My wife, Judy Cederholm, went above and beyond the call of duty as Director of the Central Kentucky RSVP in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Here she developed a proposal for RSVP volunteers to become State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) counselors. This would enable them to work with their peers in detecting waste, fraud, and abuse of the Medicare system, as well as explain long-term care health insurance, supplemental Medicare health insurance, and the like, to prospective users of the health care systems. During that process, she learned that too many senior citizens on Medicare did not take their medications as prescribed. The clients often could not afford them. Judy developed a process and a team to address the problem.
With just one part-time paid staff person and some thirty RSVP volunteers, Judy completed the application process on behalf of 1,020 low-income senior adults in an astonishingly short time. My wife and her team provided invaluable assistance to the disadvantaged senior citizens, as they previously had no prescription drug coverage to receive free and/or discounted medications from the drug manufacturers. Without my wife’s efforts, these senior citizens would have had to choose on the one hand between eating, paying rent and utilities –– or, on the other hand, buying their medications.
In this rural area, transportation can present problems for the elderly. But Judy has helped ensure that "sign-up" days for health care programs for the elderly occur a couple of times per month at senior citizen homes and sites, enabling the less affluent and or infirm to gain access to needed programs. Since May 2005, SHIP counselors have educated more than 4,000 Medicare beneficiaries and have enrolled more than 1,500 in a Medicare-approved prescription program, a testament to Judy’s foresight and efforts. Judy has also empowered retirees to continue making a difference in their community by finding the right niche for them to use their talents and skills, honed over a lifetime. My wife continues to give to her community and her cause, even in her retirement. For example, she continues to serve as a SHIP volunteer counselor, serves on a local senior housing board, and attended as one of thirteen Kentucky representatives at the White House Conference on Aging. She contributes as a member of the Institute for Aging in Kentucky, writes grant proposals for non-profit organizations, and with an 83-year-old friend, serves Communion to homebound members of her church. Judy often undertakes fact-finding tours throughout America and abroad, gaining insight and knowledge about senior citizens’ challenges and opportunities. Judy recently traveled to Berlin to attend a conference, “Transitions of Life,” during which she participated in a workshop on aging issues and exploring the valuable contributions retirees make in the classrooms, especially in helping teachers expand literacy to children and adults alike.
As a professional, Judy Cederholm went far above the duties of her position, researching and developing a system to help people aged sixty and over receive their needed medications. Now retired, my wife remains busier than ever, working toward resolving challenges all senior citizens face. She also sets an example of lifetime learning, as she somehow has found the time to complete a class in journalism. As a young woman, Judy did not finish college. But when she reached fifty years of age, she decided to go in for testing for learning disabilities, and discovered she was dyslexic. But as in so many things, Judy used the diagnosis to shape a whole new set of educational, volunteer, and community-oriented goals. She shows by example and by deeds that a person’s “golden years” can be all the richer via efforts to improve the life of those around us.
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