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Milton and Mane
Welcome to Milton and Mane, the City of Milton, Georgia's official podcast—a dynamic space where community connection meets insightful conversation. Whether you're a resident, local business owner, neighboring government official, or a curious listener from afar, this podcast is your gateway to understanding Milton on every level.
Each episode is designed to bring you closer to the heart of our city, offering behind-the-scenes stories that humanize the people who keep Milton running. You'll gain valuable insights into local government operations, discover new opportunities, and hear from the voices that shape our community. Expect to learn about our rich history, stay updated on future developments, and explore the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability initiatives that make Milton unique.
Join us as we celebrate our community, encourage civic engagement, and share inspiring stories that resonate beyond our city limits. Subscribe today and be part of the conversation that's building a better Milton, one episode at a time.
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Milton and Mane
Helping Seniors Thrive: How one non-profit supports our aging community
In this episode, Tanya Morris and Heather Terry from Senior Services North Fulton (SSNF) share how this nonprofit helps seniors with the common challenges of aging while remaining independent. From Meals on Wheels (for people and pets), to transportation for medical appointments, to seven senior centers offering fitness, art, and social connection, SSNF is a vital resource for older adults across our community.
The conversation also touches on the rise of scams targeting seniors and offers practical steps families can take to stay protected. As a nonprofit, SSNF depends on volunteers and donations to keep these programs going, and they share how you can get involved.
Want to connect with Senior Services North Fulton?
Call: 770.993.1906 or visit: www.ssnorthfulton.org
With the community in mind, this podcast explores the stories, people, and initiatives that make our community unique. Each episode offers insights into local government, highlights Milton's history and future developments, and showcases the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability efforts shaping our city. Join the conversation, celebrate our community, and discover how we're building a better Milton together.
Do you have an idea for an episode or would like to request a specific topic to be covered? Email Christy Weeks, christy.weeks@miltonga.gov
Learn more about the City of Milton at www.miltonga.gov.
Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for the city of Milton. We want to bring you closer to the heart of our community through stories that inform, inspire and connect. Each episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people, projects and priorities shaping Milton, covering everything from local government and future development to arts, culture, sustainability and public safety. Whether you're a resident, a local business owner or just curious about our city, this is your front row seat to what makes Milton special.
Speaker 1:Hey, everyone, welcome back to Milton in Maine. I'm your host, Christy Weeks, the communications manager for the city of Milton, and today we are going to be talking to two individuals from an organization that plays a huge role in supporting some of our most cherished residents, our seniors, Whether it's a friendly visitor, a hot meal or a safe ride to the grocery store. Senior Services North Fulton is quietly doing powerful work to help people age with dignity and independence, and joining me today to talk about all of this and more is Tanya Morris and Heather Terry. Both work directly with these programs and know firsthand the impact they're having across our region. So, first off, welcome, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:So glad you guys are here. I've been talking about this episode for a long time, michaela and I and I believe I even mentioned it in my last episode. When I talked to Emily about events and she started talking a little bit about senior service and I was like we're not going to go there because I've got a whole episode planned with them. We want them to explain everything before we start spreading information, so I'm so grateful you're here. Let's start with tell me who you are, what your role is, how long you've been around. Give us an idea of what's going on.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm Tanya Morris and I'm client services director at senior services North Fulton, and this month is my 14th year anniversary, so I've been with the agency 14 years been a social worker longer than that. We'll just say that we don't talk age here. Although, however, every episode somehow I out myself inadvertently Well proud to say that I've been a social worker for over 25 years. We'll just round it there, so.
Speaker 2:I don't have to be specific, and my role with the agency is I oversee the seven senior centers that we manage and our care management team, which is five care managers Wow.
Speaker 1:Yes, you guys are much larger than I thought. I'm not going to lie. We were just chatting off mic and I read it, but I didn't process how much space and how much you guys actually cover.
Speaker 2:We do For years and maybe, heather, you want to speak to this our history of our agency, but for years we were just North Fulton. Now we're North Fulton and some of Atlanta with our senior center, so seven senior centers and Alpharetta, milton, sandy Springs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, john's Creek.
Speaker 2:We don't have a senior center.
Speaker 3:Our services cover John's Creek area.
Speaker 2:Ah, I gotcha I gotcha Just a little little shift in narrative there Mountain Park, mountain Park, that's another one too. Yeah, six cities.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's big Heather, tell me Good morning.
Speaker 3:So I'm Heather Terry and I'm the Community Relations Director for Senior Services North Fulton and I've been with the agency for nine years and my job is basically to help spread the word about all the great things that our organization offers and just making sure that we've got the folks out there that need our services know about us. So attracting them to us and then also, just being a nonprofit, finding donors, companies, different organizations to help support our mission from a financial perspective.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's big. I come from the nonprofit world so I understand that perspective and the challenges that you all have. It's a thing, but it's also probably one of the most rewarding parts of working with a nonprofit is getting to see the work that you do.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I am not front lines really. It's Tanya and her team that are working the front lines and are really wrapping their arms around our seniors and making sure that they're covered with whatever programs and services we offer to be able to support them. And if we don't do it within our organization, we have wonderful partners in the community that we can refer to that help take care of them too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm pretty sure. On the sheet that y'all provided me, there's an entire page of resources that you all connect with, which is amazing.
Speaker 3:That's probably the short list. I got the short list. Yes, you got the nonprofit list.
