Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this June 28th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
In part two at 430 today, we're going to welcome in one more time
with Scott's Rapids Public School Superintendent Craig Braun.
Craig also going to bring some friends.
We have Steve Hep Principle and other staff
from River City's high school joining us.
Right now in studio, one of our great friends,
Kim and a resource specialist
with our Aging and Disability Resource Center
of Central Wisconsin, Kim.
It just, we don't get together nearly enough.
It's good to see you.
Thanks, you too.
I always appreciate the time from our ADRC
and the work that you guys put into our community.
We appreciate it so very much.
And I want to actually, if you don't mind,
kind of talk about some start off
with some of the things going on over at the ADRC.
Sure, so we have a couple different things,
one specific for summer, and then one that's a class
that we have going on in the next week or so
that I wanted to promote and see if we could get some interest
in having more participation.
That's what we're here for.
Yeah, so first just, again, every summer,
we do the farmers market vouchers
and we have them one more time this year, which is great.
These are vouchers that you can take
to the local farmer market.
Can also be used statewide.
So not just even here in Rapids,
but other communities if you're traveling.
It is for seniors who are 16 older
or people who are Native American that are 55 and older.
There is household income requirements for a single person.
It is $2,322 a month, excuse me.
But what you do get is you get $45.
$45 of fresh fruits and vegetables that you can use.
And these vouchers you can use throughout the whole summer.
They're good until that end of October.
So the nice part about that is if you're waiting
for those fall good things like the apples,
the pumpkins, the squashes, all that sort of stuff,
you can hang on to them.
They are first come first serve
and we did start them in June.
So I would encourage you to call our office
to get them at least.
And then you can use them as you go throughout the summer.
Kim, you mentioned you guys have been doing this
for a little while.
I've heard such good feedback from the community
about this program and about this availability
for our seniors.
Have you gotten some good feedback on this?
Absolutely, you know what's so hard
for our seniors is most of them are on fixed incomes.
And it costs a little more to get the fresh fruits
and vegetables.
And rightfully so, absolutely.
But this allows them to be able to go get
some of those fresh fruits and vegetables,
which are always they taste so much better and healthier
than your processed stuff that you can get
sometimes at the store can't goods that sort of thing.
So.
And this is another way for them and for us to support local,
to support these local vendors, these ag industry members
that we are making these and creating and giving us
the opportunity to get these products.
Absolutely.
I was going to give them credit for literally making them.
But yeah, growing them and everything.
And so it's a real win-win kind of situation as well.
Absolutely.
And again, you can get anything fresh.
You can't get the processed stuff, the baked breads,
that sort of thing.
But, you know, you can get herbs.
You can get the fruits.
You can get the vegetables.
Again, freezing them for winter, whatever you want to do
with it.
And again, throughout the whole summer.
It's a healthier option that keeps them around longer,
which is something that we really want.
And we want to make sure to help anyway we can.
So again, just win-win-win kind of situation.
And we'll give people information how you can find out more
as we wrap up today and we'll let you know Kim's info.
And how you can find out more about that.
I did want to mention you mentioned a class,
the Medicare Basics class.
I would think that this is one of the more well-attended
and more important things that you guys offer over there.
And that is really saying something.
You guys do a lot of great good over there.
But I know this from my parents just now getting into
retirement age in the last couple of years.
And talking to so many of our listeners over the years.
This is, and I don't think that there's no villain in this
as far as like why Medicare can be tough to understand
and everything.
It's a complex situation.
But it still leads to a complex situation.
We want you to know all of your benefits,
all the things that are offered to you.
This Medicare Basics class is very vital to our community.
Absolutely.
And it's geared for people who are going to be retiring,
eligible for Medicare benefits for children and family members
who want to learn about their parents' benefits
and how it all works.
Like everything else with insurance, it is complicated.
And so this just kind of breaks it down.
Gives you the one, two, three, or ABCD, I should say.
Because they use letters in the Medicare world.
But using and breaking it down as to what covers what
for insurances, do you need supplements?
Everybody's health needs are different.
And insurance coverage is different.
Somebody might be very healthy and not need as much coverage.
Other people might have more chronic health conditions
and need more.
And so it's kind of your one shot to sign up for a lot of this.
There are ways to change your benefits over the course
of the years, but not necessarily the easiest.
And so that's why it's important to get educated ahead of time.
And these things change from year to year.
