind, I would like to start with our holiday hours, if you don't mind.
How are the hours over at ADRC for the holidays?
Yeah, so just for the holidays, because again,
everybody runs a little different when the holidays are on the weekend.
We are closed December 25th and 26th,
and then also January 1st and 2nd.
So we'll be available in between for a couple days,
and then we'll be kicking it right back on the 3rd.
Sounds good.
We know how valuable the resources, the information that the ADRC is.
If any of the clients there, anybody needs assistance or needs things,
is there resources for them or are there places for them to go?
Yeah, so part of my job as a resource specialist
is just to be out there in the community,
available to let people know about what the resources are there.
We have people that call us on the phone Monday through Friday,
8 to 430, just to get information and questions answered
regarding transportation options that people may need help with.
If they're not driving anymore, or if they have an illness and can't get to medical appointments,
we also have people that call regarding in-home care,
whether it be helping with cleaning or laundry,
helping with personal hygiene, maybe some fixing up around the house,
those sorts of things.
Those are common questions that we get from our callers.
Sometimes people need a little bit more.
They want that face-to-face interaction.
So we also do take walk-ins or people that want to schedule
an appointment individually with us.
And we can do that either in the home or in the office.
So we are very flexible with respect to getting out
our resources and services to the community to help people.
You touched on this a little bit, Kim.
Let's go through some of those frequent calls you receive
and kind of answer some of those maybe for people.
Sure.
So local resources on transportation options.
You touched on that?
Yes, so there's different opportunities for that,
depending upon what you're needing,
whether it be local transportation,
or if you're needing medical appointments out of towns.
So would County Human Services has a transportation program
where they will have volunteer drivers,
as well as a bus that can take you back and forth?
They also have a great local cab company that is switching hands,
but will be available for us to help within the community
to get people from one destination to another.
And those are things that are right there and available
and good to know.
I really do appreciate you spreading the word about that.
What about other questions like how they can get information
on people to come into the home related to caregiving?
Yes, so there are, again, we have a handful of caregiving,
in-home caregiving options from, like I said earlier,
either helping with cooking, laundry, cleaning, bathing,
those sorts of things.
It's a matter of identifying what type of help you're looking for,
how often you want them to come in,
and then can I afford it?
And so that's where, again, we can have that more in-depth conversation
with people to kind of lay out step-by-step.
Okay, yeah, you might need cleaning help, but how often?
Or have you considered also thinking as they come in,
throwing in a low laundry if that's an issue for you as well?
So we can kind of problem solve and triage and get that game plan,
so to speak, so that when you call the agencies,
you can identify, okay, this is what I need.
This is how often I need them.
And then they can give you a good, accurate information
on the cost to make that decision if you want to,
can afford it or not.
Home care cost is not cheap.
It's about $25 an hour, is the rough estimate that we tell people
when they contact us.
Again, that can vary based upon how often you need the help,
but that adds up over time.
And so you really got to be mindful or plan full
with respect to your resources as to how often you haven't come in
and get your bang for your buck, so to speak.
Yeah, yeah.
And Kim, with something like this too,
what a caregiver is for one family
is gonna be completely different than another.
This is a very fingerprint kind of thing.
It's an individual thing that we've got to fight,
the right fit for the right person
and in the right schedule and a lot of that.
And some people have more needs than others.
So it really is great to go to somebody,
especially if you've never been in this situation like this
and you don't have a family member
who is helping with this or something,
reach out to the ADRC.
They've got all that information.
They know their stuff and we've unfortunately seen
where at times when individuals kind of try to take this
on themselves, often times there are things that are missed
or things they just don't know
because it's not common knowledge possible,
more than likely.
And I'm sure that you guys,
and we've talked about this before with other members
of the ADRC that you hit this certain age
and that you have these benefits,
these certain things to apply.
But it's kind of, as far as the rest,
you're almost on your own.
You know, it's almost a great wide open
and the great wilderness and everything.
And the ADRC is going to guide you,
going to be able to help you.
