Naperville resident is a case manager for seniors

A good day at the office for Kristen Ritchie could mean the difference for seniors struggling to live on their own and avoid a nursing home.

As a case manager for DuPage County, the 32-year-old Naperville resident makes sure seniors have all the services and benefits they need to continue to live independently.

“Basically, our goal is to help keep people living in their homes as long as possible with resources from the community,” Ritchie said.

And she’s apparently very successful at achieving that goal.

Ritchie recently received the 2013 Care Coordinator of the Year Award from the Illinois Department of Aging. She’s one of only two winners in the state to get the honor.

Ritchie says her co-workers at the county’s Senior Services division deserve a share of the credit.

“We have a good team, and everyone works really hard,” Ritchie said. “All my co-workers have a special attribute that they bring to the table. I think we really strive to do what we can for the community.”

The office has about 15 case managers who make visits to homebound seniors to determine their needs. If a senior has any unmet needs, the case managers work to determine what services or programs they qualify for that could be put into place for them. They then provide ongoing follow-up, case management and reassessments of each client’s needs.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to go to your job and leave at the end of the day knowing that you did something good for someone and that you made a difference for them,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie, who has been a case manager since 2008, said it’s a job she always wanted to do.

Growing up, she developed a close relationship with her grandmother and enjoyed speaking to others who had a lifetime of experience to share. By the time she graduated from Naperville Central High School, she already had experience volunteering at hospitals and nursing homes.

She started working for the county right after graduating from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in social work.

Today, Ritchie provides assistance to as many as 300 seniors a year. Her current caseload has about 160 people living mostly in Lisle, Naperville and Downers Grove.

Many of the residents Ritchie helps are surprised to learn assistance is available.

“We have different financial resources we can help with,” she said. “We have home-delivered meals.”

There’s even an in-home service to assist seniors with daily routines such as bathing, dressing and grooming. For households where there’s a family caregiver, there are respite services that make it possible for the caregiver to get a break or go on vacation.

Many of the programs and services are funded by the state and administered through the Illinois Department on Aging.

Ritchie says she and her colleagues also connect seniors with any nonprofit agencies that may be able to help them.

“We really have a good, solid knowledge of what’s available in the community,” she said. “And we all network and work together to refer people back and forth.”

What makes Ritchie stand out is how she handles difficult cases, according to her boss, Janice Wilkinson, who nominated her for the Care Coordinator of the Year Award.

In the nomination, Wilkinson wrote that Ritchie “assisted clients with all types of issues and deals with homelessness, lack of food, medication on an everyday basis.”

When one woman had to move out of her apartment and leave most of her possessions behind because of a bedbug infestation, Ritchie arranged for the woman to get furniture from an organization.

In another case, Ritchie had a client suffering from delusions. After coming to believe she had won the lottery, the woman gave away most of her belongings and stopped taking her medications. Ritchie organized an effort to have the woman hospitalized for a behavioral health evaluation.

“The participant was very angry at Kristen at the time,” Wilkinson wrote, “but after she was released from the hospital and stable, the client called Kristen and thanked her for helping her.”

Despite the challenges, Ritchie says she’s looking forward to doing her job for years to come.

“Maybe I will get burned out at some point,” she said. “But for now, I’m satisfied with what I’m doing.”