So keeping up to date on this is really important as well.
I have a kind of a two-parter question here for you, Kim, for one.
If you know you're going to be retiring in the next year or two,
can you take this class to kind of get a head start on this?
Absolutely.
So that you're not, because there are time frames and timelines
as to when you can sign up.
So we encourage you as soon as you want to know the information.
If you want to hear the information twice, three times, four times,
whatever it takes for you to make a sound decision.
The other nice part is this is a general class.
We usually have about 10 to 15 people in it at a time.
So it is small group, but we do offer individual class,
or individual one-on-one appointments.
If you do want to get specific down to the detail
of your person as well.
So it's a nice overall, the class first.
And then more questions you can always talk
with one of our benefit specialists as well.
Let me audience look behind the curtain a little bit.
I mentioned my parents are just now getting into this stage.
And I think it was a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago,
when this first came up from my mom.
She wanted to take the class, wanted to understand this a little bit more.
And when we got talking about this, as I was talking to her,
I, for the first time in my life,
I never thought I'd be anywhere near retirement.
Never thought that'd be an option for me.
As I'm getting closer and closer to that, I'm only 47.
But you know, it's getting closer than I think.
I'm closer to that than I am being in high school.
Yeah, yeah.
So I've actually, for the first time in my life,
been thinking about this as I'm getting ready
to go into talk to my mom for her to do this class.
And I start realizing, well, I should probably
be knowing a little bit more of this too.
Now, thankfully, I get a chance to retire one day.
Chances are Medicare is going to be a lot different
when I retire than what it is now.
But it sure would help to have at least a basic understanding
of some of these things before then.
So to Kim's point, I don't know that you can learn these things
too early, or be up to date on this stuff too early.
Yeah.
And the other thing is, for however it works,
insurance companies figure out when you're that right age.
And you get really marketed heavily through phone calls,
through mail, on what the private insurance companies
have to offer.
The nice part about our agency is we're on bias.
We have no benefit or skin in the game, which plan you pick.
It's what's best for you.
And so that's why it's nice to go to that us with perspective.
This is what I found.
This is what I have.
What are my pros and cons to it?
It's a big part of why we love and support the ADRC so much
is that unbiased opinion, just facts kind of thing.
First, that's a very kind to what we do here at WFHR
for one thing.
But it's also important for our senior population.
That has to look over its shoulder all the time
because of scams and different things like that
that are constantly trying to attack our seniors.
Having a resource, having a safe zone, if you will,
a sanctuary, if you will, where, hey, ADRC, ADRC,
nobody in their pocket, nothing like that,
just straight up information and therefore you
to answer your questions to be able to help.
This is part of the reason why we support you guys so much
is at moments like this and things like this.
Oddly enough, we are talking and I started to think
about somebody else who sits in that chair sometimes
Jackie Carantini and one of the things Jackie and I talk
about is, you know, as you are kind of wrapping up
this game of life and making sure that everybody has a will
and the importance of that will not only for your kids
and your loved ones, but your loved ones and your kids
seeing you making a will and the fact that we never stop
teaching his parents and we never stop being an example.
My parents just did this for me as I mentioned a couple
of years ago, without them, I doubt I'm even thinking
about Medicare or Medicaid or anything and then I'm lucky
enough to turn 65 or whatever and here I am walking
into it, I don't know nothing, I'm running to Kim,
Kim please help me, I don't know anything.
My parents showed me an example of how to handle this
and I think that that's important to note too to any seniors
out there, you never stop teaching, you never stop parenting,
even not even your own kids, but being an example to others
of well, oh, John did this, John's looking into it,
I should look into this too, so that's another good part
of this as well of not only are you getting the vital
information you need, but you could be an example to others
of taking your life by control and understanding
the benefits you deserve and you've earned.
And that's what it is is education prevention
as much as you can ahead of time, get your ducks in a row
so to speak with wills, advanced erectives,
what does that plan look like?
There's always detours in the road of a plan
that you may have put into place, but at least
to have those conversations and start having discussions
related to how all this works is important.
We're speaking with Kim Enda, resource specialist
with the ADRCW and one of the other things we wanted
to note Kim was some tips for family when a loved one
is in needing more help.
This can be one of the more gray areas in life
and one of the more tougher areas in life,
especially when you have a very stubborn Italian father.
That may not be the whole audience,
might just be a little bit more specific to me.
They're the need all right, exactly, exactly.
