Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Friday, February 28th, 2025.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
In part two today, we're going to speak with Ron Rasmussen, super intended at Wisconsin
Rapids Public Schools.
We're going to be focusing on Think Elementary and talk with some of the people from over
there.
Right now we have in studio Felicia Gardner, resource specialist with the aging and disability
Resource Center of Central Wisconsin.
And Felicia and I were talking in their pregame a little bit.
It's been a while Felicia.
This is since we've been able to hang out.
Thanks for being here.
Yeah.
Thanks for having me.
And I just want to say right away out the gate, how much we appreciate the ADRC, you
and the staff over there, all the volunteers, all the great work going into, taking care
of some of our vital part of our society and our community here.
Really do appreciate the work you guys do over there.
Felicia, we got a couple of places to go today.
Let's go ahead and jump right in.
And I'm spending some time on socialization in Wisconsin Rapids at the Lowell Center.
Let's get into this one a little bit and hopefully give people some ideas and some things
to do and maybe make some plans.
Yeah, so socialization is a really big thing that a lot of seniors struggle with or after
they maybe lose a loved one.
They have a hard time socializing and are just not always aware of different programs
that are out there.
So I just kind of wanted to bring up some different topics or different things that happen
at the Lowell Center, which is also known as the Senior Center or the Old Mall.
Yeah.
That's good to do you.
So one of the big events is Bingo Day.
I apologize, I forget.
It's always Tuesday or Thursdays.
I think it's Thursdays.
That's a big event.
A lot of people show up exercise groups.
There's always different exercises going on.
They have drumming, which is a very loud activity.
Oh, yeah, that seems like a loud one, that's it.
You always know in the office when that cardio drumming is happening.
But it's very entertaining and they love it and that's a great way to exercise.
Yeah.
They also do, I can't talk, swimming, line dancing.
They also have a walking path at the ADRC.
I actually use it almost every day, twice a day.
I would definitely take advantage of that.
Yeah, that's a smart idea.
Yeah.
And you'll see a lot of folks that are doing their routes to do on those and keep in track
and that is just wonderful.
I love to see that.
A great way of getting those steps, getting a little bit of exercise and especially this
time of year, you know, at a nicer atmosphere, a nice warmer weather and all that.
I think that's one of the more traditional things that we look at when we think of activities
for this age group and different things to do for this age group.
What I'm really encouraged by is some of these other ideas and stuff that we, I don't
think we would know unless we were talking with you, Felicia, just going back to the drumming
exercise.
Yeah, it is funny.
It is a little funny to me that whether it's a little kid for like one of their first or
second Christmases and you give them the drum set, but you do that not for your own kids
but for like your kids, like your sister's kids or something like that.
And now we're doing it with our seniors.
Now I love that.
I love the full circleness of that and the idea of the exercise you get from doing something
like that, the fun and the entertainment part is great.
That's a real cool part of it and maybe it brings you into it.
But there is some really good exercise that comes from doing this and cardio that can come
from this and especially to a part of the body, I think that especially the older we get
and I say this as with senior parents that I take care of or help assist, they often
forget about, they focus on the lower body so much and not so much the upper body and
there's no real rhyme or reason other than maybe some of the traditional stuff we know
for seniors, hey, we walk when we get older, got to keep up those steps and everything.
We don't focus as much on the upper body, the drumming kind of helps with that a little
bit.
Yeah.
And a lot of folks too, they think just because maybe like, for example, my grandfather,
he's got Parkinsonism, so walking is a little challenging for him.
Now he could do this exercise program and a lot of folks are sitting down, some are standing,
some are sitting and there's options for all those kind of things.
It's a really good point.
That's another good point of what you offer over there too.
It's not just, well, this is the one thing we offer.
You're giving multiple options for people who are in different situations.
Yeah, a lot of accommodations are made over there, obviously.
Yeah.
It's really, and it's just, it shows how in tune the ADRC is with our community and that's
so appreciated and really leads to more people hopefully getting out of the house, hopefully
reaching out and getting that help.
The isolation that we talk so much about with our seniors, because what we're talking
about exercise and so many of these things, we also talk with the ADRC a lot about mental
health and, you know, trying to get people to do this and I say this with all the empathy
and love I can in me as somebody who just loves our older population and the people that
paved the way for us and everything.
Sometimes you need a little encouragement too to get out of the house.
Sometimes you need a little motivation to get out and everything.
Some of these activities can really be that and one thing that really helped me with my
Papa, my grandpa before we lost him.
My Papa really was always a social guy and then in the last couple of years of his life
you stopped doing it a little bit more.