Speaker 2:Perfect, you know, if we're not the right person. Here's some basic 411 kind of things that you can call for information.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 1:That is really important when you're talking about the nonprofit world because I came from addiction treatment and it was really important to us to share. We are not everybody's perfect fit, correct. This is what we're good at, this is what we do. If your situation is different, we will find you the best place for you, because so often in that world everybody's like, nope, I can fix all of it, I've got all the answers and I really don't think that's that's true. I think it takes a really smart organization to be able to identify the difference.
Speaker 2:Yep and North Fulton is a wonderful community because all of the nonprofits I feel like really do try to work together to not duplicate but to address the needs that they're expert in, right. So like we partner with North Fulton Community Charities, for example, and our volunteers deliver their food pantry items it's a pantry to you program oh yeah, we're getting into that. Okay, we'll get into that but yeah, so that's an example of instead of us trying to start a pantry ourselves. They're experts at that. Why duplicate that?
Speaker 1:so why not partner? So why reinvent the wheel exactly? And I, I love that about you guys, because you guys really the amount of programming that you have, because I get your calendar calendar, michaela affords the calendar to me every month so we can stick it in the Parks and Rec newsletter and then I mean y'all have a lot going on and we'll get there. I promise we'll get there. So, so, heather, you've been with them for nine years. Nine years, Wow, yep, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's. It's a wonderful organization and I'm just so proud of the team that we have and the impact that we're making in the community and the seniors that we serve that you know they just oftentimes don't have family in the community and so we work to really just make sure that they're taken care of and a lot of the seniors I think a lot of folks feel like there's not a lot of need in North Fulton. I think they feel like there's a lot of money up here and there is, but we do have a lot of seniors that have lived here and cannot afford to move out of their homes.
Speaker 3:They can't afford to move into the assisted livings that you see on every corner. Those are great for people that have the money to live there. So our goal is to be able to keep our seniors in their homes as long as they're able to do so and be safe there, and if they get to the point where they can't live independently anymore, then Tanya and her team are able to find programs and services that will help support them. When the finances are not there, there are different things that you can look into to help help them afford those things. I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that Cause again, there's not the perfect fit for everybody on every corner and well and everybody has.
Speaker 2:Like you said, everybody has a different need and different goals, Even if they're trying to stay at home. Why they're staying at home might be different. It might be because of their pet, it might be because they've always lived there, it might be because they just don't know that there's another good opportunity.
Speaker 1:Right and I think in a lot of respects the reputations of some places have put the fear into seniors as far as I don't want to go to assisted living, I don't need assistance. Well, sometimes it's not about assistance, it's about community and and about having things a little closer and easier access for you. So I think there's a lot of education on that level for our seniors and their families to really understand so they can make the proper decisions.
Speaker 2:Yes, and a lot of it is about loss and control, you know, so they can make the proper decisions. Yes, and a lot of it is about loss and control.
Speaker 3:You know, seniors.
Speaker 2:That's the big fear, I feel like it's not even always leaving the home or having people come into the home. It's feeling like people are going to take over and they will no longer have a say or have a choice. And so one of the big, I think, focuses of anybody who serves seniors or serves them well is to try to come along the senior, to understand and still give them the say that they are allowed to have and do have, but to try to support that and then, if additional services or supports are really needed, trying to get them on board with the concept and see the need and that this is not to take over. It's to, you know, to go beside them and and just try to make them successful in their goal of staying in the home.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, you know um side story. My father-in-law was just in town. He just turned 91. He lives in Tucson. He drove.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, I love it From Tucson to here, Of course he did.
Speaker 1:We're like you know, jack, they have airplanes. He's like nope, I want to drive. Well, his whole original thought was he wanted to drive up to Fort Bragg, because that's where he was stationed, and watch him jump, because that's what he used to do. Unfortunately, the timing of his trip and when they jump were not, but that was his ideas. Like I want to drive, I like to drive. I don't like driving to Atlanta.
Speaker 3:Right, much less across country. Listen, it is not.
Speaker 1:Some people are road trippers. I am the worst road tripper there is. So props to Jack 91 plays golf, goes hunting it's, it's what he does and it's it's why he's as healthy as he is, because he stays really active.
Speaker 3:Yes, but the bottom line is is you know, if you live long enough, eventually you're going to need assistance. And so I'm a big proponent of really educating yourself, you know, not waiting for the crisis to happen to really educate yourself on. You know what's available out there. Sit down with your kids or your loved ones, if you don't have children, and let them know. You know, ideally I'd like to stay at home, but if I can't stay at home, what's my option b and which? What's my option c?
Speaker 3:right look like, and then you can kind of create what is to happen, instead of leaving it on your loved ones to try to figure out. If you're not capable of doing so and I think a lot of the plan is important the hard part is because I'm coming into having older parents.
Speaker 1:My parents are still you know they're 80 still still doing great and whatnot.
Speaker 1:I'm really fortunate, but the conversation that has to happen I think a lot of the education has to fall on the family piece, because we're pretty sure that they have no clue what they're talking about anymore. They used to be our go-to, our experts. They could solve everything. My dad could solve everything. But now you know you sit back and you're going. Are you really thinking about this? And all of a sudden my control issues and my sister's control issues become okay. Well, mom and dad aren't really thinking about this, right, and they need to do this. I find myself stepping back and going wait a minute. I remember when my grandfather was alive and my dad would be like nope, this is grandpa's decision, dad, he's 95.
