August 22, 2016 at 2:56 p.m.
New president looks to invigorate senior center
New president looks to invigorate senior center
By Evan Verploegh-
An Aug. 10 meeting saw the addition of three new board members including John Bie, Dan Sullivan and Susan Way. Heather Gathmann was hired as the program director of the Lakeland Senior Center. In addition, a new group of officers were elected including Koch after former president Brian Nerdahl stepped down to a vice president role. Holy Donne will step into the secretarial position while Steve Metz will act as treasurer.
While new faces will grace the board, three longterm board members of the Lakeland Retirement Foundation have stepped down. Norm Kalies, John Ross and Rollie Radkte will relinquish their positions.
Dr. Koch has spent much of his life as a teacher and has taught "everyone from eighth- graders to doctoral students. For much of his career, Koch worked as a college professor of English at St. Mary's University in Winona, Minn. He also has worked 16 years as a senior writer for a publishing company."
Most recently, Koch retired as the director of Ring Lake Ranch in Dubois, Wyo. Ring Lake Ranch is a ecumenical retreat and conference center.
After initially retiring to La Crosse, Koch and his wife made another move to the Northwoods, which he has now called home for two and a half years. While volunteering at the Lakeland Food Pantry, Koch said he struck up a conversation about the senior center with a current board member and learned about their desire for new board members.
"I was asked if I was interested in the position. Fools rush in where angels dare to tread and I said 'sure,'" Koch said. "I was on the board for less than a year before the fire happened."
Koch said the aftermath following the destruction of the original senior center has been difficult and the senior center is still on the path to full recovery, but that things are looking positive and they are making progress.
"What we're trying to do is keep people in the area updated with what we're doing," Koch said. "One question that I get regularly is when we are going to construct a new building."
The Lakeland Senior Center is still on the mend from a May 6, 2015 fire which destroyed their former location. Since, the senior center has been running out of the offices of the Hiawatha Mobile Home Estates in Woodruff.
"The aftermath since the fire has been challenging. I wouldn't say it has been negative at all, though," Koch said. "Things kept up and going. Within a week we moved into the Hiawatha. The Goodwill collections continued unabated. Meals on Wheels moved to Holy Family and were able to use their kitchen. Many of the programs that we were doing continued without much hesitation."
Koch said this perception that the Lakeland Senior Center is not as active as it once was is simply untrue. While the organization took time to revaluate the needs of the community following the fire and develop a long range plan, the senior center is in full swing and Koch believes the board has a much better grip on direction for the next five years.
One question on the public's mind has been the topic of a replacement building. Koch said for right now, the Hiawatha has been more than satisfactory and the board will not take further action until the requirements for the new space are firmly established.
"We really want to ask for patience on the subject of the rebuild. Until we have a clear sense of what we need, it's hard to put together a proposal for a building that will be attractive and convincing to donors," Koch said. "At this point, we're getting closer but we're still not quite sure whether to build, buy or even lease. Things have changed over the last 25 years and we need a building to reflect that."
Despite common misconception, funding for a new building would indeed come from donation. The Lakeland Retirement Foundation is a non-profit, standalone operation.
"A lot of people in the community have the thought that we are a government agency and our complete funding was through the county or the state," Koch said. "After the fire, some have said 'well, why doesn't the government do something about this?' We could have closed up our doors, but we decided to keep going a continue to build something for the community."
In January of 2016, the board of the Lakeland Retirement Foundation sent out 1,200 surveys to residents of surrounding areas in effort to discern the desires and needs of the community for a senior living center. They received over 30 percent of the surveys and have returned with a long-term plan of action best suited to the Lakeland area.
"There is a strong interest in programs on wellness and health. We had done some of that in the past, but now we understand that is a real emphasis that the community needs," Koch said. "The changes that we have been undergoing have allowed us to step back realize what we need to do to best cater to the people living in the Northwoods."
The world of senior care has been an ever evolving subject and Koch said he has seen numerous trends and changes come about in the past several years. Most notably, the sheer number of seniors that grace the Northwoods.
"There are just a lot more of us now. A couple years ago about half in Vilas and Oneida County were 65 or above and those numbers are very quickly growing. That demographic in of itself speaks to a real change from 10 to 15 years ago," he said. "The second piece of data that is confronting us is that while the senior population is growing, the number of people able to serve those seniors is declining. In other words, people coming out of college are not looking to move to an area like the Northwoods. That is going to face us with a whole additional set of challenges."
Koch questions what it will mean for access of services as places such as Howard Young and Marshfield Clinic struggle to find young doctors and nurses to come to the area.
"This is a huge issue facing the community that we have seen signs of already in the medical field," he said. "With more people living longer, we need to be able to provide these types of senior services."
Services for the community have been ever evolving and with aerobic centers such as Tone Zone and Snap Fitness and the presence of a public library which creates a different set of needs as the Senior Center moves forward. Koch said it is about locating their place and how they can be most effective.
"When the original senior center was built, we had a library and quite a bit of exercise equipment, but the services for the community have now improved a lot so it is about finding our niche among that array of needs," he said. "That's something we're still getting a handle on."
Koch said in order to continually improve the senior center they need volunteers from the community who are willing to assist in their vision of creating superb care.
Those interesting in volunteering can call the center at (715) 356-9118.
The opportunities related to the senior center extend beyond their physical location. Many activities take place within the Lakeland community at numberous locations beyond the walls of the senior center.
"Just because an event we don't sponsor doesn't take place at the senior center, we are trying to offer activities that take place beyond our building," Koch said. "We want to encourage this idea of a "community without walls."
Evan Verploegh may be reached via email at ever [email protected].
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