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New county resource center aims to streamline services for elderly, disabled

Susan Neiger uses a walker to get around her Delavan home. She receiveds help from the county’s new Aging & Disability Resource Center. The center brings together services from different divisions of the Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services. Terry Mayer/staff.

ELKHORN -- Shortly after giving birth to her second child last year, Susan Neiger began feeling sick.

Since then, she has had rotator cuff surgery, a hysterectomy and, more recently, hip-replacement surgery.

Neiger, 40, had already been diagnosed with the beginning stages of multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, and now was struggling to get around her Delavan home with a wheelchair and a walker.

With her husband running out of vacation time from his job as an electrical engineer and family members not available, Neiger was searching for help.

"It's frustrating," she said. "I can't drive right now. I'm home bound. Doing everything is difficult. I'm not fully disabled, but I need help doing things myself."

So she turned to the Aging & Disability Resource Center, which opened Aug. 3 in the Walworth County Health and Human Services Department in Elkhorn.

While Neiger was ineligible for some programs because of income and age requirements, she did receive Meals on Wheels, and the ADRC was able to suggest other services she will be looking at in the near future, including a county transportation service and the SHARE food program.

Neiger is the kind of person the ADRC can help, said Lori Muzatko, the center's director.

Read the full story in the Sept. 20 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.