Speaker 1:It's still his decision, he still knows, and my dad was super aware of that hierarchy that was going on, and I think it's hard sometimes for the kids to sit back and go. Okay, their opinion really is the end. All be all still. As long as they're able to make those coherent, conscious decisions.
Speaker 2:And I think that also with a lot of us right, if we have aging parents, it might be the first aging parents we've ever had right?
Speaker 3:I'm pretty sure it is.
Speaker 2:It's like when you have your first kid, you have no point of reference. So, we always kind of chuckle to ourselves, in a loving and supportive way, of course, around the holiday times, when families are coming to visit or seniors are visiting their families that they don't live near. Our phones always light up right after the holidays or Thanksgiving, christmas, because they're seeing their loved ones and they've been talking to them on the phone for the last couple of months and they they're very supportive.
Speaker 2:but mom and dad say everything's fine, fine, fine. And then they get there and they see how seniors are living or how they're living.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And you have that freak out moment of oh my gosh, like oh my God, and so you know, a lot of what we do is kind of talk people off the ledge, is talk family members off the ledge of okay, well, let's talk about that. What's really going on, Right? Is it really unsafe or is it just different than what you're used to Correct? Is it really unhealthy?
Speaker 1:Because we all right, we all maintain that image of our, our mom, our dad, when they were like 35, 40 and super active and it's like in my mind, my parents never aged from there. Sure Yep, and then they visit Yep.
Speaker 2:So it's just trying to understand, understand kind of, what's changing. And the reality is all of our life is risk. It's negotiated risk. Everything we do, we get in a car that's a risk, but we assume oh way to kick off my Friday. Thanks, tanya, you're welcome. You're welcome. Get in that car and drive on your road trip that you love so much, but everything really is a negotiated risk and so it's just trying to understand that and to be able to kind of let it go a little bit.
Speaker 2:because we love them, it's all you know. 99.9% of the time it's really done out of love that we just love them so much we want them to have the best right we want them to be safe, we want them to be around forever and and just trying to feel like it's our role to try to bubble wrap them so that that happens.
Speaker 1:Right and I feel like yes it's out of love but a lot of times the actions come out of fear. Yeah, yes, my mom bless her. She, when she was here, she fell, ended up with nice seven staples in the back of her head. A couple of weeks later she fell again. Yes, so fear is what motivates me right now, because, oh my gosh, my dad can't even be, he can't sit on her 24 hours a day.
Speaker 1:You know, I want to know what's causing it, what can we do? And she needs to get on top of her PT and get this taken care of. And, because that's my harsh perspective right, because I'm removed from the situation and I just see the aftermath, yeah, and so my first instinct is go, you're not. Your next stop is going to be moving out of the house because this is not safe anymore. But is that realistic and is that fair? It's not.
Speaker 2:And might not even be needed. Right, Because? But your first instinct about let's figure out what's causing this and how do we reduce the chances that it's going to happen again?
Speaker 1:I'm mad at the doctors right now because nobody's being honest with her. Nobody is telling her the exact situation that she's sitting in Yep, it's, it's her. I think I feel like care at that age through some of the primary doctors, and what not all, not all, not all Milton I'm not talking about is let's just get her through, let's bandaid this. You know what I mean. So nobody's taking a look at the core. How are we going to fix this? Is this something that we can make better?
Speaker 1:So she has a better quality of life, which ultimately means my father has better quality of life.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, and that's you know again, knowing where to call to connect to resources. You know getting involved enough to know what's going on or get information. I have done multiple phone calls where I'm on speaker in the doctor's office with you know, mom, dad and the doctor, and so I can hear what's happening and I can help take notes and I might hear something different than they do, so can back up the hey while we're in this office. You're saying this, but I have a question about this. You know, like I had um mother-in-law had dementia, was on the phone with a neurologist when she you know, like I had um mother-in-law had dementia, was on the phone with a neurologist when she was getting that diagnosis and and basically you know it was okay, you have mild cognitive impairment. There we go, that's all it was.
Speaker 2:And I'm like you know we're going to provide some information. Oh, the internet has all the information that you need, which which was my first red flag, but anyway. So I was like okay, and I'm like, well, can you give them a little bit more information about what to expect? For example, she is primarily responsibility responsible for taking her meds every day, but I don't know that that's really happening. Oh you're, she's trying to take her own meds. Oh no, she can't do that. Oh, okay, well then let's get at the root of it. What do you mean? Can you tell my father-in-law what does that mean? And that's when he was saying if you wouldn't trust a third grader to do it, you should not assume she could do it. But that was mild cognitive impairment to that doctor. So I think you have the right thing, which is that we really have a responsibility when we go into the doctor, when they go into the doctor to ask the next level question.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, what does that mean for our day to day?
Speaker 1:What does?
Speaker 2:that mean, you know, this is how we live our life. Can we just do that, you know? Can we just still do that, you know? Can she just still just?
Speaker 1:eat whatever she wants. They just need to know the right questions to ask and to have somebody there. It's tough Because literally, I'm sitting across the table from my mom and I'm like I I'm going to take your phone away If you don't start going to PT. You're grounded. Yeah, You're in a position where you're parenting your parents. I love it.
Speaker 3:And that's, and that's what essentially ends up happening, and parents don't want to be parented by their kids. So, again, that's what essentially ends up happening, and parents don't want to be parented by their kids.
Speaker 2:So again.
Speaker 3:That's why it's so important to have these conversations before the crisis hits.
Speaker 2:It's nice to do that, yes.
