RESOURCES:
2nd Annual Lori's Hands Bowling for a Cause Fundraiser
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Caroline MacGregor, and with me today are Maddi Riemenschneider. She's the Metro Detroit Senior Manager of Lori's Hands. And we are also joined by James Thurman. He's a student at Eastern Michigan University, and he's a current intern for this nonprofit. First of all, Maddi, tell me what Lori's Hands is.
Maddi Riemenschneider: Yeah, absolutely! Thank you for having us, Caroline. So, Lori's Hands, we are a nonprofit organization in Metro Detroit, Michigan. And what we do is we connect college student volunteers to adults in our community who are living with chronic illness. So, students go out and make weekly visits to these community members, and they can assist with providing support and companionship, helping with day-to-day things that are made difficult by their chronic illness, like running the vacuum or helping with meal preparation. And the students are getting hands-on experience into what it's like to age in place, what our health care system is like, and so on. So, we really emphasize that Lori's Hands is mutually beneficial for both the student and the adult in our community with chronic illness.
Caroline MacGregor: It sounds like an incredible opportunity for both the client with the illness and the students themselves. I mean, you're used to hearing about carers who go into homes and take care of elderly people or people with needs, not necessarily elderly actually. There could be people with all sorts of things. Point out the difference, if you would, between these two.
Maddi Riemenschneider: Yeah, I agree. I definitely hear that a lot. A lot of volunteer programs are one person going in and really helping the other. And Lori's Hands is not that. So, we really have a model where both folks and both participants of our program, all of our students as well as all of our clients, receive benefits from our program. And the students going in, they have a lot to learn from these older adults with chronic illness. Our adults have so much wisdom and fun stories and just life experience to share with the students. And then, the students, they bring young energy into the homes of these older adults and have their own stories as well. And it's just a really good way to connect our generations in our community and really allow all parties to give back and celebrate the diversity of various generations and just various folks.
Caroline MacGregor: A couple of things come to mind. The students that participate in this program--are they going on to health care-type programs themselves?
Maddi Riemenschneider: Yeah, that's a great question. A lot of our students are interested in health care of some sort. So, we have probably 80-90% of our students interested in pursuing some sort of career in health care, whether that be pre-med, nursing, occupational therapy, social work. This is a great opportunity for students to get patient contact hours, experience learning about the health care system outside of being in a hospital setting or in a doctor's office. They really get to see health care in the home of someone who's aging in place. And I think that brings a lot of different experiences to add to their education and their knowledge.
Caroline MacGregor: It would seem like the personal connection side of things. As you mentioned, older people have so much wisdom to share. And often, in today's society, there's not much opportunity for it to be shared. Everybody's busy going about their business. So, this seems like a a really nice sort of opportunity to match students with these clients. Tell me how you go about getting these referrals in the first place.
Maddi Riemenschneider: Yeah, that's a great question. So, we receive our referrals on our website. I would say the majority of our referrals come from local health care providers, whether it's social workers in the hospital setting or nurse case managers who really notice this need for their patient who's discharging from the hospital. We also receive referrals for clients through family members or loved ones, even the clients themselves who have heard about our program and would really benefit from having that support and companionship from our college students.
Caroline MacGregor: I'm sure these clients are quite happy to have, as you mentioned, that youthful energy and somebody to talk to and share stories with. I'm sure it really helps their mental health overall.
Maddi Riemenschneider: Absolutely, yeah! There's so much data and studies out about loneliness and isolation being a huge epidemic in our country right now, particularly for our older adult community. So, this is a wonderful way to really tackle that and reduce isolation, reduce loneliness and give back to the community.
Caroline MacGregor: How long has Lori's Hands been in operation?
Maddi Riemenschneider: So, Lori's Hands, we were actually founded in 2009 in Delaware by a woman named Sarah LaFave. And she was studying nursing at the University of Delaware and just had this life experience of growing up with her mom who had breast cancer and recognized that our community doesn't always come together as we should. And college students have unique schedules. And this is a really great way to provide education for students interested in health care, as well as give back to the community and work with adults who have chronic illness.
Caroline MacGregor: Tell me about your different locations. You're in Metro Detroit and Washtenaw County. Where else are you?
Maddi Riemenschneider:So, we've been in our Metro Detroit, Michigan chapter and location for a little over three years now. So, we cover all of Washtenaw County, which includes partnering with schools like Eastern Michigan University, the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, and then partnering with our local health care systems and other nonprofit organizations in the area to really target and work with our older adult population with chronic illness.
