Southeastern Minnesota Area on Aging, Inc.
Live Well ~ Age Well
Join us on Thursday July 15th from 6-7:30 PM
Semcac has senior and caregiver advocates in 4 counties. The Dodge and Steele County advocacy program is covered by Melissa Almer. The Fillmore and Houston County position is currently open, following the exit of Paige Martin-Stanley. The goal of the advocacy program is to help individuals access the appropriate resources and services to maintain independence, as well as provide support to caregivers.
Advocates assist individuals in completing paperwork to access county services such as waivered services, SLMB, SNAP, and any benefit they may be eligible for. Additionally; advocates can assist clients in accessing Energy Assistance, telephone programs, home repair loans, and other programs which may fit their needs. Assistance can be provided in the home or in the office, based on the client’s needs.
Melissa comes to Semcac after years of community work. Initially as a certified sign language interpreter; she has worked as a program consultant/advocate for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division of DHS. Melissa’s education includes work in business communication and cross cultural communication. She is trained as a medical sign language interpreter and worked for two years with Metropolitan Medical Center and Hennepin County Medical Center.
When asked what she enjoys most about her position as an advocate, Melissa responded, “As an advocate, I have always had an interest in working with people who were elderly. I am drawn to help people who want assistance and will roll up my sleeves to get the job done. It gives me great satisfaction to use the skills honed over years of work experience to keep someone in their home or make the transition to assisted living or other services when it is needed.”
Recently Melissa assisted a woman after the death of her husband. While her family was supportive to her emotional needs, they did not know where to start regarding finances and other government programs. The woman’s husband had been her representative payee on her social security benefits due to her disability. When he died that payment stopped immediately and she was without income. Melissa and the consumer worked together to remove the representative payee from her account. Together they were able to get her the additional social security benefit due to her and she did not lose her housing in the process. They were also able to help the consumer obtain SNAP and SLMB benefits (food support and a Medicare Savings program).
Melissa’s advocacy and determination in working together with the client and county staff really helped this individual get through a challenging time. Melissa and the individual continue to meet once or twice a month to go over paperwork. This helps assure stability in her benefits and overall living situation. This story is a great example of what advocates can do to guide people through tough times and help them access the services they need.
The Welcome to Medicare preventive visit is a one-time appointment you can choose to receive during the first 12 months of your Part B enrollment. This is not a head to toe physical, but an attempt to create a personalized prevention plan.
The Annual Wellness Visit is a yearly appointment with your primary care provider to create or update a personalized prevention plan, which may help prevent illness based on your current health and risk factors.
Other Preventative Services include vaccinations and immunizations such as flu shots, pneumonia, hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccinations. The tetanus shot is covered if you have an incident and need the added protection, and the booster shot is generally covered by Part D.
Screening tests and labs for many services are also covered by Medicare Part B. These conditions include Hepatitis C, Diabetes, Glaucoma, Depression, Cardiovascular Disease and more.
Under certain circumstances, you may be charged for services you receive related to your preventive services. For example, during the preventive care visit, your provider discovers and needs to investigate or treat a new or existing problem. This type of care becomes diagnostic, meaning you are being treated for certain symptoms or risk factors. You could also be charged for an office visit if you meet with your provider before or after receiving your preventive care.
For more information, please contact the Senior LinkAge Line® at 1-800-333-2433. The Health Care Choices for Minnesotans on Medicare booklet also has excellent information on these services. That booklet can be viewed online at www.mnhealthcarechoices.com
Mayo Clinic is seeking healthy women volunteers, ages 70 and older, to participate in a research study. The purpose of this study is to learn if new study medications can help reduce aging cell abundance and to study their effects in people. Additionally, we are testing whether intermittent treatment with these medications reduces markers of biological age and improves bone health and potentially the risk of osteoporosis.
YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IF:
• You are at least 70 years old, a female, and healthy.
Study participation will last for about 5 months and includes 8 visits. We will ask you to complete blood draws, bone density testing, questionnaires, and other tests to determine eligibility. Remuneration will be offered.
For more information, contact a member of the study team at 507-538-6023 or by email: volkman.tammie@mayo.edu
PEARLS Coaches are available to work with you one-on-one to help you address your depressive symptoms and create a plan to become more engaged with family, friends and activities you enjoy. Sessions can be held over the phone, on a computer or in person. Contact any of these agencies to get connected and learn more about this evidence-based program.