Speaker 3:You know, knowing what the resources are and what we kind of tout ourselves at senior services is. You know, we're kind of the one-stop shop for anything senior related over the age of 60 in. Fulton and again we stay in our lane, but we have so many partners and resources. So if we've got somebody that calls us and we feel like assisted living is doable for them from a financial perspective and it's something that's going to work for them, for what?
Speaker 3:their needs are. We'll make that referral to somebody that can help them identify the right assisted living. In the meantime, we can provide the meals on wheels for them.
Speaker 1:Well, let's get into some of the programming, because I think this is really important, especially for here in Milton, because we do have, you guys can speak to the senior center that we have, and let's I'm just going to let you guys go let's, let's talk services.
Speaker 2:Sure, meals on Wheels, I think, is something that a lot of people have heard of. You know, cause it's like a brand, um right, which is really a home delivered meal, that there's no income criteria to qualify or disqualify for our meals. There's no cost for any of the services we're talking about today. There's no costs, no insurance being billed, nothing like that, and the meal is more than a meal, so it is a wonderful, nutritious meal that's delivered by volunteers.
Speaker 1:My grandmother used to do that. She loved it.
Speaker 2:But it's more than the meal, because it is the visit it is the volunteer saying hello, mrs Smith, mr Jones, how are you doing today? And laying eyes on them. So every day that you're scheduled for a delivery, it's somebody that's physically seeing you and seeing how you're doing. So it's a great way to stay connected, it's a great way to have kind of a check-in, and it's a wonderful meal.
Speaker 1:And they have.
Speaker 3:They have the ability, the volunteers have the ability to transfer whatever they see or to share that information with somebody who yes, if they get there and they are seeing. That, mrs Smith, is just not right today, because our volunteers deliver to the same people each time they're out delivering and we've got routes. You know, if somebody wants to deliver once a week or once a month, we can work with whatever schedule is, so we're always looking for Meals on Wheels volunteers.
Speaker 1:We'll put that in the show notes too, yeah absolutely so.
Speaker 3:But you know, if Mrs Smith doesn't seem right today, that's a phone call directly into our office and our office is able to look at their emergency contact list, contact whoever their emergency contact is and let the daughter know, or whoever know, that we did the delivery today for Meals on Wheels, and mom just doesn't seem right. You might want to check in on her and I believe we had a situation where we had a volunteer that recognized that one of our clients was having a stroke.
Speaker 2:Is that correct? Yeah, but also because if you're a senior listening to this podcast, I don't want you to think that we call your emergency contact every day.
Speaker 3:So we start with you. You're not tattletales, we start with the senior.
Speaker 2:But like you said, heather, if there is like a more significant, like I think you're having a stroke, they're going to help call 911 or they're going to help you. You know, can I help you call your doctor so we can see what we need to do here, cause this is a, this is a moment.
Speaker 1:And I know you guys, while we're talking care management, I know you guys pair with fire cares, with Derek Hoffman, with Milton cares.
Speaker 2:Yes, Yep, so um, yeah, uh, derek refers to us, he goes to our senior center and does blood pressure checks on? A regular basis. So that is awesome. Um, yes, but we do try to pair with anybody that's really involved, that that the client gives us permission to, um, and that is involved in the seniors' lives.
Speaker 2:We want to work together because there is no sense I might see something that really it's you that could help them the most with or I might see something and you didn't even realize it was going on, and so if we're all talking together, it definitely works the best way.
Speaker 1:It truly takes a village. It really does. It does take a village that starts when you start having children and it continues that's right.
Speaker 2:It's for your lifestyle, for your lifetime. I don't care what age you are. You are generally reaching out, whether it's friends, neighbors or whatever. You're always talking to somebody you're like oh, I'm having the hardest time with this. Have you been through this before? What you know? Right? So it never stops.
Speaker 3:And and that includes in your aging years wow one other thing I'd like to say about our meals on wheels program is I know we have a lot of seniors that are living with their adult children in the area. So just because they're living under your roof doesn't mean that we can't deliver meals to them. Oftentimes we've got the adult children. The husband and wife are out working the kids are at school.
Speaker 3:So this, would you know, mom has left home by herself all day, and so this is a great opportunity for a volunteer to go and take him a meal, lay eyes on him during the day, you know, give him a little bit of socialization and it gives peace of mind to the adult children.
Speaker 1:Oh, I do love that. I think that would worry some individuals in the sense, well, I'm, I don't need it, but you really kind of do yeah, it's more than just a meal, for sure. Here's the other thing that I saw on there Meals on wheels for pets.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's one of our, one of our favorite programs.
Speaker 3:It gets people's attention. It's like we feed. We feed people but then when we say we feed people's pets, people just fall out of their chair. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Well, and it really. It's one of those situations where our care managers were seeing a gap. They were seeing a need. We had seniors that maybe were getting Meals on Wheels and were actually feeding it to their pets instead of themselves or in addition to themselves which is really not necessarily the healthiest thing for the pet not necessarily the healthiest thing for the senior, and so we were able to create this Meals on Wheels for Pets program.
Speaker 2:So they get a month's worth of food delivered by volunteers once a month, and it's a great way for people to keep their pets safely and well cared for in their home.
Speaker 3:All the food that we receive is donated. We partner with the VCA and we partner with the Atlanta Humane Society. And so we deliver a month's worth of free pet food the first Friday. I think it's the first Friday of every month that we do that. It's an awesome program because for a lot of our seniors who are living alone, their cat and their dog is their family. I am nuts about my dog. I love my dog.