So you had some help for us with this.
Yeah, so just wanted to really just five different things
that we see in our office quite frequently
of when we get the calls.
We always like the calls earlier rather than later,
doesn't seem to always happen.
And so then it's looking at, okay,
what do we do in the moment?
This way, ideally wanting to get the information out
to people so that they can start talking
with their families, family members
talking to their parents, aunts, uncles,
whoever it may be, to start having these conversations.
One important thing that we think is right there
doesn't take much to do is filling out events directives.
Like James talked about earlier,
Will's part of attorney documents
for healthcare and finances.
Those are vital to have in place,
not that they need to be utilized right away,
but it's having that conversation
of who's gonna be that trusted decision maker.
Does that trust a decision maker know what I really want?
And to be able to make that happen, that's for me.
Yeah.
The finances and having that information
all put together is important too on this
as you were kind of touching on there.
Yeah, so one step is getting those documents together
for the financial part of attorney
and the healthcare part of attorney.
We see the healthcare part of attorney
talks about healthcare decisions,
the financial part of attorney talks about the finances.
The one thing that I find with families is,
again, that trusted person has no clue
as to where those finances are.
How do I access them?
What does it even look like?
And I get that finances as a,
it's a hard conversation,
but at least as a person to have a list of them
in a safe box somewhere,
so that you can say, okay, go here,
this is where it all is.
Even if you don't wanna have that conversation,
because I've had family members who have had life
insurances that have all of a sudden been found
that they pulled out when their kids were first born
and to track down that insurance company
may have changed over three, four times.
Same thing with like pensions.
Companies change, pension plans,
not the plans change,
but the manager of the plans change.
You're trying to find out, okay,
what does that all look like?
And nobody knows or takes a lot of work to track it down.
So I recommend annually just making a spreadsheet,
making a list of where all those finances are
and the key contacts so that you have them.
I think two notes on this one.
One, one of the smarter creative minds
we've ever experienced was Prince,
musical genius and on to field and off to field
behind the scenes incredibly smart with his career
and controlling of his career in his music library
and a lot of this.
The man was a detailer, a planner,
down to the final note,
but did not have a will, did not do any of these things.
And while Prince passed away a couple years ago,
his family is still fighting over a lot of these things
and it's really like a lot of fans of his,
it's really hurt the legacy and everything.
So it's not just the family,
but fans that are being hurt by this and such.
And this is a big broad example,
but it's just one example of this can happen to anybody
and even somebody who literally sang about just about
anything in his songs throughout his career
had a difficulty talking about with his loved ones.
And I think that's an important note.
Very few people like talking about money,
like talking about finances.
Very few people want to talk about a will with their children.
We understand that this could be a heavy topic and everything,
but it's not as if it's not on your mind.
And if you talk about it, then it's done.
And when it does pop up in your head
you're like, oh, we discussed that.
We can move on.
If you don't talk about it,
it's going to keep popping up in your mind
and it's just going to keep weighing on you.
And this is a way to counter that.
And to, hey, I'm done.
I got it done.
It's taken care of.
It's important to note, as Kim does,
to look dead to look over these things year to year.
But that's not something necessarily
that takes a whole lot of work once you've got it done.
Right, exactly.
And the other thing that it helps
is it helps during that time of need
when you need the documents,
when you need to look at that.
Your family members, your kids,
they know exactly, okay,
this is what mom and dad said.
This is what they want
versus the guessing game of,
I think this is what mom would want,
but I'm not sure.
You know, what does that look like for you?
One thing that the ADRC has done for me specifically,
I will say, is I did not know that I was a caregiver.
I genuinely didn't.
Didn't think anything of it,
just thought I was doing whatever you oldest child does.
You help take your parents
and you help your grandparents
and a lot of those things is what we do in life.
But it's vital for me to have figured that out
because if I really want to take care of my parents,
if I really want to be there for them,
I got to take care of my own backyard.
I got to take care of me too.
And you have another good note on that
for people that are dealing with loved ones that need help.
Yeah, just looking at, again, as a caregiver,
which we all are in some form or another,
whether we're caring for an animal,
whether we're caring for our parents,
whether we're caring for children, a neighbor,
there is a form of caregiving that we all do.
The question is, how much can you give
while taking care of yourself, like James said,
and figuring that out for yourself so you kind of know?
Also for you as a parent to say,
what do I expect of my children?
What can my children give?