Caroline MacGregor: If you're just joining us, I have been I'm speaking with Maddi Riemenschneider. She's the Metro Detroit Senior Manager of Lori's Hands. This is a nonprofit that connects students with adults in the community suffering from chronic illness. And I'm also talking with James Thurman, a student at Eastern Michigan University and a current intern for Lori's Hands. You've mentioned different needs that some of these clients may have. We've talked about the social aspect, but there's also a lot of dignity and interconnection that this service provides.
Maddi Riemenschneider: Yeah, absolutely! We really emphasize honoring a person's independence and really celebrating the older adults in our community and folks who have chronic illness. And this is a great opportunity for them to feel more connected to our community, especially if folks are homebound or near homebound. It can be really difficult to go out to those nonprofit spaces that are in the community. So, this is a way to get the community out into the homes of these individuals and really provide that intergenerational connection.
Caroline MacGregor: I'll turn to James for a moment. James Thurman, you're a student at Eastern Michigan University, and you're a current intern, I believe, for the nonprofit known as Lori's Hands. Tell me how you got involved and a little bit about your experience. How long you've been doing it also?
James Thurman: Yeah. So, I started with Lori's Hands at the beginning of the fall semester. In order to graduate, I needed a internship, and they were looking for some help. And I was able to interview and just talk to Maddi about what their whole philosophy was about helping older individuals and having college students, best way to put it, is just helping them.
Caroline MacGregor: It seems like quite an opportunity, yes, for a young person like you to offer just a breath of fresh air to these clients' lives.
James Thurman: It is! So, I've also had the opportunity to work with older adults through my job. I used to work at a golf course, and I still am in the golf industry business. So, I've had other opportunities to interact with older adults. However, this opportunity kind of just gets me more involved with them and kind of getting to know like their whole story, whether it's like when they were younger or they're older. My first clients that I've interacted with live in Canton, Michigan, and they've had some serious health problems within the last couple of years and have seen their health decline. And just me and my student volunteer go there about an hour and a half, two hours, once a week just to help them, whether it's like grocery shopping or just yard work or just kind of just vacuuming. She's very appreciative. So, even just being there and talking to them, you can tell it really means a lot to them.
Caroline MacGregor: That company, because I talked with Maddie just a minute ago about the loneliness factor, and I think it's a chronic issue that we're facing everywhere now. The isolation, particularly that older people can feel, is tangible, and it doesn't help their health, physical or mental.
James Thurman: It doesn't. And then, I also kind of look back at COVID. I know it's been close to five years now, almost six years, but just looking on that and just kind of getting their perspective as an older individual who they may not even have technology access or anything like that and how they would connect with their family members or loved ones or even their doctors. Sometimes, it's kind of just hard just to get that connection with them. A lot of them, they just can't see their kids because they're at an age right now where they're have full-time jobs, they have kids and such. So, just having an individual at least comes in who they can look forward to talking to and just kind of getting to know them throughout the semester really does mean a lot.
Caroline MacGregor: And I know you said you were looking for an internship, but how did you eventually get chosen to help out with these seniors in the community?
James Thurman: Yeah. So, I was able to get referred by one of my professors who has worked with Lori's Hands previously. It kind of just aligned with my morals and goals. I also was able to kind of get like this nonprofit aspect. I've never worked with a nonprofit before, so just getting to know like the behind-the-scenes work really is just admirable and just great.
Caroline MacGregor: And Maddi might have to jump in here in a minute. To be chosen for this, obviously, there's a big trust factor, just like any carer going into a home. What is the process involved for you to be chosen for this type of work?
James Thurman: Yeah, of course! So, for any type of a student who is interested in volunteering, you can just kind of just go online to lorishands.com and hit "volunteer." It's just a couple of survey questions to ask. You just have to have a dot-edu--any type of university email address--in order to get accepted. And we do a quick background check as well. It's nothing too big or anything like that. It just takes a couple of days. And from there, we get a follow up email from Maddi for the next steps.
Caroline MacGregor: You've been listening to 89.1 WEMU. And my guests today have been Maddi Riemenschneider. She's Lori's Hands Metro Detroit Senior Manager. And James Thurman. He's a student at Eastern Michigan University and a current intern for Lori's Hands. Thank you to both of you for joining me today!
Maddi Riemenschneider: Thank you so much for having us!
James Thurman: Thank you so much!
Caroline MacGregor: And this is 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.
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