Speaker 3:My dog never talks back, you know he listens, he's always happy to see me, and he's my favorite being in my house most often. So those relationships between seniors and their pets are so important. And if the only thing standing in the way of you being a good pet parent is being able to afford the food at Willain and.
Speaker 1:Humane.
Speaker 3:Society is like oh my gosh, we're going to have to feed him if you bring him back here anyway. So let's let's take care of that.
Speaker 1:And, um, it's a great program. How long has that program been going on, cause I love that. I saw that I think it's been going on.
Speaker 3:I mean, I've been with an agency for for nine years and I think it started maybe right before I got there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's about that. Time flies. How come nobody talks about it? It?
Speaker 3:started with a grant that we received from Meals on Wheels America and that grant. We don't receive that grant from them anymore, so that's something that we fundraise on our own. So it's a wonderful program and people always love hearing about it.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, I love it. I love it. What else have we got? So we talked a little bit about care management, we talked a little bit about Meals on Wheels. What else would you like to highlight?
Speaker 2:Well, definitely want to highlight our senior centers. We have four in the area and three in Atlanta, and really anybody that's 60 or older that lives in Fulton County can go to any senior center they want to. But we recommend and provide free transportation to and from the senior center that's closest to your home.
Speaker 1:Listen, there was a rumor on one of my last podcasts that you have to be 55 to get on that bus. I'm almost there. There's a lot of programs and services. I'm going to have free rides coming up in my life here in the next six months. Who?
Speaker 3:needs Uber. You've got that too. Yeah, we do.
Speaker 2:But yes, 60 is the magic number for our services.
Speaker 1:So sorry, so close.
Speaker 2:So sorry, 60 plus to get the transportation and to go to the senior center. But people of any age can volunteer at the senior center. So, we do have. Sometimes that's how seniors start. They come to us as volunteers. Maybe they just come and hang out with people. Maybe they come they have a skill and, you know, special talent that they want to share and they come and share that. Or they just come and have fun, which is really the point of the senior center is to bring people together to have a good time.
Speaker 1:I was up there for the hundredth birthday of Mertes.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that was lovely, that's great.
Speaker 1:There was music and just a lovely environment to be in.
Speaker 2:The Milton senior center is phenomenal. Karen and Karen are the two people that staff, that center. They are wonderful and have a heart for seniors. Really, which is what you have to have to work at senior services North Fulton. Really, which is what you have to have to work at Senior Services North Fulton? Whether you're in Heather's job or my job, it doesn't matter. Heart for Seniors is number one of all of our employees. So, yeah, so we love to have them there. There's exercise every day. So like there's Emory Fit at Chair Yoga, you know Senior Stretch at the Senior Center. So there's exercise every day. Plus, there's fun activities, some learning stuff, game stuff, and we have some new programmings, because most of the programming has been in the morning time. You come, you do some games, programs like art class or whatever you want to do. You don't have to participate just because you're there, but you're encouraged. And then we have lunch and then generally people go home.
Speaker 3:So that's what the transportation is.
Speaker 2:So it doesn't take up your whole day. You're not giving up your whole day, but it's enough to kind of get out, kind of give you a reason to get out and get you going. Some people go one day a week, some do five days a week. It's up to them. But we now have started some other programs that are in the afternoon time. So we've got a book club that's starting in August. We have Mahjong Mondays. I've heard about that.
Speaker 3:Yes, Michaela, and I talk about that, if you want to learn how to play. Mahjong that's a good opportunity to go over there.
Speaker 2:Mahjong every Monday and so, yeah, so we really try to listen to the people that are coming in and the community about what is it that you're really looking for and how can we provide that for you.
Speaker 3:And you Milton residents probably drive by our Milton Senior Center all the time and don't even realize it's there it's a really big roundabout.
Speaker 1:It's right there in the historic Thomas Bird House right on Hopewell Road. And that alone is super cool.
Speaker 3:It's a really really great, great venue over there. It's so beautiful. It's beautiful so definitely if y'all are out and about on, you know, monday through Friday, you know anytime, you know between nine and three if you want to pop in and say hi to the Karen's. I'm sure they'd be happy to show you around, because it's a cool building. We are so so happy with that location and we're doing fun things there.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that, love it. So there's another program I want y'all to kind of talk about, and that's the Friendly Visitor Program.
Speaker 2:Yes, friendly visiting. So not everybody loves a crowd, right Like not everybody feels comfortable going to a senior center.
Speaker 3:Especially after COVID, I've become very reclusive. We are very safe.
Speaker 2:We are very safe and sanitized and all that stuff. So there's no danger to come to a senior center. But that's not for everybody.
Speaker 2:Some people are shy, some people are group or maybe physically it's not appropriate for them. They can't quite get out to that, even with the transportation, it's just too much for them. So we do have something that's called the Friendly Visitor Program. Again, volunteers we match a senior with a volunteer that maybe has a similar interest, lives in a similar area, similar availability, and the point is that they kind of meet together maybe once a month, maybe twice a month to just kind of be, just kind of be. The purpose of the program is for the visit. We have some people that have had the same friendly visitor for like seven years or something, because they give a relationship and they go out and get their nails done together, they go to eat or they just visit.
Speaker 2:So things develop over time, of course, but yeah, the purpose is that that visit and that connection.
Speaker 3:And just you know, keeping in mind that the seniors that you're having the friendly visit with, I mean they are independent seniors, so you're not going in and doing any kind of caregiving services- or anything like that.