We're all in different positions with, again,
how long we can work, can we retire,
all of that sort of stuff to be able to care give?
What's the cost it's gonna take?
And so having those conversations ahead of time
to understand that is so important.
You know, a lot of people say,
I don't want to be put in a nursing home.
Okay, that's great.
But then what does that mean?
And how are we gonna make that happen?
Because the reality of it is, it takes a lot.
It takes the village to be able to do that.
Well said.
Now evaluating what is most important
and relating that to others,
this is a key part of all of this.
Yeah, it goes hand in hand with what I was just saying about
I don't wanna go into a nursing home.
There are programs out there,
there are services available that can help with all of that,
but is that what isn't most important?
Is that something that I truly have an issue with?
Do I even know what a nursing home
or assisted living facility even looks like now?
Things have changed over the years.
And what your grandparents were in 20 years ago,
30 years ago is not the same.
And so again, just that prevention, education,
figuring out what that plan is gonna be
is vitally important to evaluation,
and then how do we handle it?
In a similar way of we want you to understand
your Medicare basics and understand what that involves,
understanding your own health insurance
benefits is important to this too.
Absolutely, because again,
there's always cost associated with everything.
So figuring out financially where you're at,
what can you afford or not afford?
What are your future plans is so important
in having some of those conversations?
And again, going to the Medicare basics class,
doing other things that you can do to get educated.
Kim, is there any other honorable mentions?
Is there anything that comes up out of this?
Or do we cover everything pretty well, you think?
I think we covered most of it pretty well,
the big ones.
There's always extra add-ons.
And that's primarily individualized based upon you,
your family situation, and that's where again,
having that individual conversation is important.
The other thing that we can offer at our office
is I can come out and be that neutral person
to facilitate the conversations, which can be hard to start,
and can be hard to have with loved ones and family members.
Again, on biased, I don't know all those dynamics,
but at least I can throw the questions out there,
and then you can have those conversations
for better or worse.
It may not seem like it's a wonderful thing
to be able to offer to put yourself out there like that
and to be able to be in between a very difficult situation
oftentimes, but again, being that third party
that really, it's about the information
and making sure you all know these things
so that you can take care of you
and your loved ones at the best.
That's what it's about.
Great.
I always like to take a note and make sure
that we make the time to mention the volunteering
about the ADRC.
There's such a need for this in our community.
And when we talk about our community,
I think a lot of people listen to this,
we're recording this in Wisconsin Rapids,
and we love our town, but keep in mind,
they have meals on wheels, routes,
available based out of Anago,
Elco, Marshfield, Merrill, Pickerel,
Tomahawk, Wasaw, Wisconsin Rapids.
So if you're listening in any of these areas,
you could be a hero.
You could be a volunteer for meals on wheels,
whether it is delivering meals or helping prepare them.
Yeah, our service region is Lincoln,
Langlade, Marathon, and Wood Counties.
So throughout the region,
we are always looking for volunteers
for our meals on wheels.
Some of that looks like the prop part
where you would package the meals
and get them ready to go.
The other part would be is actually the delivery.
We do throughout our region also have senior dining sites.
So you can come and help get that dining experience set up,
get the meals delivered out or hand it out,
and then also the socialization piece of it,
which is wonderful to be able to visit with others
and provide a meal or share a meal.
You will have some of your new favorite people
that you're delivering these meals to,
because you will enjoy those conversations.
I can guarantee that.
We enjoyed this conversation, Kim.
As always, it's always good to hang out with you.
Thank you so much for the time.
If people do have follow-up questions
about some of the things we talked about today,
they would like to know more.
How can they reach you?
Yeah, so just quickly,
the Medicare Basics class in our Wisconsin Rapids location
is next Thursday on July 9th, from 1 to 330.
So if you are interested in any of the information
that we had today or that class,
you can call our number at 1-888-486-9545,
and we would be happy to get you where you need to be,
get you registered for either the farmer's market vouchers,
the classes, volunteering,
whatever you are interested in,
or just answering a question.
We'll be promoting that Medicare class
on our morning shows,
making sure people know about it.
You can find out more at ADRCW.org,
ADRCW.org, keep in mind,
that a website is always keeping up to date,
and it's a great way for you to keep up to date on your ADRC.
Thanks for the time, Kim.
Say hi to the staff over there for us.
We'll do, thanks.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up right here
on WFHR, locally grown radio.
