Cassandra Stewart of Milestone Senior Services joins host Lynne Jarman-Johnson for a Discover Milestone conversation about how the organization helps seniors and adults with disabilities stay safe, independent and at home. From home-delivered meals and home repairs to volunteer opportunities and catering that gives back, learn how Milestone and Consumers Credit Union partner to strengthen our community.

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0:00:00.0 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Hi there, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson. We are out in the community at one of our favorite places with Consumers Credit Union, and that is Milestone Senior Services. And Cassandra Stewart, thanks so much for being with us today.

 

0:00:19.7 Cassandra Stewart: Thank you for having me.

 

0:00:21.1 LJJ: Okay. Discover Milestone.

 

0:00:22.6 CS: Yes.

 

0:00:24.0 LJJ: We want to learn.

 

0:00:25.3 CS: All right.

 

0:00:26.2 LJJ: Bring it on.

 

0:00:26.6 CS: Okay. We’re going to discover Milestone. Even though we’ve been in this community since 1963, so many people we find out don’t know about us and what we do, other than meals. So, a lot of people know us for Meals on Wheels. It’s actually home-delivered meals, and we do that. But in addition to that, we do home repair. We also do managed care. We also have volunteer services for you. We actually even help folks that are in nursing homes, we do assessments for them. And we also have behavior health.

 

0:00:57.1 LJJ: Wow.

 

0:00:57.4 CS: So, it is so much to discover about Milestone. We are much more than just meals.

 

0:01:02.6 LJJ: And here’s the deal. We all know that the population is aging.

 

0:01:05.2 CS: Yes, it is.

 

0:01:07.8 LJJ: There are many people also who are known as the sandwich generation, trying to keep older adults safe in their home.

 

0:01:12.0 CS: Yes.

 

0:01:16.2 LJJ: And that’s literally what is …

 

0:01:18.4 CS: Is what we do.

 

0:01:18.8 LJJ: The number one thing you do.

 

0:01:19.7 CS: Yes, it is. You know, we want to keep seniors safe at home because we know most seniors do better when they are in their own home, in their own environment, maybe with their pets. The kids are all grown and gone. So, we also do pet food service. So, with any of our home delivered meals clients that have a pet, if they need food for their pet, because again, we want to keep them healthy too, we are able to deliver that to them as well. So, it is a joy just to know all the different things that we do for seniors to keep them safe and at home and independent for as long as possible. That’s where my passion comes from, just knowing that we do that in the community each and every day.

 

0:02:02.3 LJJ: Well, and we know for a fact that our population is growing older.

 

0:02:07.4 CS: Yes.

 

0:02:07.8 LJJ: And when you talk about the delivery of meals, it’s one of the things that I think as volunteers with Consumers that we do find out, “Oh, here is a ramp at home,” and that was you.

 

0:02:21.6 CS: Or they need a ramp. Yeah.

 

0:02:23.7 LJJ: Right? Yeah.

 

0:02:24.5 CS: Yeah. That’s true. So, they may need a ramp at a home. They may just need a new railing or some new steps because they’ve gotten old and they’re falling apart. And they may be able to get up and down those steps okay, but they need to be repaired, or they just need a handrail now that they’re a little bit older.

 

0:02:42.1 LJJ: I’m really fascinated with the assessment that can happen in a home. And how intense is that? Do you think people are a little leery because, “Ah, I don’t want someone coming in and judging my home.” “No, it’s not like that.”

 

0:02:54.0 CS: No. The main point is keeping you safe in your home. We all know as we age that things get a little more difficult for us from time to time. Even going up those stairs is not as easy as it used to be. And again, like I said, stepping into that tub, something you never thought about before, now you have to consciously take that step to get in. So no, we could come in and do like a, I think it’s a 50-point assessment. And they’re just checking things like the rugs in your home. Do they need to be tacked down?

 

0:03:28.4 LJJ: Isn’t that interesting?

