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It began in 1986 in the den, with
a used portable typewriter and a 50 cent book on starting a small
business purchased from the Salvation Army thrift store.
Arleen's mother, who had done the family paperwork
all her life, was ill and incapable of dealing with the blizzard
of papers generated by her illness. Arleen's father thought deciding
which health insurance to buy should be the end of matters. Arleen
recalls him cursing, willing not to collect any benefits –easier
to just pay the bills rather than sort through the labyrinth of
forms.
Arleen Goodwin laughs
as she remembers the innocence of the early days. She and Joan Kloehn,
friends since high school, teamed up with little more than their
conviction that someone should do something about this extraordinary
burden on the elderly, a conviction that created the nonprofit now
known as Senior Medi-Benefits. |
In 1988 they incorporated themselves as a nonprofit organization
using a book from Nolo Press as their guideline. As a start-up,
people began to notice, and word of mouth spread from grateful clients
to relatives and friends overwhelmed by the chaos of a constantly
changing medical system.
Today, Senior Medi-Benefits
is the only nonprofit organization in the State specifically
focusing on Medi-Cal eligibility for long term care while maintaining
its reputation as can-do red tape warriors for frail elderly.
Keeping up with a whirlwind
of political, legal and technological change is part of the
picture, but the heart of the matter is two women, with wit and
determination, saw a human need and over the years successfully
transformed their program services to meet the current healthcare
needs for older adults and infirm elderly. |
