Washington Island Community Health Program

Wichp provides assistance to Island residents, primarily elderly and their caregivers,providing information about their options. Wichp helps bring providers to the Island, and helps Island residents connect with off-island service providers.our primary focus of services falls within our 6 key in- home supportive care areas. 1)in home supportive care--this area includes home and office visits provided to residents to discuss and/or provide direct services. In 2023, wichp performed 59 home visits & 402 office visits for a total of 461 visits servicing 200+ residents/seniors & 150+ family units with Community Health supportive services or information. 2)home delivered meals (aka meals on wheels)--this Program is run in conjunction with the door county aging & disability resource center (adrc) senior meal Program. In 2023 mows provided 3,150 meals to 58 homebound residents/caregivers. Additionally in 2023 the frozen meal Program served 33 of our 58 homebound residents/caregivers with 666 meals. 3)medical equipment loan closet-this is run in conjunction with neighbor to neighbor of door county. In 2023, a total of 70 residents (seasonal & year round) were served and borrowed 138 pieces of medical equipment. 4)advocacy services-this is a unique service to wichp and is available to all Island residents, including seniors. It provides support and guidance to assist in the evaluation and selection of appropriate Health and supportive living services. This can include attending medical appointments,speaking with healthcare professionals on behalf of a client with their consent, attending patient care conferences to support smooth transitions from hospital or rehab to home and can help review/advise on medical bills and insurance documents. In 2023 we served 96 residents & 59 family units (for a total of 155)in this capacity . 5)lifeassist services-the staff installs and maintains in-home 24 hour monitoring as an extension of this Program with door county medical center in sturgeon bay. In 2023 there were 22 residents who utilized this service in their homes with a total of 21 units. 6)medical travel fund~the staff administers this Program and works closely with the Washington Island ferry line to assure residents who need to travel for physician ordered therapy and/or cancer treatment have reduced passage cost. Door-tran & door cancer also collaborated with wichp on this Program. In 2023 we serviced 112 residents and 79 family units for a total of 1,042 one way passenger trips and 302 one way auto trips. Additional key service areas: 7)connection to county wide resources--in 2023 we saw 225+ residents served by off Island providers such as unity (depere), memory care with door county medical center (dcmc), neighbor to neighborcaregiver respite programs, curative connections (green bay),options for independent living, door county dept. Of human services, door county public Health dept., help of door county, dcmc senior life solutions. In addition a total of 136 contacts were made (phone/in person) through adrc services which includes information & assistant specialists and disability & elderly benefits specialists contacts plus functional screen assessments. 8)outreach-this includes our blood pressure (bp) clinics, monthly caregiver support groups via adrc, annual open house/resource fair,and workshops/clinics (foot care & fluoride clinics), mason dinners, well study, nicolet bank fraud/scam presentation, souper bowl fundraiser and our new in 2023 coffee, cookies & conversation Program. Total number of residents served through these services = 797.

In 2023, the Island food pantry served 211 households which included 376 adults and 96 children for a total of 472 residents.

Wichp luncheon (formerly facts of life luncheon) - this Program met monthly 8 times(september to november and january to may) in 2023 for lunch with a speaker or activity planned for each event. We also held 3 intergenerational events with the end of the school year picnic in june, the packer party with the school students and a holiday breakfast with the school. The attendance of these events ranged from 49-120+ residents (adults and children).