Graying Pains
To get the word out, Howard advertised her services with posters, an open house, and on her vehicle. She spoke at local meetings, attended senior lunches in Condon and at the senior center in Seeley Lake and started writing a monthly newspaper column in the Seeley Swan Pathfinder. Her outreach, coupled with word of mouth, built relationships and quickly increased her hours to full-time.
“The fact that I’m from a longtime Condon family is a connection that is important to people,” Howard said. “I think you have to invest the time up here. If you just come up here for a day you can’t possibly get to know people.”
MAS allowed Howard to set her own schedule and meet with clients for comprehensive benefits check-ups instead of specific-issue consultations, as is done in Missoula.
“I can have a more indepth, more personal relationship with every single client that walks in,” Howard said. “Every time somebody comes in to see me, I do my very best to connect with them, to make them feel comfortable, to do whatever I can to help them.”
“Her job has been connecting people to the resources they need. That is what it has changed into and that is why it has become so important,” Schade said. “It is no longer just helping aging seniors in the Seeley Lake area. It is connecting anyone in need with the possible resources anywhere.”
In her first year, Howard increased the number of MAS clients in Condon from 15 to 50. In Seeley Lake, the clientele grew from 70 to 159.
From October 2016 to April 2018, Howard helped Swan Valley clients save more than $18,000 on prescription drugs and by applying for the elderly homeowner/renter tax credit — savings they wouldn’t have seen had they remained on their existing plan or not applied for the credit. In Seeley Lake during the same time period, savings reached almost $250,000 through the various opportunities clients were able to take advantage of following their benefits checkup.
“Whether they didn’t know about MAS, didn’t know how to access the program, they now have access and it is a huge benefit to [our] mission,’” Kohler said. “It can happen within the community and run by the community.”
Kohler said that having a resource specialist embedded in Seeley Lake gives MAS a hands-on understanding of the community. She believes the Seeley Swan Resource Specialist position is the only position in the state that expands on what the I& A/SHIP counselors can offer by utilizing existing or creating new community resources to better serve seniors in rural communities.
“I think that we lack some of the basic services in every county in the state,” Kohler said. “Linda identifies the needs and looks for solutions on how to fill the need. If there is not the service there, she finds creative ways within the community of how she can provide that.”
