ADRC of Central Wisconsin Elder Care Specialist Update June ‘25

Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by Crockett Sceptic for

this June 27th, 2025.

Have your host James J. Mailov here, welcoming into the studio a first time guest we love

it when this happens.

We have Michaela Sorgi with us right now, Elder Least Resource Specialist with their

ADRC of Central Wisconsin.

Michaela, did I get it right, did I get the last name?

You got it.

Right.

Thank you.

You helped me out with that.

I appreciate it.

Michaela, really appreciate you joining us.

You sent over some great notes.

I do have to do something to you that I do with all of our first time guests.

Get to know you a little bit.

We'd love to hear people's origin stories.

Would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself with us?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I am Michaela Sorgi.

I am originally from Poinette, Wisconsin.

So I grew up down there and then I moved to Stevens Point for School for college.

So I stayed there and now I live up here.

What was it about this field that made you want to be a part of it?

Yeah.

I love helping people.

I knew I didn't want to be a doctor, work with bodily fluids.

So I thought, yeah, I can help someone in a different way.

Right on.

Right on.

That's really cool.

Thank you for sharing that.

Yeah.

Where is that near?

Poinette?

Yeah.

It's north of Madison for 30 minutes.

It is.

Thought so.

Okay.

My sister lives down that way.

We're happy to have you here in this small town.

We're happy to have you around here.

And especially with some of the things that we're going to be covering today, the information

that we're able to share and that you guys have over there at the ADRC is so vital.

So much to do.

It's used so much of our community.

And we're going to start talking about Medicare basics class that is going to be coming

up now called the road map to Medicare.

I like that.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We just recently changed that title.

We have been revamping that within the last year or so.

So we changed the title, changed the basics of the classes too.

They're not as long.

They used to be like two hours and now they're more and our base just kind of based on questions

and things that people have.

So yeah.

It in the years that I've been able to talk with the ADRC.

This tends to be one of the bigger topics and one of the bigger classes in part because

these things change almost every year.

And there's a lot of people out there that are uncertain of how it's a change for them.

Yeah.

Exactly.

So that's a great one in those classes.

When are they going to be available?

Or when?

Yes.

Yeah.

So we, since we're our Wood County office has two different offices.

So we alternate every other month with our Marshfield office.

So our next one is going to be in July.

It's July 16th at our Rapids office from 10 to 1230.

So one of the things that I think is really helpful about this is, you know, come with

your questions.

You are able to talk to a, not just a real person, but face to face with a real person.

And I know that, and I'll use my mom and dad as an example of this where I've talked

with them about things.

And man, my father, he is a very bold Italian.

There is not much that that man is going to be shy away from talking to somebody about.

But these topics, he really feels like, well, I should already know this.

And so it holds him back from asking these questions or follow-up questions sometimes

that he wouldn't do on a phone.

But in person, he'll ask.

I think that that's a really great gift to people to be able to offer that, where, you

know, you're not sitting on a phone for hours or trying to navigate through a website

or something.

Here it is.

Just real person face to face.

And especially for that generation, it's so vital to be able to offer those services.

Yes.

Yep.

I imagine it goes a lot farther than even I realized, too, just talking it out loud here.

The farmer's market vouchers are available, one to touch on that.

Yeah.

So that has just started earlier in June, actually, June 2nd is when they started.

So they run through October 31st every year.

And I think the amount this year has changed a little bit from last year.

I think it's $25 this year for people and people who are 60 and older are eligible.

So as long as their income is at those income limits, they can qualify and they can apply

for it.

So you can always come in and ask questions.

So.

Yeah, I encourage you to do that.

I encourage you guys the address and how you can do that before you wrap up today and

let you know the website address and some of those things.

But definitely something that is available to the community that you should be using,

taking advantage of, if you can.

Yeah.

Also wanted to remind everybody, and this is something that we love doing.

And I make a point to do with the ADRC.

Michaela, I know that we just met, but I met the ADRC way years ago.

I was living in California and I was looking for ways to, not only to be honest, keep busy,

but do it like productive with my time.

