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Falls are the leading cause of injury death for people over 65 years old across the country, and more than 1,800 older Wisconsinites died from them in 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

But fall injuries don’t have to be so common.

Wisconsin Watch talked with local experts and attended three Madison-area classes designed to improve balance and prevent fall injuries: Stepping On, Parkour for Seniors and Ballroom Basics for Balance. 

Here’s what we learned.

Practicing balance can be fun

Children walk on curbs and twirl on purpose. But as people get taller, heavier and older they often stop practicing movements that help with balance, said Susan Frikken, a physical therapist and co-creator of Ballroom Basics for Balance. 

The class uses music and different dance genres to teach people to improve balance. Students often waltz on their tip toes, turn during tangos and switch from lead to follower to challenge their minds during salsa.

The nonprofit Safe Communities outlines its “Keys to Better Balance” on its website, including the balance exercises used during ballroom dancing and movements people can do at home. 

Throw away the throw rug

Loose rugs and cluttered walkways increase fall risk. Small home improvements like taping down rugs, installing grab bars and adding bright tape to stairs can significantly improve safety, according to the AARP.

AgeBetter Today provides free home safety assessments for older adults in Dane County. Elsewhere in Wisconsin, residents can ask their Aging and Disability Resource Center about local home safety resources. 

Talk about falls

Stepping On is a multi-week fall prevention course that has been shown to reduce falls by more than 30%. Wisconsin residents can find a statewide list of classes through the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging. 

Attendees at a recent class in Madison reviewed the importance of regular eye exams. 

Marcy DeGreef, who facilitated the class, suggested discussing fall risk with health care providers. It’s important for people to understand how the medication they are taking might  impact balance, she explained. 

Additional resources

The National Council on Aging provides an online exam to help determine a person’s fall risk. 

The Madison School and Community Recreation program guide lists classes — like Parkour for Seniors —- that help people build fall resiliency. People can register online or get assistance by calling 608-204-3000. 

How to maintain balance as you age — and prevent dangerous falls is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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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.

Don’t leave a mess: What Wisconsin families should know about wills, trusts and end-of-life planning is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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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? 

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.

If you’re a diligent reader of Wisconsin Watch newsletters, you may remember us asking people last year to share their experiences with hospice. Or last month, when I asked for questions about long-term care. 

We’re now getting back to you with answers. Here’s a look at our first installments of Q&Aging: 

Can you tour long-term care facilities without an appointment? 

A reader’s email inspired this story. The short answer is yes. Read on for more specific tips from experts.  

What to know about hospice and palliative care in Wisconsin

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.

Don’t leave a mess: What Wisconsin families should know about wills, trusts and end-of-life planning

Here, Multi-Media Channels Editor Taylor Hale reports on the important paperwork we all need to stop avoiding — for the benefit of our loved ones.

If you have a question or a suggestion for the series, fill out this form or contact me directly at acostello@wisconsinwatch.org or 608-616-5239.

Q&Aging tackles your questions about aging in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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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.

Can you tour long-term care facilities without an appointment? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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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:

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.

4. 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.
   
   
5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

More resources on what to ask providers and know about hospice can be found through the Hospice Foundation of America’s website.

What to know about hospice and palliative care in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.