Speaker 3:But to Tanya's point, we've had so many friendly visitor relationships that have developed over the years and they're inviting, you know, the senior to Christmas and Thanksgiving. Or you know having parties and different and Thanksgiving. Or you know having parties and different things. You make it what you want to make it. You know you're not there to run errands for them or anything like that, but it's great for those that can't get out. That interaction is so important.
Speaker 1:It really is Many multiple moons ago, when I was super young, I was a CNA and did home visits and at that time, because of my role, I did do some of the services, some of the caregiving, but really they just wanted to chat and I heard some of the coolest stories and as a young person you don't really appreciate a lot of things until you actually sit down and you talk to somebody who's lived a life. It's amazing. It's amazing, you know, if, whether you go to somebody who's lived a life, absolutely it's amazing.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. You know whether you go to the senior center or it's the friendly visiting. We have former Olympians, we have chess champions, you know, international chess champions. I mean, we've got people that have done it and seen it all, Even if they were a stay-at-home mom and then grew up it's just when you think about what has happened in the last 80 or 90 years everybody has got an amazing story and amazing gifts to share, and so it's wonderful to have that opportunity through that friendly visiting or the Senior Center.
Speaker 2:if you volunteer at the Senior Center, yeah because I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1:I mean, for example, my 91-year-old father-in-law he's my father the stories he has, I'm like are you kidding me? You know airborne he used to jump, I'm like you.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He's like oh yeah, I was a person.
Speaker 2:I had a life.
Speaker 1:Before you came along.
Speaker 2:Christy, that's right.
Speaker 1:So it's really quite amazing and, like my grandfather, he went over to Pearl Harbor for cleanup and spent, you know, his years in the service over there. So the stories and the history and the lessons and the perspective you cannot argue with.
Speaker 3:And that's the great thing about the senior centers too. Just coming back to the senior centers is having having those folks that that are participants at the senior center, that can come together and share those life stories and know where they're coming from right.
Speaker 1:There's not the ego involved. You know, you get into the 30s and the 40s and everybody's flexing about what they've accomplished and what they're doing. You talk to somebody who's lived a full life and they're just so humble A majority of the conversation. They're so humble about their accomplishments because they realize that their life does not pivot around their accomplishments. It's about the connections and the people in the families that they have. So there's a lot of value to that. Absolutely yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:Let's talk getting involved and getting help because, tanya, I'm pretty sure you've said volunteer like 12 times.
Speaker 3:We have, I have a feeling that's kind of important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have over 500 volunteers that help us fulfill our mission.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's how important they are, yeah, so, and we've got an amazing volunteer director, michelle Williams, who, who gets everybody organized and gets everybody trained, and all of our volunteers have to go through background checks because you know they're going into our seniors' homes.
Speaker 3:So we background check everybody and it's just. It's a very fulfilling way to spend your time. Opportunity to volunteer at our senior centers, calling bingo or bringing a talent. We've got an amazing volunteer over at our Roswell Senior Center who's an artist, who has just developed this amazing art program at our Roswell Senior Center. So if you have a talent, if you know how to do chair yoga or you know how, to do any kind of art classes or you just have something you want to share.
Speaker 3:we welcome all of that. It's not just bingo at our senior centers, it's very important. Not that you can take away bingo, but so Meals on Wheels volunteers will work with your schedule on what works for you to be a meals on wheels volunteer. I always talk about donating your lunch break and taking a meal to somebody. It takes about an hour and a half each route. It doesn't take much time at all, so it's a great way to spend your time what are some of our other volunteer friendly visitors, friendly visitors.
Speaker 2:Yep, we have do those kinds of things and you said the senior center friendly visitor. We do most of our stuff. So sometimes where it becomes a little challenge for people or for if you're thinking, oh, I have a student that needs some volunteer hours, or that kind of thing Most of our programs are Monday through Friday, you know from eight to four, so you have to be kind of available there. But we do have like days of service. So if you have a group that you know in the fall is interested or willing to do some yard work, we can pair you up with a senior so you can go out and kind of do the fall clean and get the leaves and trim or that kind of thing. We've had volunteers that helped our seniors pack and you know move that seniors don't have any family. Think about trying to move. Think about trying to move.
Speaker 1:I don't want to pack and move.
Speaker 2:After my last one I'm done, and we don't do that a lot, but we do have. You know there's all those sorts of like kind of little one-off things that happen that are crucial to that senior but that come up.
Speaker 2:We have some volunteers that are handymen Perfect, not right now, we don't have any handy women, but handymen or handy person. So that does you know leaky faucet or changing things out. And sometimes it's just I'm not sure what's going on, it's just not working right, and so they can kind of talk them through and say, oh, this is who you need to contact, like it's beyond what I can do, but this is the type of person you need to call.
Speaker 3:Let's open that up really quick.
Speaker 1:Only because I see it with my parents. See it with my parents in there. When they had kids and they were fixing things, you had yellow pages. We do not have yellow pages anymore. We have the internet and we have all these digital options which make things really super easy. If you know how to use technology right and my parents can. They are not swift at it. It's very overwhelming on some level, but they can Not everybody does and I find it overwhelming to go on the internet looking for services.
Speaker 3:And you don't know who's legit. You don't.
Speaker 1:There's so much out there, what is the best way for them to navigate that?
Speaker 2:That is a wonderful question. We do not have necessarily like oh you need a plumber, here's plumber Joe, that we've vetted and we do not have that. So one of the things that we recommend is talking to your neighbors have they used somebody you know? Kind of like what you and I would do anyway.
