Wauwatosa senior commission spotlights housing, fall prevention and digital-access efforts in annual report

The Wauwatosa Community Affairs Committee heard the Senior Commission's 2024 annual report at its Nov. 4 meeting, where commissioners highlighted a growing older-adult population, housing affordability concerns, high local rates of fatal falls and efforts to expand digital access and volunteer supports for seniors.

Cathy Kauscher, chair of the Senior Commission, said the commission relies on 2023 Census-based figures showing about 23% of Wauwatosa residents are age 60 or older and that the share of residents 85 and older in Wauwatosa is more than twice that of Milwaukee County. "The biggest takeaway from this is that the population of 23%, almost a quarter of Wauwatosa's population is made up of people that are 60 years of age or older," Kauscher said.

Kauscher and Carmen Pangolin, the Health Department liaison to the commission, tied demographics to economic and public-health concerns. Kauscher said "over half of the Wauwatosa households headed by someone 65 have an income at or below $35,000" and that "almost 40% of our Wauwatosa residents, more than 65 years of age, live alone." The commission highlighted social isolation and loneliness as risk factors linked to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, dementia and falls.

Pangolin emphasized fall prevention as a priority and described local programming. "We have a class that we teach out of the Health Department called Stepping On, an evidence based prevention, fall prevention course," she said, and noted the commission and Health Department collaborate to promote that class. Pangolin added that Wisconsin continues to have the highest rate of deaths from falls in the country, a factor that shapes the commission's work.

Housing and affordability were a second major focus. Kauscher said the commission partners with city staff and the citizen-led Joint Housing Coalition to advocate for affordable and accessible housing, noting work on the Wauwatosa Home Loan Repair Program, discussions about voucher programs and "promotion of more missing middle housing" and proposed zoning updates.

The commission also described digital-equity efforts. Pangolin outlined two programs: "TOSA Tech Time," an intergenerational one-on-one help session, and Senior Planet classes for instructional workshops on topics such as QR codes, online safety and using MyChart. Because many seniors rely on paper information, the commission is producing a printed resource guide next year supported by commission funds.

On funding, commissioners said the commission spent carryover funds accumulated over several years to finance the resource guide, cooking classes, sponsorship for the Wisconsin Advocacy Network and a $1,500 allocation to ARIS to support a volunteer recruitment drive. Kauscher said an ARIS request for $40,000 exceeded the commission's balance; the commission allocated $1,500 for volunteer-building efforts and reported it expects a $5,000 allotment next year but described some confusion during the funding transition.

Committee members asked about outreach to seniors who live alone. Alder Foley asked whether the health department had considered a reach-out service; Pangolin described sharing information packets with home-delivered-meal recipients and said a neighborhood-connector pilot (block-by-block volunteers) is in early development in partnership with the Health Department and TOSA NAC.

Alder Bridal suggested exploring Nextdoor and GIS mapping to support a mutual-aid network for tasks such as snow removal and lawn care; the commission said it would look into the idea. The committee took no formal votes on the report. The meeting ended with the commission noting ongoing work on advocacy, volunteer recruitment and the forthcoming paper resource guide.