According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Wisconsin has the highest rate of deaths from falls in the country. The number of falls that emergency medical services respond to is rapidly growing each year, resulting in 55,000 emergency department visits in 2024 alone. This is bad for older adults who get hurt, first responders and health care providers who are stretched thin and taxpayers who shoulder the burden of hospitalizations and lengthy recoveries.
Unfortunately, many older adults are not getting the preventative care they need to maintain their balance and health. That needs to change.
The Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly (SAFE) Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Carol Miller and U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, both West Virginia Republicans, would address this crisis by allowing Medicare beneficiaries to receive a no-cost falls risk assessment from a physical or occupational therapist as part of their annual wellness visit.
A growing number of bipartisan co-sponsors — including Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin — supports this legislation. I urge all of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to do the same.
Kevin Svoboda is a physical therapist in Greendale and a member of the Alliance for Physical Therapy Quality and Innovation.
Guest commentaries reflect the views of their authors and are independent of the nonpartisan, in-depth reporting produced by Wisconsin Watch’s newsroom staff. Want to join the Wisconversion? See our guidelines for submissions.
More older residents in Milwaukee are facing homelessness, according to findings from a yearlong study funded through a grant from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, which included Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Community Advocates is a social service agency that provides a number of services, including those related to housing.
Researchers examined why older people are at risk for homelessness and what changes need to be made to keep them housed.
“Older adults used to be stable and now there’s instability,” said Erin Cronn, director of nursing for the City of Milwaukee Health Department.
The breakdown
The study showed that the majority of Milwaukee’s homeless older adults are Black males between 55 and 65, who have a high school diploma or some college.
According to Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin, their homelessness was due to a loss of income, family conflict or health challenges.
Matt Raymond, supportive housing programs director for Community Advocates, said intakes of people 62 and older have doubled and sometimes tripled over the last 10 or so years.
Raymond said that many of the older adults had never been homeless and that accessibility to resources for them can be difficult.
“This is many of their first time experiencing homelessness and having to navigate a system that can be complex and nuanced,” Raymond said.
To help get older adults the housing resources they need, Cronn said, there needs to be a better way of sharing important information.
“A lot of information is disseminated in electronic ways and there’s a lot of isolation, so word of mouth doesn’t always work,” Cronn said.
The study also revealed that many older adults would prefer for all services to be in one place and have better transportation and more places to stay.
Understanding the hard truth
Although the study highlighted promising solutions, Emily Kenney, director of strategic initiatives and transformation at the Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services, said there’s still no housing system, which is why older adults struggle.
Matt Raymond, Emily Kenney, Dr. William Calawerts and Erin Cronn, left to right, shared insight about housing instability among older adults. (Courtesy of Community Advocates)
She believes that homeless shelters, housing programs and landlords should be functioning under one system instead of operating separately.
“When you think about the criminal justice system, health or behavioral system, those systems work together with you from beginning to end, but not for housing,” she said.
She said this gap causes a lack in prevention support for older adults and only assists people when they’re already homeless.
“When I was running a coordinated entry system, what I heard all day was people were on the brink of losing their housing and needing resources, and the only solution was to come into a homeless system first,” Kenney said.
Homelessness and the health care system
Family medicine specialist Dr. William Calawerts said he’s received older patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health challenges but can’t help if they don’t have stable housing.
Without a home, older adults can’t take their medicine or attend doctor appointments, which will make them more ill, he said.
“Their health issues are usually extremely complex and serious, but oftentimes we’re not able to address that adequately in the outpatient setting,” he said.
Cronn said health can mean different things to homeless older adults compared with health care professionals.
For older adults, it means having safe housing, clipped nails, ability to wash their hands or having clean and dry clothes, but professionals may see health as traditional doctor visits, he said.
“As a practitioner, it’s hard to prioritize health and the folks we’re seeing because their version of what their needs are is different than what we’re seeing,” Cronn said.
Calawerts said when he’s training medical students about homeless patients, he teaches them to take their time, have compassion and treat them beyond their illness.
“We try to tell them that you’re a human first and a physician second,” Calawerts said. “I think we’ve lost the humanism component in a lot of things we do.”
Affordable housing challenges
Kenney raised concerns about housing programs that give out vouchers to help with paying rent but have been a contributing factor to older adult homelessness.
She said developers are using loans to build houses, and the way the loans get paid off is through rent.
