Help Wanted

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At the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging (MNRAAA), our mission is to provide advocacy, information, resources and assistance so that older adults can maintain the lifestyle of their choice. To support our mission, we are looking for people with a passion for aging-related issues.

We are currently seeking additional members to serve on the MNRAAA board, board committees or as a volunteer.

If you are interested in learning more about MNRAAA, our board or volunteering opportunities, please contact Jason W. Swanson at jswanson@mnraaa.org.

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Volunteering During COVID-19

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With the events surrounding COVID-19, stay at home order from Governor Walz and unemployment uncertainties, we have heard a lot about volunteering. Pre-pandemic, the Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging (MNRAAA) was part of a coalition in the State of Minnesota to bring changes to assist volunteer drivers (volunteerdrivermn.org) and how these drivers are defined by current state law. This movement has taken a back seat as we come together to combat this virus. Volunteering now takes on a new meaning, has a new look and feels different.

Historically when you think of volunteering, you may think of a church bake sale, making cookies for a cookie walk or sitting at a booth for an organization. Now volunteering takes on a whole new purpose. Organizations throughout Minnesota are looking for volunteers to help at-risk groups, such as older adults to deliver groceries and meals (meals on wheels, frozen meals, shelf-stable meals, etc.), pick up medications or simply provide telephone check-ins on individuals. You can find these organizations through news outlets, social media, non-profits and at www.helpolderadultsmn.org.

Volunteering does not have to occur through an organization; there are things you can do yourself to help your neighbors, friends and family. You can pick up mail, offer to walk a pet if someone does not feel well, check in with people via telephone or prepare meals for someone as well.

There are many ways to volunteer and give back if you find yourself with cabin fever, now may be a time to look at helping!

Jason W. Swanson, HSE
Executive Director
MNRAAA

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MNRAAA Volunteers: The Ripple Effect of Outreach

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Sarah Reiman, LSW, Volunteer Coordinator

“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” ~ Dalai Lama

Recently, one of our staff had the pleasure of receiving a message from a VERY satisfied consumer who had just learned she received a $6,000 grant to pay for one of her medications. This is after she had also found out a month earlier that she qualified to get one of her expensive medications for free from a patient assistance program. She was elated! This type of news is always so exciting for staff and volunteers at the Senior LinkAge Line®. It is helpful to be reminded that our efforts can be life changing! So, you might be asking yourself, “how did this happen?”. Sometimes it is the ripple effect of one simple action that leads to positively changing a person’s life! So, the story goes…

One of our amazing volunteers was assigned to complete a dining site assessment at a senior center in a small town in southwest Minnesota. She was impressed by the senior center coordinator, who was enthusiastic and determined to create an environment in which the seniors in the community could socialize and be connected to the resources available to them.

The volunteer returned from her dining site assessment and sent an email to the Senior LinkAge Line® outreach staff in that community encouraging her to reach out to the senior center coordinator. This connection led to several outreach events being conducted at the dining site, including a Medicare Open Enrollment site this past fall.

The consumer had been using up her small savings account and stressing about affording her medications when she met with one of the Senior LinkAge Line® staff at the Medicare Open Enrollment site and voiced distress at her high medication costs. Unfortunately, she was $85.00 above the income guideline for the Extra Help Program (a program through Social Security that would have significantly reduced her out-of-pocket costs). The staff person assisted the consumer with an application for a patient assistance program to pay for one expensive medication and another application for a foundation to help with the costs of a second medication. This assistance reduced her out-of-pocket costs from over $6,000 a year to nearly nothing.

Senior Outreach Specialist, Bridget Schwebach, said: “This just goes to show how VERY valuable the work Senior LinkAge Line® volunteers do can be for seniors in their communities! Even if they are not the ones that directly provide the assistance that ends in an outcome like this one….it is the work they do every day by telling people about the Senior LinkAge Line® that leads to a result like what happened here!”

To learn more about volunteer opportunities, and to add your pebble to the ripple effect of serving older adults and caregivers in your community, contact Sarah Reiman, Volunteer Coordinator, at 1-800-333-2433 x82026 or sreiman@mnraaa.org.

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Volunteers Help Make Medicare Open Enrollment Successful

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Another successful Medicare Open Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7) has ended. Thanks to the hard work and numerous hours donated by our Senior LinkAge Line® volunteers, approximately 60 volunteer-staffed enrollment events were held in southwest Minnesota. Because of these events, hundreds of people were provided in-person assistance with researching their Medicare plan options for 2017.
The assistance provided by our volunteers is often times life changing. This year at one of our open enrollment sites, a volunteer met with two different people over the age of 80 to review Medicare Part D plan options. Within two hours he had assisted both people in saving an average of $10,000 each on their medication costs for 2017.

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