 

0:03:29.3 CS: That’s a trip … That’s one of the high percentage of fall hazards is rugs not taped down or the way they need to be. And the other one, like I said, hand railings in your home. You just don’t think about it when you don’t have to use them, and then all of a sudden now you need them. But yes, they will, I mean, they’ll check your smoke detectors, the carbon monoxide, so they can get those things for you if you don’t have them as well. So it is, it’s not an invasion, it is really for your protection and for your safety to keep you as safe as possible in your home as you age.

 

0:04:05.6 LJJ: And peace of mind.

 

0:04:06.2 CS: Peace of mind, yes. Yeah. Because especially even if you have an older parent living with you, I always tell people, “Let’s have your house checked out as well.” If they’re living with you, there are things that we could come in and do. So, what if they don’t need a full ramp, but you have two steps or one step just from your garage to get up into your home? Well, they can build just a little ramp like that for the … Or they can enlarge your step. So, if your parent has a walker, when they put the walker on there, it will support the entire walker. You don’t have just the front two legs of the walker on that step and them trying to get up.

 

0:04:43.1 LJJ: And that’s dangerous, and you don’t think about that. Right?

 

0:04:44.4 CS: That’s dangerous. Yes. Yeah. So just, “Hey, let’s make the step a little bit wider so that walker fits on there,” and they can make that one step into the home with no problem.

 

0:04:54.0 LJJ: And steady.

 

0:04:54.3 CS: And you don’t need a whole ramp for that.

 

0:04:55.9 LJJ: How do you, as a member, I want to find out about it, I want somebody to come into the home. How is it that we can reach out to do that?

 

0:05:05.0 CS: Well, we are always letting people know, go to our website. That’s the easiest, the quickest way to find the most information, and that is milestoneseniorservices.org.

 

0:05:17.5 LJJ: That’s Milestone without the S. Seniorservices.org. [milestoneseniorservices.org]

 

0:05:22.6 CS: Yes. And we encourage people, talk with that person, whether it’s your parent, like you said, or neighbor, and just let them know, “Hey, there’s probably, we can get you some help.” And call, if you don’t want to go online, you can always call in, 269-382-0515 and just ask for our home repair department.

 

0:05:42.6 LJJ: Now, home repair, this is volunteers, right?

 

0:05:46.2 CS: Yes. We work with volunteers, or I should say the volunteers work with us to help us build the ramps. So, we have, oh, multiple volunteers that come in on a regular basis. Either, if you already have that skill, we welcome you to come. But even if you want to learn something, you’ve always thought, “Maybe I wanted to learn how to build and use a saw,” or do something like that, you can start with our home repair department. So, they’re more than willing to teach if you don’t know, but if you already know, you will fit right in. Because we do a lot of pre-building before we actually go out to put the ramps together for the seniors that we serve and for folks with disabilities. So, anyone 18 and above that has a disability, we’re also able to provide ramps for them as well.

 

0:06:31.2 LJJ: Is that surprising when people find that out?

 

0:06:34.6 CS: It is, because of our name, Senior Services. But we also, we do have a program called My Choice Waiver program. It is a state-funded, if you will, but it’s for 18 and up. If you have a disability and you’re on Medicaid, then more than likely we are able to help you.

 

0:06:52.3 LJJ: So, what’s the service area?

 

0:06:54.5 CS: Our normal service area for Milestone Senior Services is Kalamazoo County and Calhoun County, but with that one program, My Choice Waiver, we actually service five counties.

 

0:07:06.6 LJJ: Consumers is very proud to have brought a partnership with you, not only in our volunteering, but especially in the kitchen area. And tell us a little bit about how you’re using your kitchen now.

 

0:07:19.4 CS: Oh, my goodness, yes. So, we have a full commercial kitchen that we use. So that’s where all of the meals are prepared from scratch each day. So, we deliver Monday through Friday, and then we do extra meals for them to have on the weekends, for that. But we were able to get brand-new kitchen equipment that we needed, because I think the kitchen was built back in ’95, I believe it was.

 

0:07:43.7 LJJ: Wow.

 

0:07:44.3 CS: And so, we had been working with that same equipment since then. So, it was much needed. We needed some new and updated equipment because our goal is to be able to prepare a million meals a year.