Speaker 1:Going back to that village.
Speaker 2:Going back to that village, talk to your pastor, you know, do they have anybody in the church or do you know somebody? And so we try to help with those kinds of things so that they can kind of get connected to something. We do work with some. You know some churches have ministries where they do kind of repairs and things. That's usually like a build a ramp or bigger kind of things. But yeah, the calling people you know to try to get a recommendation.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's still the best way to go because I can go on the Internet for you if you don't have Internet access, and I can read reviews and give you here's who's listed with five star reviews.
Speaker 1:Neighbors. Check on your neighbors and see if they need anything Absolutely.
Speaker 3:But that's the beauty of our care managers that we have with senior services too. Again, it's just helping our seniors get connected with other things that are outside of our wheelhouse, just making sure that we've got some oversight and they're not being taken advantage of by.
Speaker 1:And, if I'm correct, y'all just had a little seminar slash workshop on security, cybersecurity stuff for seniors.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh yes, at the Milton Senior Center you're talking about. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I had one of our detectives on talking about senior scams because it is so prevalent. It is so prevalent and it's scary because it's so real. Yes, it's amazing.
Speaker 3:I actually got a call yesterday at the office I live in Forsyth County and this guy was so convincing. He said this is Heather Terry. You have missed a court summons for jury duty on July 21st and I'm calling to find out why that happened. There's a warrant out for your arrest. We can take care of that right now. And I knew it was a scam. But I could see how easily anybody, not just seniors, could get caught up and frightened by that and what I said to him. I was like oh well, you know what. I'm driving in downtown right now. I'm right in front of the courthouse. I'll run in and take care of it right now. Click. He hung up.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 3:But it is, it's so prevalent out there and I I'm telling you there is a special place for anybody that would take care, that would take advantage of seniors in this way. They've got their life savings and then all of a sudden they're completely wiped out and a lot of the seniors you know their life savings is not much at all. Nothing makes me madder. Oh, it's infuriating. Take advantage New fear unlocked.
Speaker 1:Ready for this one is the AI voice. I was just going to say because I discussed this with the detective that was on, and if my daughter's voice or my son's voice is on that other line and they're in distress, my level of being able to decipher right from wrong, true from false has probably diminished quite a bit. Yes, and so she gave really good advice. She goes get on another phone, have somebody else call, just call her.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:I agree with you Special place Come a family password.
Speaker 3:You know, maybe you have a family password and you've got the daughter's voice on the other end and you can say, julia, what's, what's the family password? And if they can't tell you what the family password is, then you know that it's not real.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm doing that. I'm going to come up with one of the craziest words.
Speaker 3:Yes, pineapple Right. So a good thing to teach your parents as well, because they are being targeted big time.
Speaker 1:And it's right now. 'm not gonna lie my mom's fallen victim.
Speaker 3:I'm in jail, you know you gotta bail me out, so and of course, listen if anybody calls my mom and says christine's in jail, she's gonna go? No, she's not I've done everything, or one of the grandkids right. That's the other thing.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm traveling, I'm whatever you know. So that's another reason to kind of keep them up to date on what's going on in people's lives, because if you call me and say, grammy, I'm in this and I know that you're, you know, nowhere near that then, that's another way.
Speaker 2:That kind of I can take a second and be like well, wait a minute, weren't you just in this? Or weren't you just? Didn't you just tell me you're working all week? Like, why are you? You know any, any way to stay connected? And then, like you said, to hopefully, if something happens, to hear about it before it becomes too much because, they go again and again.
Speaker 2:if it works, once they're going to go back, and so you want to get it before it's way down the road, sort of dark dark web list of vulnerable people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so you just want to. That's another reason to be in communication. And and not everybody. You know we live far apart from our families. Now, right, everybody. Technology is great to keep us together, but that means we can also be apart, and so we're not laying eyeballs on everybody every day. We don't live in the same neighborhood. We're not having every Sunday dinner every week with each other Like like they used to. That was great.
Speaker 1:When we were in Colorado my parents lived next door so they had some acreage on one side and our property was alongside, so I'd send the kids over to my parents' house. I'm like dad, they're coming. He's got the big dog with him because we were in the mountains so they wouldn't get eaten by mountain lions. Because that's responsible parenting.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's what.
Speaker 1:I did. I'm sending the dog, but, yeah, no, it was great, it was a great time of the kids' lives and for my parents to be with them it's wonderful. And then they keep going oh, we miss those days and I go. I miss those days Because, literally right after we moved, my kids' lives shifted and they were no longer in that age where A they wanted to be around me or my husband or anybody. It was their social lives, I go. You got their best years. Yeah, so know that it wouldn't have been the same had we stayed anyway. Yes, so living close is amazing. Yep, not always feasible.
Speaker 2:Right, but just know that there is value and it is important, like when you're calling your loved one, even if you can't be there all the time. A phone call, even if it's 10 minutes here or there, or on your drive, when you're not listening to this wonderful podcast on your drive.
Speaker 3:Thank you for that plug. Tanya yeah thank you.
Speaker 2:So in your drive to and from work, pick up the call, call, call mom, call dad call aunts and uncles, I call my dad FaceTime.
Speaker 3:We're so lucky to have FaceTime.
Speaker 1:I know we can see each other's faces. What's the best?
Speaker 3:Another good way to check in on mom.