And I started working at Special Olympics a little bit and through a good friend over

there, they told me about meals on wheels.

And I got to do a little of that when I was living out there.

And for me, I didn't have a car or anything at the time I was taking public transit.

So I only had two meals that I was dropping off.

And I bring it up and I, in the audience, knows I bring this up almost every time we

talk to the ADRC because it was so impactful to me.

I guarantee that I, it meant more to me than the people that I was dropping the meals

off to.

I made really good friends that I remember to this day.

And I learned so much about the importance of this system and this great volunteer service

certainly for the clients that it benefits.

It is not just a meal, it is an opportunity to check in on these people, it is an opportunity

to say hello, give them conversation, give them some fellowship that they may not have

otherwise.

We, we hear a lot of reports and see a lot of this in our own area here a little

on around the country about isolation and the fear of that.

But it took doing it to realize it is just as impactful for the volunteer.

It means it can mean so much to you as well.

It is a great service.

So I wanted to mention meals on wheels as a volunteer opportunity certainly, but there

is other opportunities as well.

There are.

Yes.

I had to reach out to our volunteer coordinator to just because she had a lot of great information.

But yes, meals on wheels, you know, drivers were always looking for even just people looking

to pack meals for the meals on wheels.

In our rapids office and in our Nikusa site as well, we're always looking for those help

or for that help.

But yeah, there are different, we have different classes too that we offer, always looking

for people to even participate or just even to help lead those classes or different things.

And then as well, our senior dining site in Nikusa too is looking for some assistance

too.

And keep in mind that there may be even be other opportunities or things that you may

find really, you know, really noteworthy to you or hit on a skill set of yours though,

oh, I'm good at this.

I can help out with that.

Something along those lines.

You just never know.

It's always a good idea to reach out.

The way that this worked for me, I heard about meals on wheels, but I just offered my service.

I told them what I was available and they worked around my schedule.

And that's something that they can do with you as well out there.

If you're looking at your schedule and like, I don't know how I could fit an hour in

or whatever, they work with you on that schedule to make it so that you can do it.

Definitely.

It's a really good service that I swear you'll benefit from just as much as our clients

out there, the people in the individuals that receive these meals.

And we wanted to remind everybody about the Marshfield office being open, the new location

again.

Congratulations about that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, it was a big adjustment, but yeah, it's been great so far from what I've heard.

I haven't seen it personally, but I've heard good things about it.

So yeah, just a reminder, it is open now.

They have changed their dates a little bit.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, they're open from 8 to 4 and then by appointment only on Wednesday

and Friday.

Good thing to keep in mind and a nice way to remind people, especially in that area of

that it's available that it's there and stuff.

We know a lot of times it takes a little while for the word amount to get around for some

places, especially for our nonprofits, where there isn't the dollars for advertising or something

along those lines.

So it's on us as people spread the word about that Marshfield location, everybody, along

with some of the other great things that we've talked about with Michaela today and keep

in mind, we've only scratched the surface of the services and the classes and the things

that are available over at the ADRC Central Wisconsin.

You can find out more by going to the website, ADRCW.org, ADRCW.org.

And Michaela, if people want to reach you specifically, is there a way to do that or just

send it to the website?

Is that the best way?

They can always go to the website for sure or stopping into when they just ask for a benefit

specialist.

And yeah, they can connect with me that way for sure.

Our ADRC of Central Wisconsin, located here in Rapids, is at 223rd Avenue, South, Sweet

One.

Can't miss it.

They're open Monday through Friday, 8 to 4.

Keep in mind, you can also give them a call, 715-421-0014-421-0014.

Be sure to follow them on social media as well, share their posts on your page.

We just never know who might see them otherwise.

And again, that website, ADRC-CW.org.

Michaela, you did it.

Got the first one down.

Nice job.

That was awesome.

It was good.

It was good.

You were great.

Thank you.

Nice to meet you.

And thank you again for joining us for the conversation.

Thank you for having me.

And thank you everybody for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.