Elder Network – 507-285-5272
Family Service Rochester – 507-287-2010
WellConnect – www.wellconnectsemn.org
Age Friendly efforts continue across the state and in SE MN. Read the newly released Age-Friendly Olmsted County Community Assessment Findings Report.
SE MN has many communities, organizations and partnerships working on creating or renewing programming that supports individuals with dementia and their caregivers. While the pandemic has slowed some of these efforts they are gaining momentum once again and communities are re-energized and ready to launch many of these great programs. Here are a few highlights and opportunities for this year.
Highlights from SE MN
Resounding Voices Choir — Recruitment has begun for the summer practice sessions. Here’s what choir member Joe Lobl had to say about his experience. “I have enjoyed singing in Resounding Voices as a volunteer for the past three years. It is a joy singing together and getting to know each other better during our social time and weekly sharing. We have also had a lot of fun performing concerts at the end of each session, which always include singalongs with the audience. I am glad to have made new friends and also given back to the community with our concerts by participating in Resounding Voices!” If you’d like to get involved email Karen Rorie to learn more: karen@resoundingvoices.org. Check out their virtual Spring concert.
Mayo Clinic Conference on Brain Health & Dementia – A Brighter Path Forward Formerly called “Meeting of the Minds”, this conference will be held at the Mayo Civic Center on October 29th. Event is free thanks to support from the Alzheimer’s Association and AARP and will be in-person with a live stream option for those unable to attend. Registration link.
The Remember Project Dementia Awareness Tour — hosted in Pine Island by SEMAAA was a great success! Over 320 people joined our local team, or joined a statewide professional development event. Participants viewed at least one of the three theatrical videos via Zoom and provided feedback that they increased their understanding of dementia and joined in conversation about how we can locally help families living with dementia live their best lives. About 100 of the individuals attending an event live in the Pine Island or surrounding area; over 250 people were from the 11 county service are in Southeastern Minnesota served by SEMAAA. We ARE a more dementia-friendly community because of this opportunity.
Watch for more details regarding what we learned from The Remember Project and how you can join your friends and neighbors to support all community care partners in the Pine Island area. A big thank you to Olmsted Medical Center and the Pine Island Fire Department Relief Association as well as the Zone 5 Lions, Rod Steele-Edina Realty, Pat and Jerry Johnson, and several local individuals who financially supported this effort! Also thank you to the MN State Arts Board and Trellis for helping fund this initiative.
Jen Mclaughlin has been a vibrant part of SEMAAA since 2012 with most of that time being with the Return to Community Team. Her laughter, positivity, unique catch phrases and powerful fun-loving spirit have shined and left their mark on our SEMAAA family.
We are so excited that Jen will continue to collaborate with the RTC team and others in her new role of supporting older adults and their families in Fillmore, Mower, Dodge and parts of Olmsted county. Jen will continue to use her exceptional advocacy skills and maintain a strong connection to SEMAAA and the rest of the aging network in our area. We wish you all the best!
Karen Toussel joined the SEMAAA team as our Administrative Assistant in 1997 and almost 24 years later she is ready to retire & travel the world by RV.
We asked Karen what she will miss most about SEMAAA?
Her response: “Definitely the people – all the enjoyable moments with coworkers and the friendships I have developed over the years.”
What are you looking forward to most in retirement?
“Traveling with my husband Michael and my dog Bella.”
Karen will be retiring August 6th and has trips planned to Florida and South Dakota.
SEMAAA board and staff are grateful for your decades of support and dedication to aging services. We will sure miss your great sense of humor, wonderful vacation pictures and all of the fun stories that went with them!
Send Karen a note, give her a call or stop by to wish her well in her retirement. karen@semaaa.org
With proof of guardianship, the staff person contacted SHIP to find out the plan details, and they helped educate Greg on the parts of Medicare. They also talked about how the coverage works, his intention of moving her to memory care and they took care of the verification code process. They also helped him search MNHelp.info for potential placement options, and they talked about senior moving assistance programs to help with downsizing. Greg’s mother has a large home with a lot to get rid of and he was totally overwhelmed with how to manage that process.
Greg was so relieved to learn about the Senior LinkAge Line and all the available resources. He was very thankful for the assistance SLL gave him.”