And one of the ways we got him to kind of get out there out of his comfort zone, if you
will, was kind of like, you know, pop this mean a lot to me, it would mean a lot to me
if you did this.
And I don't want to say trick him, I don't mean it literally like that because he knew
there is no tricking that man, especially me, but he saw right through what I was doing
but he still did it.
Yeah.
And that's what it takes, it doesn't hurt because all of this leads to a good thing and
wanting more for our senior population and wanting them to have more socialization and
more opportunities to get out of their wheelhouse and their comfort zone sometimes and just
enjoy some fun.
Yeah.
And when I meet with people in my office, if I ever, if socialization ever comes up,
I'm usually taking him over to the Centralia Center and having him hook up with the lady
over there to give him tours and talk about what opportunities are available.
I know that they're actually going on a trip to Ireland, I would personally love to go
with them.
Yeah.
We got to get a big suitcase.
Yeah.
We got to see if we can stash the log on that like, that's a lot of fun, that's a very
cool idea.
And they do a lot of cool things like they do them walkie brewers trip, a lot of sports
things, but they also do out of country out of state type things that I think are awesome.
I do a lot of shows and do a lot of work with Wisconsin's Rapids Community Theater and
I know that they often will go over there and take in a show and that's well appreciated
by that.
I love that when that happens.
It's one of my favorite shows whenever I'm part of a run.
Just because of the idea of the support that exists there and giving seniors some fun
to take in, while also they are supporting local theater, it's a really win-win combination
between nonprofits.
I love seeing when that happens.
And the music groups and the dance groups is a really fun part of this too.
Yes.
Yeah.
When I'm doing my little laps, I will often see, they'll be doing their little dancing,
line dancing practices and that's really nice to see it's, you know, often the same
people, but sometimes you get new people and it's great to see them having a good time.
Well, I think there's a really interesting point.
If you don't mind me touching on this part of it, Felicia, I feel there is a tie and
all.
And maybe a reach, but I feel like there is a tie in here.
I just celebrated the birthday and I turned 48 and I did not realize I was getting that
close to 50.
Like it took 48 to be like, I've had plenty of time to be prepared for this.
But it really like hit me off guard and I don't mind getting older.
I look at it as a win in the win column.
It's a lot better than the alternative.
But it was a little bit kind of like, whoa, I haven't really thought much about aging.
I really haven't.
I focus so much on my grandparents and my parents and helping and assisting them.
I really generally had not thought much about this.
And as I started to think about it, I started to think about, well, I got to kind of take
my own medicine here a little bit.
I talk with you guys at the ADRC.
We've been doing this for eight, nine years talking with you guys and I've learned so much
from the ADRC and had so much more understanding of what my parents or my grandparents are just
friends of mine that are in that age range or going through.
We're getting closer and closer to that.
Our generations are getting closer and closer to that.
So I think it's not a bad idea to start not only maybe volunteering for some of these
activities and getting a little bit of an idea of what this kind of world is like, but
also, you know, paying a forward a little bit because you're going to want somebody to
do it for you one day.
There's a little bit of that.
There's plenty of reasons to do this, but to that age range, to my generation and generations
like that and everything I'm saying, this is something to really think about.
And I cannot encourage you enough volunteering or being a part of the ADRC is a great way
to, I think have a little more, I don't want to use the word fear, but for lack of a better
word, fear of getting older.
I think you see seniors who talk to them, I'm not worried about it because of my papa
because of my grandfather.
I talked to them late in life and they were fine.
They were just as sharp and just as ready to go as ever.
I think there can become some comfort with that while also doing some good.
Absolutely.
Yeah, we have people that do the meals on wheels, delivery, driving, which is great, but
there's also people that come in the office and they sort our files for us and make folders
and they're wonderful.
I would love to have them every day.
Unfortunately, we don't get them every day, but they make a world of a difference for
us.
And with these activities that we're talking about, there really is virtually something
for everybody there.
But if you were a senior out there or somebody that has an idea, maybe for a class or a group
or something, I pitch it, let's hear you out, let's see what you got to say here and
see if something might be there because almost all of these ideas kind of start out that
way, which I wonder if they'd like this.
And then boom, here we are, everybody's line dancing.
Yes, it's great.
Yeah, I mean, there's people that play cards, all sorts of different cards there.
They make cards, like cards for holidays and things and it's just all sorts of great
things that they do.
And if you're curious about any of these, you would like to dip your tone before you
go swimming or something like that, reach out to the ADRC and find out more.
They'll answer any questions you have.
They really love doing that.
They're part of the job.
Yeah, that's a fun part.
I do also want to remind people that the wonderful website you guys have, ADRC-CW.org, ADRC-CW.org.
