2025 National Volunteer Week Highlight: The Wischnias, a Dynamic Medicare Counseling Duo
Every year, National Volunteer Week serves as a reminder to recognize and celebrate the generous contributions of volunteers in the community. At Sourcewise, volunteers enable us to expand our reach in the community allowing us to serve as many clients as possible. This year, National Volunteer Week falls from April 20 through 26, so join us in highlighting two of our most faithful and consistent volunteers: Abe and Jan Wischnia.
The Wischnias have been registered volunteer counselors with the Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program (HICAP) by Sourcewise since 2016. Each HICAP volunteer counselor undergoes extensive training to understand the intricacies of the Medicare ecosystem and is an essential resource to all Medicare beneficiaries, their family members, and advocates. Every counselor commits to a minimum of 40 hours of service a year, with hours drawn from a variety of activities ranging from 1:1 counseling appointments, Medicare presentations, and more.
Part of what makes each volunteer such a vibrant addition to Sourcewise is the rich background and unique perspective they bring with them. For Jan, volunteering her time as a HICAP counselor followed as a natural progression of her career in social and healthcare services for older adults. She initially learned about HICAP when a counselor would provide annual presentations at the continuing care retirement community she worked at, and over time through cultivating a relationship with the counselor she grew an appreciation for the gap in Medicare understanding that HICAP filled. For her husband Abe, his interest stemmed from his own struggle to understand Medicare when it came time for him to enroll.
Jan and Abe have witnessed firsthand in their own lives and with their clients the need for HICAP services. They noticed that many older adults make Medicare decisions based on misleading advertising and well-intentioned misinformation from friends and online sources. Beyond that, they also observed a general dearth of knowledge many retirees have concerning Medicare.
From April 2024 through April 2025 alone, Jan has donated 279 hours of service and Abe has donated 192. As every HICAP appointment can last up to an hour, that’s hundreds of appointments!
We hear all the time how thankful Sourcewise clients are for services like HICAP that provide essential information for free to empower anyone, regardless of income, to take charge of their health and future. This National Volunteer Week and every week we are so thankful for individuals like the Wischnias who choose to invest their time and energy back into the community. Every individual who chooses to volunteer not only makes an invaluable impact on our organization, but in the life of each client we serve.