Speaker 1:Right to see, to put eyes, Just be able to see her. Yeah, yeah. So I call my dad every day not going to lie Every day on my way home from work. I call my dad. I don't FaceTime very often because a lot of times I get their ear.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm like.
Speaker 1:Daddy move the phone so I can see you and he's like oh yeah, I got you.
Speaker 3:So, um, it's not their favorite. They don't particularly like my dad. Same thing. It's like he's trying to get his his hearing aids connected to his phone and there's it's always drama. I can see your eyebrows right now.
Speaker 1:Can you back the phone off a little bit? Yes, so fun, but it is it's super amazing to have those options. So fun, but it is. It's super amazing to have those options. Like I said, I call all the time I. I'm one of those moms that has kind of instilled that in my kids. So my kids still stay in touch with my grand, my parents not as much as you know they used to, but yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, life is busy and you're going to have times in your life where you can do more, in times where you can do less, and just know that you don't have to feel guilty about it. But any effort you make is valuable, effort, correct, and it's appreciated. So, uh, and we appreciate it. And it doesn't have to be just your parents. It could be your neighbors or people from church or whatever. So, yeah, family isn't always blood. It is not always blood, and that's happening more and more where family isn't blood.
Speaker 3:Just because we get a lot of referrals from churches too, so if you know, neighbors any churches out there. Let us know if there's anybody that that we need to connect with.
Speaker 1:We're happy to do that, for sure final thoughts, ladies, anything else that you want to share that we missed before we share contact information because, yeah, it's important I.
Speaker 2:I think it's just if you have a concern or a question, just reach out. There is probably somebody that knows the answer or has some information that might be able to help you. So don't hesitate, just reach out, because we can't help if we don't know.
Speaker 1:So we appreciate common theme out there. We can't help if we don't.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right and we're super excited. Next year we're celebrating our 35th anniversary. So we have been around for a while and so we're just kind of in the pre-planning phases, but we're hoping to roll out some really fun things around our 35th anniversary.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to see. I can't wait to see. I'll be looking for that schedule and happy to share as much as I can. So with that Heather contact information, throw it out there.
Speaker 3:Tanya's got everything. Tanya's got it, so the easiest thing.
Speaker 2:If you only remember one number, just call our main number 770-993-1906, and you'll get a prompt. And if you just leave a message on anybody and any of the prompts, we'll get you where you need to go. So, whether we answer or not, you know if you leave a message, so that's the best way to go. You can also go online to our wonderful website. Thank you so much, Heather. At wwwssnorthfultonorg and it has all of our senior centers listed you can see a calendar so you can see what the senior centers are doing, to see if it's something that's of interest, has information about us and you can contact us through our website as well.
Speaker 2:It'll send us an email and somebody will be back in touch with you, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Very easy.
Speaker 3:And again, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that we are a nonprofit, so we are always looking for financial support from individual donors. Or if there's any companies out there that like to focus in on food insecurity or homelessness, senior homelessness or anything like that, we would love to speak with you because we need the funds to keep these programs going, and without waitlists.
Speaker 3:That's the most important thing, We've got a transportation program that we didn't talk too much about today. But our transportation program gets homebound seniors to and from their medical appointments. But we are on a wait list right now because it costs us over $20,000 a month to run that program.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:So the program is there. We need some more funding, but just to let people know that it's there so do you guys participate in like giving tuesday?
Speaker 1:we do all of those absolutely isn't there one in two in in december is when, yeah, it kind of comes it's.
Speaker 3:It's the tuesday after thanksgiving, yep, so giving tuesday. So we we participate in that. So keep your eyes peeled for information coming up on that, and you don't have to wait for a giving giving tuesday, though we're always taking donations on our website.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can go right on the website. You can make it a one-time or a recurring donation.
Speaker 1:For sure, yeah, for sure. All the information is there, everybody. If you're interested, be sure to visit that website. Again, I'll have all the information listed in the show notes for easy access, and I am just going to say thank you so much to the both of you, because this has been a great conversation on a topic that needs to happen more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, this talk needs to keep going, because it's something that doesn't disappear, doesn't diminish, doesn't end Right, and it's hardest that the people that need it the most are the ones that are isolated and are less, less supported by family and friends, and they are the hardest people to reach. So, even if this doesn't relate to you right now, somebody you bump into today or tomorrow is likely going to be a senior or going to be in need, and so just kind of keep your antenna and your ears open so that you can say oh hey, I heard of this program, I heard this agency Call Senior Services. They might have something for you.
Speaker 1:And then we can get connected. Costs $0 to be kind.
Speaker 3:Thank you for giving us this platform. And thank you to the city of Milton who has been such an incredible partner to us. They just go above and beyond in helping us push out information about our senior center and our programs and we really really appreciate the partnership.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely Happy to help. If there's anything else that you ladies need from me, I'm always available. You know how to find me. So, with that, I am going to just put this last little message out whether you're listening, as a caregiver, a neighbor or someone thinking about volunteering, I hope that you heard something today that inspires you to take the next step, because, again, it does take a village. So with that, thanks for tuning in. I'm Christy Weeks and this is Milton and Maine. Thanks for listening to Milton and Maine. We hope this episode gave you fresh insights into what makes our city so special. Stay connected and don't miss an episode by subscribing to this podcast on your favorite platform and following us on social media for all updates. And, of course, if you want to learn more about the city, visit us online at wwwmiltongagov for resources, news and upcoming events. Until next time, thanks for being part of the conversation and we'll see you on the next Milton and Maine.