Not only can you see some of the events that Felicia was telling us about there, but all
the support groups and the different things that exist there and some of the really, really
great work that you guys are doing over there with those groups and giving some comfort
and some information to people in similar situations like Alzheimer's and dementia or other
groups that you have going on over there.
Yeah, and one thing I do want to mention about those groups, too, is there are quite a
few of them and some folks are not always comfortable coming to the groups.
And I can't verify, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them have the option for virtual, so
you could do it from home.
You know, if that's something that's more comfortable for you and I definitely encourage
you to do that.
Because you know, you may start out that way, maybe eventually you do feel like comfortable
going there, but we just want you to be a part of these groups, whether it's virtually
or physically, and that's, again, a big tip of the head to ADRC doing that.
We understood why during the pandemic that existed, I think that some of this sticking
around is really good for people, it's very helpful, and even people who can't get out
of the house physically or something, but want to be a part of these groups.
That's a really nice feature to be able to offer.
We're speaking with our friend Felicia Gardner, resource specialist with the Aging and Disability
Resource Center of Central Wisconsin.
As far as socialization at the Lowell Center, you want to move on from that, did you touch
on everything you wanted to there Felicia?
Yeah, I think I did.
Because I did want to touch on some advocacy days coming up in March.
It is crazy to think February is already over.
That is already kind of a little shocking, but it helps because there's some things that
we really look forward to coming up in March.
Yeah, so advocacy days are a huge thing in our world.
Alzheimer's advocacy days coming up March 4th, so that would actually be next week sometime.
I don't have a calendar in front of me about Tuesday, I'm thinking.
Yeah, yeah, I think Tuesday, yeah.
With that day, and this one, unfortunately, this topic is becoming very similar to the
cancer topic, where it used to be everybody knows somebody of six degrees of separation,
and now that's gotten to be well, everybody knows somebody.
And I think this is another topic that everybody knows somebody.
I know for me, it's hit my family hard, and I know many others out there that it has,
and what you've shared and some others.
So when it comes to this group, I mean, this day, I think we think of a national day of
and we immediately think, well, how do I celebrate that?
This is kind of something where you might not feel like how to celebrate.
That doesn't maybe feel like the right word, but information and learning about this topic.
Are there other suggestions?
Yeah, so I mean, a big part of these advocacy days is I know I did the aging advocacy
day last year, and I was terrified, but I wanted to push myself through and I was so happy
I did it.
Good on you.
You know, the big thing is you go down to Madison, I believe they're all down to Madison.
You meet with the senators, you meet with staff from other counties and talk about topics
that you want to bring up to your senators, you kind of prepare in the morning, you have
about five, ten minutes with your senators, you advocate as much as you can.
You get your picture taken at the Capitol, and you just work together to kind of advocate
on behalf of the different populations that we really truly care about.
And it's a good connecting opportunity to meet with other counties and other staff members
that do what we do and are just as passionate as we are.
You know, I will say, I cannot speak for all of our reps or senators in our state, but
I can speak to Senator Teston, Representative Krueger, I talked to them once a month.
And these guys love the opportunities to hear from you.
That's their job and they want to, you're their boss, they want to hear from you.
And when we bring attention to these different things that we're passionate about, they understand
well, this is important to my constituency.
This many people showed up, this many people brought these testimonials and different
things to hit on this stuff.
It's part of how I think we have gotten better on certain topics in society is just the
grassroots effort of people making the time to go down there and talk about these things
to them.
To no fault of their own, they can only be in one place at a time.
They can only take in so much information.
We got to meet them halfway.
You know, if you care about something like a topic like this, we got to meet them halfway
and sometimes go to their house to bring it to them.
And that's okay.
Just appreciate the, especially the kind of, what you experienced and everything, thank
you for sharing that.
So I don't know if a lot of people understand this part of these days, you know, we talk
about them a lot, but we kind of talk about them and then move on.
This is, these are too important for that.
This is a 24 hour day thing.
This is something where you can do some real good with these topics on these particular
days.
And then there is a disability advocacy day that is coming up March 12th.
Correct.
Yep.
And that's another opportunity.
I unfortunately have not been to that one, but yeah, advocating for individuals that
have disabilities, Medicaid, Medicare advocating for all those different topics.
Another thing I do want to bring up is that just because these are advocacy days and it
tends to be a lot of staff members, it absolutely does not need to be staff members.
It can be people in the community and I know when I went to aging advocacy day last
year, it was a whole lot of people just in the community that really cared and were passionate
and that was really great to see.
It's not just about us paid folks that, you know, do this for work.
We truly care.
Need all types and all types help and it's how we keep democracy alive and well.
