September 24, 2018 at 4:19 p.m.
Lake Tomahawk board hears about Generations facility
Lake Tomahawk board hears about Generations facility
Last week, the Lake Tomahawk Town Board heard a presentation detailing the future plans for Generations.
Gerontologist Geri Heppe said when she moved to the Lakeland area five years ago to work with older adults, it was with the realization "we are the fastest growing area for older adults in the state of Wisconsin."
"We will surpass Milwaukee County in the number of older adults," she said. "And we are not ready. We're not even close to ready and it's a little frightening to me."
In fact, Heppe said, by 2020, the number of people age 65 and older in this part of northern Wisconsin, currently at 25 percent, is expected to be just over 40 percent.
That's compared to a national average of between 12 and 13 percent.
"The rest of the country is getting older as well but for some reason people are moving to the Northwoods," Heppe said. "I think part of it is people like to retire up here. My husband and I did, we thought it was going to be beautiful - and it is beautiful - but the resources are not there."
Heppe's the vice president of the organization's current board of directors. Before the senior center burned down in 2015, over 19,500 people a year benefitted from services provided there, she said.
"We're currently in the Hiawatha community center, a little one and a half room building," Heppe said. "We can't possibly serve people there so we're having to go out and do 'senior center without walls.'"
Currently, the Meals on Wheels program is run out of Holy Family Catholic Church.
"We're growing but we've got to build in order to meet those needs," Heppe said.
With the land gift from Ascension, the lot in Woodruff where the former senior center stood has been for sale.
"The center to be built will be twice as big as what the last one was because of the numbers, because of the demographics," Heppe said. "We have to plan with a forward thought, knowing what we've got coming up."
In years past, as area towns served by the Lakeland Senior Center began preparing budgets for the next year, there have been requests for appropriations from the Lakeland Senior Center.
"In the past, the communities have been wonderful in working with us," Heppe said. "But what we're looking for is a little bit more of a swat right now because we've got to deal with this growth factor."
She also noted that a Lutheran Homes center in Oconomowoc she was involved with is the model for the new "Generations" center to be built in Woodruff.
"It's been so successful," Heppe said of the Oconomowoc facility. "So we know what we're building, we know how it's going to meet the needs."
She said the program isn't one that's county-bound.
"We're drawing from Vilas and Oneida counties," Heppe said. "As it is now, as wonderful as the Department of Aging is, to expect people to drive to Rhinelander isn't going to be real possible."
There will be no duplication of services, she said, and the only program that will be conjunctive in nature will be the meals program since it's run through Oneida County.
"The center is not owned by Ascension," Heppe said. "I want to make that abundantly clear. Their relationship with us is now severed after they gave us the property. They really don't want to run a center so that's the other part of this. It will be just like it was before - run for the community by the community."
During a similar presentation last month at a Hazelhurst town board meeting, a spring ground breaking was mentioned by executive director Janell Schroeder.
Heppe clarified last week it will more than likely be the fall of 2019.
"We're looking at fall and it's all based on fundraising capability," she said.
Her husband, Mike, who is in charge of fundraising for the project, said the goal is $2.5 million.
"I'd like to see it closer to the $3 million mark because there's always things that happen once you break ground and start construction," he said.
Either way, Mike Heppe said he felt comfortable in saying ground would be broken in 2019.
He acknowledged there were a number of fundraising efforts for a number of projects in the area.
"We're in competition with everybody for their dollars," Mike Heppe said. "The good thing about this is with all those things going on, they're all great for the community. It's all going to be great for the Lakeland area."
Fundraising for Generations has been going since June and a little more than $200,000, or 10 percent of their goal, has been raised, he added.
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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