They are your guide with this.
When it comes to caregiving or any of the things
we're touching on today, please do reach out to them.
They've got all the info for you
and all they want to do is share with you.
That's it.
Absolutely.
You know, it's ultimately your path
or your choices that you're making as you go down it.
But again, to be able to know what all those options are
and what all those choices are,
because like you said, one, it's not cookie cutter,
you know, one size doesn't fit all.
And so every family is different
with the amount of caregiving that they can help with.
Every individual person is different
with what they want to accept for help.
And so it's finding that fit and caregiving is a journey.
I've said that more and more every time
I meet with people, it's a journey.
And I don't think you could say enough.
You know, I couldn't agree with you more.
And you said something there
that I think is really key to this too,
of asking for help, of the idea of it
and the willingness of it.
It's not just the generation that we're speaking of.
I'm like this, I think that a lot of us
have a little bit of this in us,
especially here in the Midwest.
We don't ask for help usually.
We don't ask for assistance.
We don't, our dignity means so much in these things.
And I use any chance I get when it comes to hanging out
and talk with you guys at the ERC to touch on this.
And keep this in mind, everybody.
Most of these benefits of not all of these benefits
are things that you have paid for your whole lifetime
and taxes and those things.
You've earned this.
Any bit of assistance you get, you have earned.
You are one of our trailblazers.
You are one of the people that have kept this world going.
You deserve these benefits.
You deserve these things and you deserve assistance.
Nobody makes it through life alone.
And think of it this way.
Look at it through the perspective of your loved ones.
They would want you to reach out.
They would want you to ask for help.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Encouraged people to do that, especially if you were
somebody who has been pushing this off.
And get on this, reach out to our friends at the ERC.
Yeah, the biggest thing, again,
I have a conversation a lot with families
and with clients is the whole fact of pro-active versus reactive
and informed decision making.
You can do a lot of it ahead of time.
And again, to the best of your ability,
have somewhat of a game plan.
But if you're in the crisis mode,
then it all goes out the window and it's not necessarily
what you want, but it's what you need at that point.
And so it's always good, even if you don't do anything
to at least have that information.
As we're continuing with frequently asked questions,
what are the resources for emergency personal response
systems like lifeline?
Yeah, so many people want to stay in their home
and be independent in their home.
And I get it completely.
But there's always that fear of, I live by myself,
I'm home alone, the commercial we always all have seen
and I fall and I can't get up.
There are emergency response system products out there
like lifeline that can help.
It's not going to prevent the fall,
but it's going to get you the help that you need
if and when that time comes that you do fall,
so that you're not having to try and crawl on the floor.
I mean, that's the reality.
People are crawling on the floor to try and get to a phone
or having to forbid they have to stay overnight on the phone
on the floor until their loved one comes the next day
or somebody comes to check in on them.
And that's when it gets really scary.
And so again, that prevention piece of it,
if you can look at emergency response systems
to help with that, that get that help that you need
to be able to take care of yourself.
And it's so vital too that you get these things done
beforehand, you get ahead of these things.
Think of it as insurance.
And in the perfect scenario,
you never even need to use your insurance.
It's just there for you to back up.
This is similar to that.
Hopefully you never need lifeline or one of these services.
But if you do, it's great to have this taken care of.
And again, I'm going to keep doing this
because I know it works and it works on me.
Not just doing it to you guys,
I'm doing it to myself too.
Because I got three kids right in my head right now
telling me, Dad, I want you to be doing these things
when you get up there.
Do this for your loved ones.
Do this for the people that care about you.
If you're not going to do it for yourself,
please do it for those reasons.
We encourage you to.
This, this, we're in the holiday season.
We're in the marathon gamut of it.
We're in the right in the heart of it, Kim.
That, you know, this weekend, you, I,
all of our listeners out there
are going to be seeing family and friends.
And we were talking about this on our morning show.
I think that the essence of Christmas
is these moments, these with family and friends.
It's what it's all about.
