Mayor's Community Update - 03/29/2019

Greetings! At the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, staff presented an overview of results from the 2018 Aging in Place work completed by the Waupun Aging Coalition last year. In 2018 the Council approved our updated Comprehensive Planning which was the impetus for the formation of the Aging Coalition and their work. You might wonder why we undertook this work. Simply put, our population, like most of Wisconsin, is aging and as the baby boomers retire we will see a larger percentage of our population over 65 years of age. This fact is causing communities around the country to undertake this type of planning process to prepare. The work of the Aging Coalition was funded by a planning grant received in collaboration with Waupun Memorial Hospital through the UW School of Nursing. As part of the grant, we conducted a community assessment. Initial findings identified a number of concerns that older adults and their caregivers have, including social inclusion, affordable and accessible housing, transportation limitations, and lack of knowledge of available resources to support living independence. In the survey, 85% of respondents indicated that it is very important for them to stay independent in their home for as long as possible. Of the survey respondents, 50% live alone with 25% of those living alone reporting that they have no one who regularly checks on them. While living alone and the absence of a caregiver do not guarantee social isolation, they are predisposing factors to isolation over time. Both social isolation and loneliness are associated with a high risk of mortality, increased risk of dementia/cognitive decline, depression and other health factors, and are more likely to result in the need for long-term care services. This research also highlighted the importance of how often seniors engage in social activities as a means of combatting isolation and pinpointed the critical importance of the Senior Center as a resource that helps strengthen community connections and provide the needed resources. Separate but tied to this work, last year we complete a strategic facilities study which identified the need to improve the current senior center facility. Attendance is growing and the size of the facility is no longer adequate and ADA improvements are needed to serve this growing community. So, what does all of this mean for 2019? At the end of 2018, members of Waupun’s Aging Coalition pursued an implementation grant from the UW School of Nursing and recently received word that the grant was approved. This grant will support the implementation from the planning grant work which includes goals to improve the senior center, develop strong wrap around services/programming for seniors, the creation of a housing plan that addresses affordable and accessible housing for seniors, and the creation of a plan to improve transportation resources in the community. The grant awards $150,000 over a two and a half year period to complete this work. Immediately, the dollars will be used to expand our economic development coordinator role from part-time with an increased focus on community development responsibilities. More information and a copy of the final report from the planning grant can be found on the city’s website.

As a reminder, Madison Street construction begins on Monday, 4/4, with the closure of North Madison Street. Also, spring bulk pickup will be held on April 8, 9, and 10, 2019. Please see the city’s website for further details. See you around town!