The Oconto County Health and Human Services Department is on track to complete the transition of aging and disability services from the Oconto County Commission on Aging by Jan. 1, department director Scott Shackelford reported to the county board Dec. 19.
The board voted in October not to renew the nonprofit commission’s long-standing contracts with the county for 2025 because of chronic financial issues, including overdue invoices and IRS payments.
• Transportation services will be handled by Oconto County Transit, a new division of the tribe’s Menominee Regional Transit.
• Marinette Elderly Services has secured the contract to provide senior citizen meals at congregate sites and through home delivery.
• An elderly benefits specialist will be available at the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of the Wolf River Region office in Oconto Falls.
Meal programs
“Things are falling into place,” Shackelford said about nutritional services.
Meal sites at the Oconto Falls Senior Center and the Bill Lazansky Community Center in Mountain are certain to be operational again after the new year, and probably Oconto City Hall as well, he said. The county is still evaluating the feasibility of Gillett and any other sites.
“I think it’s going well; obviously there’ll be some hiccups, things we just didn’t know about,” Shackelford said. “Our goal is to deliver good quality services effective Jan. 2.”
Marinette Elderly Services plans to prepare meals at its Crivitz kitchen, then bring the food to Mountain on 64 to distribute to the northern Oconto County region out of the Mountain site.
An agreement for Marinette to use the commercial kitchen at the Oconto Falls Senior Center as the southern region hub was expected to be completed Dec. 20, he added.
More than 80 people were currently signed up to receive meals on wheels when Shackelford made his report to the county board Dec. 19.
“That is the biggest worry of anybody, because that is the most vulnerable population,” he said. “We don’t want anybody to fall through the cracks.”
Shackelford urged people who might know of anyone who might qualify for home delivery and hasn’t yet signed up under the new system to have them call HHS or Marinette Elderly Services to get on the list.
A cook is not yet hired for the Oconto Falls kitchen. Shackelford thanked Supervisor Jolene Barkhaus for helping to arrange for The Main Course, a new restaurant and meals-to-go business at 142 N. Main St. in Oconto Falls, to provide the meals for the congregate sites and meals on wheels in January until a chef can be hired.
“They’ll be a nice backup in case we have a pop-up event or the cook gets sick; we can easily have that as a backup in our plan, so thank you Jolene for that,” he said.
Barkhaus is the owner of Jo Jo’s Diner in Stiles and said in November that it would be a conflict of interest for her business to provide the service but she would assist in finding another provider.
He added that toenail clipping services will continue with the same provider at the congregate sites.
“I’ve had a lot of calls about that,” Shackelford said.
Transportation
Shackelford shared a flyer that his department is distributing outlining the transportation services to elderly and disabled citizens through the contract with Menominee Regional Transit, which is already operating in Menominee, Shawano and Langlade counties.
The service is provided for individuals who need rides for medical appointments, nutritional needs including groceries, social or recreational purposes, and personal business.
People with medical appointments can schedule them Monday through Friday, and a daily bus will be available weekdays within the city of Oconto. Rural bus routes have been scheduled on a weekly basis as follows:
• Monday – Northern route (Towns of Townsend, Lakewood, Doty, Riverview, Mountain and northern Brazeau).
• Tuesday – Central route (Towns of Breed, Bagley, southern Brazeau, Maple Valley, Spruce, Underhill and Gillett).
• Wednesday — Oconto Falls route (City and Town of Oconto Falls).
• Thursday – Eastern route (Towns of Lena, Little River, Stiles and Oconto – but not the city of Oconto, which is served daily).
• Friday – Southern route (Towns of Morgan, Abrams, Pensaukee, Chase and Little Suamico.
More information is available at www.mitwbus.com and www.co.oconto.wi.us.
Elderly benefits specialist
The county and ADRC of the Wolf River Region are working to get an elderly benefits specialist position on board, Shackelford said. He described the person as “a navigator” to assist seniors in getting the benefits they are due.
Contracting with ADRC enables state and federal funds to pay for the position, he said.
The specialist would be based at the Oconto Falls ADRC office. It had been a service of the Oconto County Commission on Aging office at Oconto City Hall.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
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