“Developers can’t offer rent at a price people need because the tax credits they get aren’t enough,” Kenney said. “The people who get the vouchers have already entered the homeless system.”
As a result, Raymond said some older adults have been moving into permanent supportive housing. These programs help homeless individuals get their own long-term place and additional services to help.
Community Advocates refers some of its intakes to Autumn West Safe Haven, an apartment on Milwaukee’s North Side that gives homeless or mentally ill individuals a place to stay short term until they find stability.
According to Community Advocates, 36 individuals who were homeless or mentally ill received services and housing through Autumn West Safe Haven, while 101 individuals who were chronically homeless and living with a disability received immediate help in 2025.
“Over the last few years at Autumn West Safe Haven, we’ve gone into outreach community centers to offer on-site telepsychiatry care to our residents and established a relationship with Advocate Aurora to bring in their mobile clinic on a monthly basis,” Raymond said.
Hopes for the future
Overall, community leaders want people to know that existing organizations need to make their population broader and do a better job at synthesizing resources, even though it may take time.
“There’s no reason for Milwaukee not to be at the forefront fighting this nationally,” Kenney said.
Calawerts also mentioned the resilience of older adults, having heard many success stories of them getting through mental health, homelessness, unemployment and other challenges.
“Those stories are the ones that give me hope, and with more robust services that are connected in these spaces, we can see more of those successfully,” Calawerts said.
Doula services aren’t covered by Wisconsin Medicaid – known as BadgerCare – as of April 2026.
Doulas provide emotional support and education around childbirth. Unlike midwives (which are covered), they don’t perform medical tasks.
A Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokesperson confirmed doulas aren’t covered as a stand-alone benefit for Medicaid recipients.
State law requires the health department to get legislative approval before making changes to Medicaid. Doula coverage has been proposed by Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers but has not come to pass.
According to the National Health Law Program, 26 states and Washington, D.C., are actively reimbursing for Medicaid coverage of doula care. Seven more are in the process of doing so.
For many families across the Midwest, discussing end-of-life planning is about as comfortable as a January blizzard on Highway 175. However, proactive planning is a final act of care that prevents legal headaches and ensures a legacy stays within the family. In Wisconsin, specific statutes — ranging from marital property laws to unique transfer-on-death rules — make it essential to use the right tools. Whether you are a young parent or assisting aging parents, these are the legal and financial cornerstones for a solid plan.
Write a will and consider a living trust
A last will and testament is the traditional bedrock of any plan. In Wisconsin, a will allows you to name an executor (the person who will manage your estate) and a guardian for minor children. Without a will, a state judge — not your family — decides who raises your kids and how your assets are split.
For many Wisconsin families, a revocable living trust is a powerful alternative or supplement.
Benefit: Unlike a will, which must go through the public, often costly probate court process, a trust allows assets to pass privately and immediately to heirs.
Midwest reality: If you own property in multiple states (like a cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula or a farm in Iowa), a trust can prevent your family from having to open probate cases in every state where you own land.
Assign power of attorney: health care and finances
Control is often lost not at death, but during a period of incapacity. Wisconsin law recognizes two distinct roles:
Financial power of attorney: This grants a “trusted agent” the authority to pay your mortgage, manage your taxes and handle your bank accounts. Under Wisconsin Chapter 244, these are “durable” by default, meaning they remain valid even if you lose mental capacity.
Health care power of attorney: This allows someone to make medical decisions if you cannot. In Wisconsin, your spouse is not automatically authorized to make all medical decisions for you without this document. It requires two witnesses who are not related to you or responsible for your health care costs.
Create an advance directive (living will)
While a health care power of attorney names who makes decisions, an advance directive (often called a “declaration to physicians” in Wisconsin) tells them what those decisions should be. This document outlines your wishes regarding life-sustaining treatments, such as ventilators or feeding tubes, specifically if you are in a terminal condition or a persistent vegetative state.
For Wisconsin residents, the Department of Health Services provides standard forms that are legally recognized across all state health systems.
Name beneficiaries for accounts and insurance
One of the most common mistakes is assuming a will covers everything. In reality, beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, 401(k)s and IRAs “trump” what is written in a will. If your will says your estate goes to your children, but your 20-year-old life insurance policy still lists an ex-spouse, that money will likely go to the ex-spouse.
To keep things simple, many Wisconsin banks offer payable-on-death (POD) options for checking and savings accounts, which keeps that cash out of the probate court’s hands.