The presence, the pomp and circumstances,
all really fun and great.
But you could strip it all away.
And as long as you give us our friends
and our family, we're good.
We're, we're okay.
They are also the first ones to drive us crazy.
They are all, we love them for it.
We love it.
But they will.
And I thought it'd be fun.
And this was brought to us from Kim here
about some tips for the holidays.
And that was a really good idea like this.
Let's dive into this.
Sure.
So my thought behind it was just to know
that a lot of families are spread out
throughout the holidays and they come home.
And then it's like a whirlwind.
Again, there's so many different things going on
between the holiday parties to get together.
There's the extended families coming in.
But again, as we have people that are needing
our help and support, how can we maximize that time
to be able to be productive with it?
And if you are seeing concerns,
then follow up with that with your loved ones.
To be able to again start having
some of those conversations.
Yeah, it's a really good idea.
And it's so, especially it seems more and more
where we just don't get together
with our families as much as we used to.
And we all understand, I think,
that we talk differently in person
that we do an email or on the phone
or something like that.
Sometimes, and this is very similar
to what we're just doing talking about the ADRC
and caregiving and some of these things.
Oftentimes a person might not have
the feel is comfortable to share things over the phone.
Sometimes they do it better in person.
This is a little similar to that where a lot of the things
that you might not feel comfortable bringing up
on the phone or in an email or something like that
because of the things that can get lost in interpretation.
I'm, you asked my staff here at the team
and I'm one of these people that I use way too many emojis
because I'm so worried about things getting lost
and translation or something like that.
I think a lot of us are like that.
So we prefer to ask these things in person.
And I think that's a really good note
right away to kick on.
What are some other things tips for the holidays here, Kim?
Well, and the other thing to mention along with that,
James, too, is just the fact that people don't want
to talk about changes.
Yeah.
And they want to stay as independent as possible at home,
but they might be noticing changes.
It's surprising when you initiate that conversation,
how much they said, oh, this has been going on for a while.
And I didn't notice it or I did notice it,
but I didn't want to see anything I should see.
And as a family member, again, the phone calls aren't the same.
And so it's important when you're there maybe
to take an extra day or two, just before or after the chaos
of the holidays, and sit down and have some conversations
with your loved one.
But how are things truly going?
And do that observation.
I hadn't thought much about this beforehand,
but recently, my papa, my grandfather,
passed away a couple weeks ago.
And his wife, my Nana, passed away about 10 years ago.
My Nana died from Alzheimer's, from dysmuntum.
And it was a round Christmas or maybe even Christmas Eve
that she called me Jim.
She's never, now my name's James, and that
doesn't that far fetch, but she calls my grandpa and my dad, Jim.
And it didn't, you know, we just kept moving and everything.
And it was just a little slight thing, but it started there.
And it was thankfully noticed by my dad, my mom, my papa,
even, and we were able to kind of, you
can't get necessarily ahead of these things.
I don't think I'm going to word this right.
I apologize.
But we were able to at least have kind of an understanding
as we were going into it.
And for her grandchildren for myself, my brother, sister,
many of us, they didn't know much about Alzheimer's
or dementia.
It was really important to get those early steps
and to get it even a bit of a head start, if you will.
Again, not the right word choices,
just for lack of better words, to kind of even have
that buffer, if you will.
It goes so far.
It goes so much farther than we can realize.
If we were having this discussion and I didn't have
that experience, I would certainly be hearing you,
but I don't think it be hitting home like it is.
It really is important to have these things pay attention.
And there's no downside to this.
You're paying attention to your loved ones.
You know, you're going to do this probably anyway.
You're just maybe, you know, tightening that microscope
a little bit.
And there's different cycles with that.
I mean, you could go in and blinders and say, okay,
it wasn't a big deal denial, that sort of thing,
which people can and turn a blind eye then.
But in the other hand, those subtleties
are what are going to trigger that extended conversation.
Or let's talk a little bit more about it.
Or at least maybe I should come home, a little bit more
often to just take a check on things
because the holidays can be very stressful.
