GIVING THANKS: Helping our seniors – Midland Daily News

Senior Services of Midland County has an important mission: To help seniors keep their independence and stay in their homes as long as possible.

Charlie Schwedler, the organizations executive director, said all of the organizations programs and service are centered around this goal.

We try to do whatever we can do, whatever is possible, to help people stay in their homes for as long as they would like to stay in their homes, Schwedler said.

Senior Services has five centers: the Greendale Center, Mills center, Coleman Center, Sanford Center and Trailside Center in Midland.

Those centers are hubs that host several activities and events for seniors: congregate meals, exercise classes, educational sessions on a number of topics, Tuesday Ted Talks, card games and more.

The center also offers support and education classes for caregivers, which Schwedler said is important because caregivers dont always have support in difficult situations. There are education classes about the brains functions and about conditions like Parkinsons, dementia and Alzheimers to help caregivers understand what their loved one is going through.

Through their partnership with Family & Childrens Services, the organization offers free counseling for seniors. Because transportation can often be a barrier when it comes to seeking mental health services, the center offers transportation services as well.

Senior Services relies heavily on volunteers, especially for its transportation and programs such as Meals on Wheels, Friendly Visitors and Handyman Services, which are all composed entirely of volunteers. The organization has more than 500 volunteers in all of their programs combined.

If we didnt have volunteers, we simply couldnt do what we do, Schwedler said.

Senior Services owns 14 vehicles, all driven by volunteers who pick seniors up and take them to doctors or counseling appointments, shopping, hair appointments or whatever their transportation need might be. They also transport seniors to and from the center. All volunteers go up to the seniors doors and help them walk in and out of the car, Schwedler said.

Volunteers are also the force behind Friendly Visitors, a program in which seniors can sign up to have someone simply come visit with them and spend some time with them. Lately, Schwedler said the organization has placed a focus on programs like Friendly Visitors that can help seniors feel less lonely.

One of the things were finding out, were really focusing on this lately, is that isolation and loneliness has a direct effect on your health, whatever age you are but especially for older adults, Schwedler said.

Another Senior Services program is Team Handyman, which is a partnership with the Midland Fire Department and Mid-Michigan Health. Volunteers for Team Handyman fulfill a number of services to make sure seniors have safe home, such as ensuring that they have up-to-date fire alarms in their homes, installing or ordering handrails around the home or anything else they might need to make sure their home is safe.

For bigger tasks such as installing ramps or making a home wheelchair accessible, the center has a partnership with Home To Stay Housing Assistance Center.

Through Senior Services Care Coordination and Care Management program, seniors can get help with setting up health benefits such as their own programs like Meals on Wheels and transportation.

Senior Services also has volunteer and staff experts available through their Health Benefits hotline to walk seniors through Medicare open enrollment, help them figure out their health care and prescription coverage option, enroll them in these programs. In the last year, the hotline received more than 426 callers. Schwedler said no matter what the callers concern is, they will find a way to help them.

If we cant help them, we find the group in the community that can help them, Schwedler said.

Meals on Wheels is one of the organizations biggest programs. All of the nearly 200 people who drive and deliver the food to seniors in Midland County are volunteers, Schwedler said. The Meals on Wheels and the congregate meals hosted at the center are all prepared by a nutrition staff, led by a dietician.

More than 130,759 meals were delivered to 983 seniors from 2018-2019, according to the organizations annual report.

The organizations day facility called Seasons, located on Dublin Avenue, offers respite care to seniors with Dementia, Parkinsons or anything else they may need assistance with throughout the day. There are nurses, recreational therapists and aids who work with people who come in. Schwedler said the day facility is another effort to lessen the emotional and mental load of caregivers.

It can be almost as much for the caregiver as is it for the person with their ailment, so (respite allows people to go to work, go shopping, or just have a minute to themselves because, folks need that. Its a tough duty when you are supporting a person who has these kinds of issues, Schwedler said.

A big aspect of Senior Services is helping seniors has a sense of community, whether it be through their meals, exercise classes, their Ted Talks, and the other many programs they host at their center.

Its all about keeping yourself active, yourself engaged, and connecting with other folks that have similar issues or similar backgrounds, Schwedler said. "Our community is really big, and obviously we would like it to be bigger than it is, we would like more people to come we believe were still one of the best kept secrets.

Schwedler said a lot of people, even lifelong Midland residents, arent aware of everything Senior Services offers. Thats why theyve begun offering tours of their services, for people to come in, see their facility and hear everything that they offer.

To learn more about Senior Services of Midland County, or how to volunteer with the organization, visit serniorservicesmidland.org. In addition to general volunteering, there is an option on the website for people to volunteer a specific skill of theirs, such as working with healthcare or insurance companies, handyman skills and more.

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GIVING THANKS: Helping our seniors - Midland Daily News