Annual Report—Fiscal Year 2015

Dedication 2014/2015 ANNUAL REPORT advocacy communication compassion connection creativity Dedication is... devotion guidance innovation partnership reliance advocacy For many older adults, selecting an initial Medicare plan can be an unexpectedly frustrating task, but Melissa Versch, LCSW, and her team work hard to educate individuals on the Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP). “ I have 14 talented SHIP counselors who are doing awesome work to navigate the complex health system and answer questions about Medicare, Medicare Supplement, long-term care insurance, Medicare HMOs, in addition to filing claims and analyzing policies” she said. “Everyone is working toward the betterment of our community”— something Melissa has loved about the North Shore Senior Center since joining the organization back in May of 2011 after interning through her graduate program at “ Through Social Services, we Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. work with older adults and their family members to ensure clients’ But navigating through Medicare and supervising other case managers are only some of Melissa’s responsibilities. “Through Social Services, we work with older adults and safety and independence.” their family members to ensure clients’ safety and independence.” This includes providing —Melissa Versch support for caregivers and advocacy through the Adult Protective Services program, hosting support groups for people with low vision, hearing loss, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, for grandparents raising grandchildren, and more. “ Right now, we’re having some difficulty with our state budget at an impasse. It has effected programs like LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program), which could not administer its Summer Cooling Program this year and might not be up and running for its Winter Energy Service,” but Melissa is proud of how her co-workers have responded to this problem and others. “Our staff is so hard working. Issues like LIHEAP challenge us to get creative and we continue to do the best we can to help others.” guidance Giving people a sense of well-being is the aboard full-time after graduating with her driving force behind Sarah Jackson’s MSW from Dominican University, and dedication to the weekly participants at the about four years ago, when there was an House of Welcome Adult Day Services. “We opening, she jumped at the opportunity to do more than provide specialized programs work at the House of Welcome to manage for individuals with memory loss,” she the volunteer program and work in leading said. “Although not everyone with memory activities. “I find that society casts people loss has awareness about their diagnosis, away after they reach a certain age, the need to be involved, to have purpose but at the House of Welcome, our staff and volunteers work hard to go above and and to have a sense of belonging remains. “ Although not everyone with memory We help find new ways for people to beyond the everyday and make each engage in activities and contribute to the moment the best that it can be.” Something loss has awareness about their House of Welcome community.” Sarah and her peers continue to do diagnosis, the need to be involved, albeit some loss in state funding and to have purpose and to have a Sarah first signed on with the North Shore boom in aging generations. “Despite all Senior Center back in 2006 as a student our challenges, we continue to follow our sense of belonging remains.” intern. Knowing she always wanted to work mission here at North Shore, and there is —Sarah Jackson with older adults, Sarah quickly came not a program out there quite like ours.” 2 compassion TO THE MISSION For the past 12 years, Lauretta Hart has worked tirelessly as a Caregiver Specialist with family caregivers of older adults to help improve the quality of life of both the caregiver (many of whom are older adults themselves) and the individual for whom he or she provides care. “Through our two support groups in Skokie and Evanston, caregivers are able to openly discuss their own difficulties in a caring, non-judgmental atmosphere,” she said. Lauretta also conducts one-on-one counseling sessions in which caregivers can receive individual attention, express their concerns, receive support and learn about other resources available to them. In addition to the monthly support groups, twice a year (once in the spring and once in the fall), Lauretta, along with Caregiver Specialist Heather Resnick, hosts a six-week class on “ There are a lot more caregivers Powerful Tools for Caregivers. “Through Powerful Tools, we incorporate interactive lessons, these days and more of them discussions, and brainstorming for caregivers to take as tools, and to put into action for are looking for support groups...” their own lives.” Topics in the educational series include how to reduce stress, improve self- confidence, better communicate feelings, balance life with caregiving, make tough decisions —Lauretta Hart and more. “Since January, we’ve seen a rise in the number of caregivers attending our groups, especially on a more regular basis. There are a lot more caregivers these days and more of them are looking for support groups like the ones we offer through North Shore Senior Center.” communication When one thinks of all the programs and or sending virus-infected attachments via activities that occur at North Shore Senior email. We work hard to warn the employees Center, how the IT department operates is when we see this kind of activity occurring, usually not something that comes readily to and while we consider the Center to be mind. But without the work from individuals a low-priority target relative to most other like Matt Thornton, much of the Center’s types of organizations, we are always daily operations would cease to function. looking at ways of tightening our security.” “We currently have 58 people using But, troubleshooting data systems and laptops for social services between case protecting client information isn’t all the “ It’s up to me to make sure they managers and supervisors,” shared Matt, IT department takes care of. When summer have access to the resources they who originally got into IT as a hobby storms took out the phone lines for the need to succeed at their jobs.” 20 years ago and has been hooked ever Evanston Social Services Office, Matt since. “Add that to the rest of our staff, spent the better part of the day working —Matt Thornton and you can imagine some of the user with the phone company to get Evanston issues I need to solve on a daily basis.” back up and running as soon as possible. While addressing those user issues and “The unique thing about my position is their root causes, Matt also works closely that I get to spend time working with the with his supervisor to protect the privacy entire staff at all the various locations. It’s of Center clients by educating the staff up to me to make sure they have access on the industry’s latest security measures. to the resources they need to succeed at “As many Center users know, there are their jobs”—something the staff at North always ‘bad guys’ ‘phishing’ for information Shore Senior Center greatly appreciates. 3 devotion Every year, there is a group of 500 the Center,” she said. “We have a group volunteers who work tirelessly at the of talented and experienced individuals— frontlines and behind the scenes at North executives, accountants, lawyers, teachers Shore Senior Center, from manning the —all with this deep urge to reach out welcome desk, to checking out customers and help others. It’s so rewarding to help at Mim’s gift shop, to giving older adults them with that.” rides to doctors’ appointments, and more. “We love our volunteers, and In addition to training about ten new without these individuals, our programs volunteers each month, Kathy works hard to find new opportunities for the next wouldn’t be as comprehensive or as “ …without these individuals, amazing as they are,” shared Kathy wave of volunteers to be engaged. “It’s Schimmelpfennig, Manager of Volunteer so rewarding to help them find their our programs wouldn’t be as Services for the Center. niche and try out new ways to engage our comprehensive or as amazing participants. For example, this summer as they are.” Kathy stepped foot into the Center a few we launched Tech Tips on Thursday years ago after her mother-in-law kept mornings. Anyone who has a question —Kathy Schimmelpfennig raving about how much fun she was about iPhone, tablet or laptop can stop having. After a visit herself, Kathy quickly by and get help from some tech-savvy became a volunteer “until one day I woke volunteers.” up and realized that I wanted to work for reliance North Shore Senior Center was Jessica Burke’s first choice of employment after hearing about the work the Center did from an intern in one of her graduate classes at Loyola. So when she received her MSW two years ago, she quickly applied for a position at the organization she admired so much. “There’s something about being here,” she shared, “I love the fact that North Shore breaks the stigma of what it means to age, and that I get to be a part of that.” Helping older adults continue to thrive in their current environment through the CareOptions program is something Jessica does on a weekly basis. “Currently, I have eight clients that “ I love the fact that North Shore I work with on a one-to-one basis. I conduct assessments, going into each client’s home to talk about his or her current situation.” Topics that come up for Jessica include prepping Senior Center breaks the stigma for weather emergencies, making sure all paperwork is in order for a power of attorney, and of what it means to age.” assuring that the client is comfortable in their current living environment, or if they’d like to —Jessica Burke change that.

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