 

0:07:55.6 LJJ: Wow.

 

0:07:55.9 CS: When we need. Because like you said, we know the senior population is continuing to grow at an exponential rate, and we want to be here. Milestone wants to be here to provide whatever meals we need to. And so that’s what we’re doing in the kitchen. We’ve increased that. Also, because we love our volunteers and because they help us out on a daily basis, we don’t want you guys getting wet if it rains and when it’s snowing outside. We know what the weather’s like in Michigan. I always say you never know what the weather’s going to be like in Michigan, unfortunately.

 

0:08:27.8 LJJ: Exactly.

 

0:08:28.6 CS: So yeah, Consumers Credit Union was generous enough to help us with the canopy back there. So now as our volunteers come up, they can park under that canopy, and they can get what they need and get loaded up without getting rained on all the time. So, it is much needed. We wanted to do something for our volunteers because we could not run that program without the volunteers. It is volunteers Monday through Friday that are actually delivering those. That’s what we call it, home-delivered meals, and that’s done by our volunteers. And we are so grateful for them.

 

0:09:02.7 LJJ: Wow. And we are grateful for our partnership, our team that volunteers, and we do every single week. It is one of the joys of what we do. Quickly discover, let’s discover catering.

 

0:09:16.2 CS: Okay. Yeah.

 

0:09:16.3 LJJ: I understand there’s a word catering. This is fun.

 

0:09:19.0 CS: Yeah. We do. So, we have this commercial kitchen that I told you about with all this new equipment. So that was just, we thought, and we’ve been doing it for years now, it is called Generations Catering. And yes, so that is, how, we call one of our social enterprises. So, we do catering, but all of the profit that we make from our catering goes right back into our nutrition program.

 

0:09:42.0 LJJ: Wow.

 

0:09:42.3 CS: So we’re able to service more seniors in the community because of that. And some people say, “Well, don’t you get grant funding?” We do receive some grant funding and some millage funds, but we always … Those come with, some of them come with requirements. And sometimes you have those people that need the service that don’t quite yet meet those requirements. One being you have to be 60 years old in order to receive the home-delivered meals. And so, if we’re able, we have those persons that may not have reached 60 years old yet, but they are truly still in need of the service. So, then we are still able to provide them. So that’s why we have donations that come in, and we also have that social enterprise that we can put money back into our own program to be able to serve those people that are outside of whatever that grant requirement may be.

 

0:10:34.4 LJJ: It’s a wonderful cycle, isn’t it?

 

0:10:36.4 CS: It is, it is. And we do wonderful catering. We do weddings, we do graduations, we do home parties. If you just, you want to have a birthday party. I will never forget doing a birthday party for a 90-year-old, and they had such a ball at that party. And of course, the food was delicious.

 

0:10:45.9 LJJ: And healthy.

 

0:10:55.5 CS: And healthy. And healthy. Look, that depends on what you order, I’ll put it that way. But it is all delicious. And again, it’s made from scratch right here in our kitchen. We also have a kitchen in Battle Creek because I told you we service Battle Creek or Calhoun County as well as Kalamazoo County. So, we have a kitchen, another commercial kitchen in Battle Creek, which is in the Kool Family Center. And then we have offices there, and that’s how we’re able to service all of Calhoun County as well.

 

0:11:28.0 LJJ: Well, we thank you for your service.

 

0:11:30.7 CS: No, you are welcome.

 

0:11:31.4 LJJ: And thank you so much for your time today, Cassandra.

 

0:11:33.9 CS: Oh, no problem. I appreciate having you guys here, and we love your support. It is tremendous. We couldn’t do, again, what we do without the help from the community. So, we are so glad that Consumers Credit Union is a part of it.

 

0:11:46.4 LJJ: Well, thank you so much. And you know what? You can be a part of it too. All you need to go is to the website, milestoneseniorservices.org. Find out how you can volunteer. Find out how you can learn to build something. And how about get cooking in the kitchen? I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. Money, we’re home.