Transfer-on-death deeds
Wisconsin is one of the states that allow a transfer-on-death (TOD) deed for real estate. This is a game changer for the “family home.”
How it works: You file a TOD deed with your local register of deeds (such as the one in Juneau for Dodge County). It names who inherits your home, but it has no effect while you are alive. You can still sell the house or change your mind at any time.
The catch: Because Wisconsin is a marital property state, if you are married, your spouse generally must sign the TOD deed even if the spouse’s name isn’t on the original title.
Note: For small estates, Wisconsin offers a “transfer by affidavit” process for estates valued under $50,000. This allows heirs to collect assets without a full court proceeding, provided they follow strict notification rules for the state’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.
This story is published in collaboration with Multi-Media Channels. It originally appeared in Multi-Media Channels’ print “Dignity in Care” publication.
Hi, Wisconsin! Health reporter Addie Costello here.
I spent last Saturday with around 80 attendees of a senior breakfast in Merrill, and it was one of my best-spent weekends so far in 2026.
Northwoods residents packed a banquet hall to eat, talk with neighbors and list the biggest issues they face as older adults.
The Senior Empowerment Project, an organizing group focused on issues impacting older people in rural areas and small towns, organized the event and asked me to give a short presentation about my reporting on long-term care issues. The most exciting part? Once I finished talking, a microphone was passed from table to table as older adults shared the questions and issues they think about the most.
Where can they get transportation on the weekends? How can older adults afford to stay in their homes as property taxes increase? Where can they get nutritious food?
Wall decor is shown at the Northwoods Senior Breakfast at the Eagles Club in Merrill, Wis., March 28, 2026. (Addie Costello / Wisconsin Watch)
I left the event with a long list of questions I plan to answer in a new project. We’re calling it Q&Aging, a series of short stories where I interview experts to answer your questions about getting older in Wisconsin — whether about health care, housing or what comes next.
I reported this as part of our collaboration with several Multi-Media Channels, which cover swaths of northeast and central Wisconsin. Find the full Dignity in Care project here.
Choosing a long-term care provider is an important, expensive decision. Like test-driving a car, unannounced visits can provide helpful insight.
So what should someone do before a “walk-in” visit?
Wisconsin Watch asked two experts to weigh in:
Devon Christianson, director of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County.
Mike Pochowski, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association.
Here’s what they recommend:
Start with a scheduled tour. The person giving tours likely has important information about a facility’s care and costs. The state health department provides a guide for comparing assisted living providers, and the federal government has a similar guide for nursing homes. ADRCs can also help people prepare for tours.
Ask about “walk-in” visits. Facility staff might list certain times that are not ideal or explain security concerns, especially in a facility that offers memory care. But if the answer is an absolute no, that is something to consider when comparing providers.
Be transparent. The goal of drop-in visits is not to catch a provider doing something bad. Prospective residents or their family members should tell staff who they are and go through the normal guest registration process.
Be respectful. Nursing and assisted living facilities are people’s homes. Visit at a reasonable time and stay in common areas.
Ask residents and their families if they would be open to talking, Christianson said. Don’t base your decision around one resident’s experience. Use these conversations as a tool to help inform your decision.
This article was inspired by a reader sharing an experience touring facilities for a loved one. Do you have something to share? Please reach out.
Q&Aging
Aging comes with big questions — whether it’s about health care, housing or what comes next.
Wisconsin Watch is working to answer questions and share practical tips about aging in Wisconsin. To ask a question or offer a suggestion, fill out this form or contact reporter Addie Costello via email (acostello@wisconsinwatch.org) or phone (608-616-5239).
People cannot avoid death, but they often avoid talking about it. That’s why many people don’t receive as much — or any — hospice care they qualify for, experts say.
“There’s a real taboo in society that hospice equals death,” said Alisa Gerke, the board chair of Wisconsin Hospice and Palliative Care Collaborative and executive director at Unity Hospice and Palliative Care, a nonprofit provider that serves 14 northeast Wisconsin counties.
The goal of hospice isn’t to speed up the dying process; it’s to make people more comfortable — treating the symptoms of an illness instead of trying to cure it.
Once families enroll in hospice, Gerke said, they often ask: “How come nobody told us about this sooner?”
When to talk about hospice
Don’t wait for your provider to bring up hospice.
Patients and providers often wait for the other person to bring hospice up, said Angela Novas, an advanced certified hospice and palliative care nurse and consultant at the nonprofit Hospice Foundation of America. Let providers know that’s something you might be interested in.