Think people can be out of whack.
We all are out of whack during that time.
But just to kind of, again, that first trigger,
whatever it may be to start that down that path
so that you can explore those options.
Get the help that you need.
Support that you can get from the community,
from your loved ones, to really wrap your hands
or your arms around that person that needs that support.
Well said.
I am a notorious planner.
So I love your notes about having a plan.
I think that's a great idea.
I also hope that people can take that with a grain of salt too
because as my Nana would say,
you want to make God laugh, make plans.
We all understand, especially during the holidays.
But that's also why it's great to have a plan.
Maybe not at 905, we're going to do this at 910,
we're doing this.
You could drive yourself crazy there.
Having a loose plan, having an outline,
is this going to give you a little structure
in our brains need that.
They feel good from that.
With all the chaos and pop and circumstance
and all the things going on,
having a bit of a plan, really going to help you with that.
It also seems Kim to me to be a good idea
when it comes to these observations in some of this too.
And say a loved one doesn't remember the plan
or different layers to that.
Yeah, and it's a dividing conquer sort of thing.
Again, being that you may not be here
for a long period of time
or you may have other things going on,
deciding what's most important.
Obviously for us, it's always health and safety first.
But beyond that, then, it's looking at,
okay, what can we start to implement or do?
I'm here, are there people I can talk to,
are there resource directories like we have
that I can grab, take back home,
and again, start having those conversations.
I would say to families when you're coming in,
one or two things at a time.
People are scared, changes are occurring.
It's very difficult time.
So just make sure, you know, again,
have a plan, like you said, loose plan,
but accomplish at least something so you don't get stuck.
Yeah, great notes.
That's really key to this.
That's a very good note about that, Kim.
And the other things you mentioned there about,
take a breath.
You know, be patient with your loved ones that.
That's something that we could always use reminders of.
Absolutely.
I pride myself on my patients.
I think it's always been really good.
The last couple of weeks gone, haven't had it.
Just hasn't been there.
No matter how hard I've tried
or needed it or anything,
just hasn't been there.
And I've been really beating myself up about that
because that's kind of what we do, especially, you know,
again, our missed us Midwesterners and that and stuff.
We, oh dang it, I'm not being as patient as I should be
with so and so that I love and I care about.
And then we end up, you know,
end up just going down a rabbit hole
of beating ourselves up and everything.
So the idea of this patient's taking a breath,
it's not just for your loved ones,
while that is very important and key to this.
It also gives yourself some grace.
That's key to this too.
Giving yourself a little bit of grace
and some understanding.
Take that breath for them
and then take another breath for yourself.
Yeah, and just know that if you go in bull
on the china shop, it's not going to be effective.
And everybody's going to get upset.
It's going to cause hard feelings.
It's just, it does not work.
In my experience, it just doesn't work.
So again, taking that deep breath,
organizing your thoughts, figuring out
what's going to work out best in your situation,
reaching out for help.
Those are the best suggestions I can give to people.
As we're kind of wrapping up our holiday,
Christmas holiday conversation about this part of things, Kim,
is there anything you want to retouch on
or anything you want to note that we hadn't really covered
that well, you think?
Are we get this down?
I think we got it.
Again, I think the biggest thing is just take those breaths.
Yeah, you know, come in and talk with your loved one
and just be there.
Yeah, very well said.
Thank you, Kim.
As we're getting ready for Christmas and that,
of course, we do have New Year's right around the corner.
We know what New Year's means, resolutions and that.
And we're actually going to help our audience, Kim.
We're going to help you guys with your resolutions.
That's right.
And we're going to take a different angle on it.
We're not going to tell you to lose weight.
We're not going to tell you to go to the doctor.
We're not going to do all those traditional things.
Save money, all those things that are out there.
What I want to do is just share how to get involved
in the community and take a different angle of it
with respect to, you got an extra half hour.
You got an extra 20 minutes as a business
or an organization.
Are you willing to help out with others?