It's how we do that while also getting these things in front of them and so they understand
how important they are and how much that we, they mean to us.
And with everything I talk about with Alzheimer's or I talk about with our senior population,
all those things are very important.
I do think that when it comes to disability advocacy, that I don't say one is more important
than the other, but your voice, I think when it comes to disability, so vital.
This is a portion of our population that even in 2025, I don't feel like we're paying
nearly enough attention to, we're doing enough.
I don't think that we see enough people in this realm in represented, represented
enough either, whether it's TV, movies or just in journalism or any of these things.
This is a gray area for us still in society.
This is something that we're still, I think, behind on where so many of these things, I
think we're doing great work on and we're really making, you know, droves, I meant to
help just alone on that topic and then anything under that umbrella.
We've come leaps and bounds as a society.
There's still work to be done, but we've come a long way with that.
Yet with disability and the people that struggle with this, I don't feel like we've done
nearly enough on this topic and just the opportunity to talk about it, even a bit today I was
really looking forward to.
Bring attention to this not only to our communities and to each other, but certainly to our representatives
is really important on disability day and again, that is March 12th.
Yep.
Coming to that I saw actually this past week, I want to say it was Facebook or one of
those things, is I saw that the local NAMI group, I'm going to say it wrong, national mental
health, alliance, something along that.
Yes.
You're getting closer than I would and I apologize because I should know it too, I talk
about them every week.
Yeah.
So they, I think a bunch of them went down and met with, met with testing and had a good
conversation with them and I think that's really important to spread that topic of, you know,
the help that's needed.
You're doing some great work over there now, all the people apart of NAMI, they really
are.
Yeah.
And we wrap up with aging advocacy day that is actually in May, it's coming up May 13th.
Yes.
So on that one, how do we approach that one?
How do you approach that one, you know?
So I did that one last year.
Right.
And I was terrified.
I'm, you know, actually kind of a shy individual.
But I went and we had training in the morning.
And everybody kind of decided what we were going to talk about in our minimal five minutes
to the senators.
And then there's individuals that weren't comfortable speaking and that was totally fine.
You know, they kind of sat on the sidelines, but we're still a part of the day.
And we just voiced to the senators what we thought was important.
Test and was amazing.
He, you know, had a lot to offer.
He was very open to hearing what we had to say.
We didn't meet with crew, but we did meet with one of his staff members.
And he was also very open to hearing what we had to say.
And it was ultimately a great day.
And if you ever have the opportunity to go to any of these days, I would strongly encourage
you to do it.
Thank you for sharing that, Felicia.
And thank you for doing that.
When I start out these interviews and I tell you you and your staff, we appreciate
you guys all what you do.
I'm certainly touching on the day to day and what you do over there on the norm.
But things like that.
Maybe above and beyond.
That's really what I'm handing on.
That's part of what it's not necessarily in your job description, but there you are doing
it.
And you're not alone in that.
And I greatly appreciate that.
Again, for everything that we've been talking about today, and also just out of a care
for this, this population and people, you know, fighting for that and wanting more for
them and a better life for those individuals, that goes a long way.
With this one coming up, are you planning a similar thing again or?
I actually probably won't be going to this, but I've encouraged a whole lot of new staff
to go to it.
And I've been pushing it real hard because I think it's really educational.
Well, and you are an inspiration for it too.
Again, I understand that it cannot be that easy and sometimes.
I think with my job, you may think that I'm just fine with this stuff.
I'm not.
I nervous all the time.
And it never, but you care about something, you push through to do it.
That just shows how much you care about it.
And not only for you, but to anybody out there, I think that that's encouraging.
And I think that, you know, and good on you for doing it, by the way.
That's awesome.
That's really cool.
Felicia, we have.
It's been a great conversation and just flew right by.
A way to look forward to talking with you again real soon.
But with everything we've talked about today, if people have follow up questions, they
want to know more.
Maybe they'd like to volunteer over there or find out more about meals on wheels.
How can they reach you?
How can they find out more?
You can come to the Centralia Center, our office is located, Suite 1.
You can give us call.
I'm not prepared.
I do not have our phone number on us.
I do.
OK.
715-424-8454.
And that's actually my direct number, which is totally fine.
We also have a main number.
Let me see.
I don't think I have that one on me.
I thought I did have it.
I apologize.
I thought, well, if you have questions, you can call 1-888-486-9545.
That's 1-888-486-9545.
Yeah.
And you can also go to their website, ADRC-CW.org.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well and share the things that they are doing
on your pages.
Felicia, thank you again for the time.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
We'll be back with more Monday magazine coming up right here on 97.5 FM.
13.20 AM.
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