Patients or their loved ones can also reach out to hospice providers directly and ask for an eligibility assessment, Novas said.
The basic requirements for adults to receive hospice care under Medicare include:
Verification from two physicians that a patient has a life expectancy of six months or less.
A patient’s willingness to pursue treatments to provide comfort instead of treatments aimed at extending life expectancy.
Clearing up misunderstandings about hospice
Some people may have misperceptions about hospice. Here is what it is not:
A place. Instead, it’s a model of care, Gerke said. While some providers may run facilities, hospice care can be provided at home and in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals and other settings.
Constant nursing care. Hospice is meant to supplement care from family or facility caregivers, Novas said. But providers should be readily accessible for questions and concerns.
Stopped if someone lives longer than six months. Instead, providers work to re-certify that someone is still likely to die within the next six months, Gerke said. Patients are no longer eligible for hospice if their life expectancy unexpectedly improves.
Permanent. Patients can decide to stop hospice and try curative treatment. If their outlook doesn’t improve, they can return to hospice, Gerke said. They can also freely switch providers.
So what’s palliative care?
Palliative care is a philosophy and medical speciality focused on alleviating suffering, according to Dr. Sara Johnson, a palliative care physician and University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health professor.
Hospice is a form of palliative care for people at the end of life. But people with a serious illness can access palliative care earlier in their diagnosis and while receiving curative treatments.
Palliative care services are becoming more accessible, Johnson said.
Palliative care specialists add a layer of support for patients and their families, Johnson said.
There is no harm in asking a provider about palliative care options, Johnson said. “If you’re thinking about it, just ask.”
How to find the right provider
Ask local providers for hospice care recommendations, Novas said. But don’t be afraid to shop around. Experts recommend asking these questions before choosing a provider:
How long have you served this area, and where are your staff located?
“Having staff that know that community, live in that community, are a part of that community is huge,” Gerke said.
What is your response time?
A patient’s condition can quickly change, making it important to know how quickly staff will answer calls or arrive in those cases.
What is your relationship with nearby providers?
If you know you want to use a particular nursing home, hospital or physician, it helps to know whether hospice providers have relationships and contracts with them.
What grief support do you offer?
Medicare requires hospice companies to provide families with bereavement services. But the level of those services can range widely.
What is your Medicare rating?
Medicare.gov offers a hospice look-up tool with quality care ratings. The federal agency provides comparative ratings based on family surveys and metrics like nursing visits in patients’ last days before death.
Are you for-profit or nonprofit?
Private equity and publicly traded companies are increasingly taking hold of the hospice industry. Those providers have been associated with lower quality of care, according to a Cornell University study.
For-profits face expectations around financial performance and typically have obligations to shareholders, Gerke said.
But a nonprofit status does not guarantee better care, Novas said. People should prioritize whether a provider fits their specific needs.
What services do your volunteers provide?
Medicare requires hospice providers to have a volunteer program. Do volunteers play games with patients? Provide pet therapy? Read to people? Some volunteer programs are more robust than others, Novas said.
What medications do you not cover?
Not all medications and supplies are covered under the Medicare hospice benefit, Novas said. It’s important to know what you might have to pay for out-of-pocket or with other health coverage.
Aging comes with big questions — whether it’s about health care, housing or what comes next.
Wisconsin Watch is working to answer questions and share practical tips about aging in Wisconsin. To ask a question or offer a suggestion, fill out this form or contact reporter Addie Costello via email (acostello@wisconsinwatch.org) or phone (608-616-5239).
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Nine of Wisconsin’s 72 counties are “maternity care deserts”: no hospitals and birth centers offering obstetric care and no obstetric providers such as obstetricians.
The nine, according to the latest March of Dimes report (2024), are largely rural:
Adams, Douglas, Forest, Kewaunee, Lafayette, Marquette, Oconto, Pepin and Rusk.
Maternal care deserts drive maternal mortality rates, which generally are higher for Black women and women in rural areas, according to a 2025 study by Brown University researchers.
Individuals in states with a high prevalence of maternity care deserts had 34.2% greater risk of maternal mortality and 18.3% greater risk of infant mortality, Yale University researchers found in 2025.
The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recommended extending pregnant women’s Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum, from two months, to improve care and hospital finances.
Gov. Tony Evers recently signed legislation for that extension.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
The Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin is experiencing a major decline in organ donors while waitlists for patients in need of transplants grow.
