Building Partnerships – MiCAFE and MiDHHS

by Natalie Pearce, Director of Economic Security

This summer, MiCAFE (Michigan’s Coordinated Access to Food for the Elderly) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) entered into a partnership to house a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Eligibility Specialist at Elder Law of Michigan’s Lansing office. Filling this role is Jody Anderson, who has worked at DHHS since 2011 as an Eligibility Specialist. In her role, Jody determines client eligibility for food assistance, Medicaid, cash assistance, state of emergency relief funds, and child day care. Prior to DHHS, she worked ten years for UPS and as administrative assistant for a small company promoting high-end running and biking gear and equipment. Jody has a B.A. degree from Alma College in secondary education and English. Jody will be working on applications specifically from six counties, including: Alpena, Genesee, Ingham, Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.

In Jody’s own words:
“I chose this position five years ago since I wanted to give back. When our youngest children (twins, Lia & Dana) were little they had severe asthma. Our health insurance covered many things, but we still spent thousands out of pocket on prescriptions, equipment, ER visits, etc. If it wasn’t for the pediatric pulmonologist who gave our name to MI Child for a referral, we would’ve had a few years of mounting bills. When MI Child called about insurance, I told them we had insurance I and was very reluctant to pursue a secondary insurance, but they persisted and asked me to come in and bring in receipts of what we were paying out of pocket. We learned we were eligible for the secondary insurance and they helped us for couple of years until we had much better insurance.”