And with our home-delivered meal program,
we are always looking for volunteers.
So what we are talking about and promoting
is delivering with a smile, making a difference
for others in our community that need that help, delivering.
And going out meeting with a handful of people every day,
bringing them a nutritious meal.
You don't have to do it every once a month
is all the time that you need.
Just a couple hours, 10, 30 to 12.
And that's one way that you can help.
Yeah.
It's I've talked about meals on wheels
and number of times, my experience with it
and how much I encourage others to do it.
And I don't like putting our guests on the spot.
But I am kind of going to do this to you a little bit, Kim,
because I've talked about this for a long time.
And I've mentioned to the audience
and encouraged them to do this.
I want the audience to know that I'm going to be reaching out
to you guys and finding out when I can help
and when I can deliver a meal.
I work two different jobs other than this one.
I also care-give for my parents.
I don't have a social life.
I have no free time whatsoever.
I'm going to find a way to make this work.
I've asked the audience to do it for years.
It's time I also pitch in and do some work in here
and put back into our community.
So I'm going to find a meal that I can deliver
and hopefully maybe if I can do more than one.
But that is one of my resolutions for this year
that is one of my things going into 2024
that I want to do.
And I'm looking and encouraging others to do so.
If we could get more and more people doing this,
it only strengthens our community.
You are going to enjoy these conversations.
You're going to enjoy meeting these individuals.
You're also going to feel incredibly good
knowing that you are somebody that not only
is providing these services,
but providing a check-in for these individuals.
It's so amazing what volunteering can do.
The people that you meet.
I know it's a different organization
but working with the United Way and doing the day of caring.
I met an individual who just,
I never seen before, never met,
but happened to be from my neck of the woods,
my family's neck of the woods in Chicago.
And we ended up having a great conversation.
And to this day, I take any opportunity to drive by
and say hi to him.
And one of our longtime listeners,
Gary, happened to be living right next door
to this individual.
And so I got to be, it is, it really is.
And it speaks to the strength of our community,
the tightness of our community as well.
So when you're a part of Meals on Wheels,
you're going to have these experiences.
You're going to be able to meet these individuals.
And again, it's not a big time restraint.
It's not something that is going to take that much
out of your day.
It only adds to your day.
I think that we think of this sometimes,
and just speaking for myself as,
well, that's an hour, that's a half an hour,
I have to take out of my day or off the plan for.
No, this is adding to your day.
That's what this is doing.
Yeah, the other nice part that we've tried to promote too
with employers, if employers are wanting to give back
to the community, looking for wellness within their employees
to adopt a route, to be able to, as an office say,
OK, we can commit to one day, a month,
a couple days a week, whatever it is,
that our staff will come and help.
And we've had some local businesses that have done that.
And it's been rewarding both for them,
as well as us, to be able to get our needs met.
So that's another thought for companies out there
if they're willing to give back another way
versus the dollars.
Absolutely, it's a fantastic idea.
And while all the things that Kim said,
and I was saying about putting in your community
and all that is very important about this,
can't lose sight of the PR end of that.
There's no bad PR on that one.
That is an amazing, you can't put a price tag
on the kind of PR you get from something like that.
That's a great idea, Kim.
Keep in mind that the ADRC also has services
like equipment lending and classes for healthy living
and support for caregivers.
There's so much available for you
at our Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin.
Kim, if people want to reach out
once you guys are hours or back open
and you're up and running again,
how can they get in touch with you?
So our phone number is 888-486-9545.
Otherwise, if locally you want to step in,
our offices are in the senior center
by the Veterans Service Office, the YMCA
and the old Walmart building as you know,
if you're familiar with the community, so.
And again, thank you again.
Please say hi to the whole staff
and wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year.
We'll talk again real soon.
Sounds good.
Kim, into Resource Specialists with their ADRC-CW.
You can find out more at ADRC-CW.org,
ADRC-CW.org.
We'll a more midday magazine coming up for you right here
on WFHR, locally grown radio.