There are 1,450 Wisconsin patients awaiting an organ transplant, but there’s been a 350% increase in the number of people removing themselves from the Wisconsin donor registry, according to Colleen McCarthy, vice president of organ and tissue donation at Versiti.
“Organ donation is built on public trust, and we are losing it,” McCarthy said. “There is much national news with misinformation that creates fear in people.”
McCarthy wants people to understand that an organ donation specialist’s role includes supporting families, medically managing donated organs, allocating them based on priority and offering public education.
Especially on misconceptions.
Some people worry that their life won’t be saved if they become an organ donor or that they’re too old to donate one.
“We make every effort to save a life,” McCarthy said. “The oldest organ donor in the United States is 96 years old, so we evaluate all ages regardless of medical history.”
McCarthy emphasizes that if you have multiple health conditions like diabetes, hepatitis C or HIV, there are other organs in the body that can be safe for a transplant.
“There’s very few rule-outs in organ donation,” she said. “We just have to make sure that those organs are matched with the right recipient.”
Navigating life without a kidney
Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin is in need of kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs and other organs to save lives.
“The kidney is the organ in most need,” McCarthy said.
Among the patients waiting for a kidney transplant is Kelly Norlander, who has known since she was a teenager that she’d be in need of a kidney one day.
“It’s never easy when you know it’s coming, but I was able to wrap my head around it and process it all,” she said.
Norlander has a genetic condition called polycystic kidney disease, which causes continuous growth of cysts in the kidney.
She was put on the transplant list two years ago and has been receiving dialysis treatments three times a week for four hours each day for the past year and a half.
Dialysis is a process that filters toxins from the body when kidneys stop working.
Although Norlander works full time remotely, she’s stuck bringing her computer to dialysis with her most days.
“Dialysis feels like a part-time job within itself,” Norlander said. “The longer dialysis is, the harder the transplant will be on your body.”
“I hope people think about Kelly and the others who are waiting on a transplant,” McCarthy said. “We understand that donating is a personal choice, but I think people need to spend some time thinking about getting accurate information on organ donation.”
Norlander’s father passed away seven years ago from the same condition because he didn’t qualify for a transplant.
Norlander also wants people to consider the life-saving impact they can have by becoming an organ donor.
“You’re not just saving one life, you’re saving several,” she said.
Keeping a consistent blood supply
The harsh winter, including the most recent blizzard, is causing residents to donate less blood this year, which has led to a blood supply shortage for Versiti.
According to Versiti, 11 of its donor centers and six mobile drives were canceled on Monday. Versiti was hoping to schedule 450 appointments to make up for the ones that were canceled.
Versiti is also trying to prepare for the warmer seasons, as sometimes the supply can drop during good weather, too.
“It doesn’t take much to disrupt the supply,” said Lauren Patzman, recovery services supervisor at Versiti. “When people are traveling and getting ready to go somewhere for spring break or the holidays, those are the times we see declines in donations.”
Throughout the year, Versiti relies heavily on high school students, as many of their schools host blood drives. But when school is out, finding volunteers becomes harder.
Patzman said the organization attends festivals and local events during the summer to spread awareness about blood, organ and eye donation. However, sometimes it’s hard to utilize its mobile bus because people aren’t always prepared to give blood.
“It’s hot, people are walking around all day and may not be hydrated or had a good breakfast beforehand,” Patzman said.
The organization is urging more residents to donate blood to prevent another shortage.
It’s in need of all donated blood types, especially donors with a rare blood type called Ro.
According to Versiti Research Blood Institute, Ro blood is found only within 4% of donors and is often given to sickle cell patients. Many sickle cell patients in Milwaukee require blood transfusions every three to four weeks and need over 60 red blood cell units each year.
Other individuals, including burn victims, cancer patients, a mother giving birth and more can receive donated blood.
Patzman said the organization tries to keep three to five days of blood supply available to share with hospitals.
“If and when a blood shortage happens, hospitals do have to make difficult decisions that may include delaying surgeries and adjusting treatments,” she said.
Taking next steps with a quick visit
Patzman reminds individuals there’s always room to put donating blood on your to-do list.
“People don’t realize how easy it is to just walk in and out within an hour, and it’s not as scary as people think it is,” Patzman said. “Blood is perishable and it has a shelf life.”
If you are interested in donating blood, click here to enter your ZIP code to find nearby donor centers or mobile drives.
To become an organ, tissue and eye donor, click here for more details.
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