When Lisa Stevens, a retired forklift driver at Post Consumer Brands, signed up to be a homemaker for Aging Services for Communities a year ago, she had no idea how much the experience would deepen her insight into the needs of other less fortunate community members.
Stevens, who lives in Dundas, said she contacted Aging Services, headquartered in Montgomery, after seeing an ad on Facebook looking for people who wanted to make “extra money and a difference for the aging and disabled.”
“I was intrigued by the flexible schedule and by the opportunity to give back,” Stevens said.
After nearly four decades of working 12-hour shifts, Stevens saw the opportunity to choose her own days and hours and clients, who live in Faribault and Northfield, as a bonus.
Aging Services for Communities, celebrating 20 years in November, is again looking for people to work in paid homemaker positions and to volunteer driving people to medical appointments.
As a homemaker, Stevens’ tasks include light cleaning, organizing closets and cupboards and doing laundry. There’s no scrubbing or furniture moving and no weekends.
She estimates she works between 2-10 hours a week, usually on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and rotates between four clients. This gives her ample time to see her grandchildren on the weekends and to volunteer once a week at the Community Action Center Food Shelf as a picker, packer and delivery aide.
Stevens said her favorite task is helping organize personal living spaces. For Thomas Kaiser, one of her regular clients who lives at the Northfield Retirement Center, she helped tidy up an area of his third floor apartment where he keeps his desktop easel and art supplies.
“I’m enjoying the chance to help people in need,” she said. “It gives me purpose and makes me feel good.”
Kaiser, who is hearing impaired and has cerebral palsy, said he looks forward to the two hours a week she comes in to help with dishes, laundry and dusting.
“I love her,” he said.
Stevens said she values the time they share each week and feels her heart lift when she walks into his apartment, festooned with his own artwork displayed on every wall, alongside his family photos.
“Thomas is a joyful person,” she said. “He’s healthy, happy, social and so appreciative.”
Jessie Filter, homemaking manager for Aging Services for Communities, said she works hard to match the personalities and interests of the clients with the homemakers.
“We want to make the relationship a good fit,” she said.
Increased need
Wade Young, executive director of Aging Service for Communities, said the need for homemakers and drivers has grown rapidly in recent years in all the communities in southern Minnesota that they serve: Brown, Dakota, Le Sueur, Rice, Scott and Waseca counties.
“The focus on keeping the elderly at home as long as possible has increased the need for extra help around the house,” he said. “It’s hard to grow old. But Aging Services can help so many people in so many ways.”
Whether that help means grocery shopping, running errands or folding laundry, an extra set of hands — and legs — eases the burden.
“Just don’t vacuum during ‘Wheel of Fortune’ or “The Bold and the Beautiful,’ said Filter with a laugh.
Filter said homemakers are not licensed to offer personal care, which means they can’t give shots, dispense pills, wash or dress a client. That means more time for game playing, a walk, cleaning out the refrigerator and meal preparation.
“Our homemakers are the eyes and ears for case managers,” she said. They are mandated reporters who notice forgetfulness, bruises, swelling or if an appliance is left on or the garbage needs to be taken out.
“It’s a two-way relationship,” said Filter. “Everyone benefits.”
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