Kathie Phillips is the Senior LinkAge Advocate for Cass and Crow Wing counties, affiliated with Central Minnesota Council on Aging.

She'll be staffing the non-profit Senior LinkAge site in Hackensack from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month. Her office is located at 108 Third Street South in Hackensack.

Phillip's has had an office in Brainerd covering Crow Wing County, but she takes all the phone calls that come from people in Cass County.

"We have learned, over the years... that many seniors, particularly the elderly seniors, like to be able to do their business face-to-face and having a place to meet," she said.

The Senior LinkAge's first role is to serve people who are on Medicare, Phillips said. The federal government mandates that every state provide such a service.

Phillips provides assistance to help seniors select a Medicare Part D plan that will work well for them.

Senior LinkAge also provides health insurance counseling for health insurance plans or supplements.

Resources for caregivers are also available; spouses or adult children can find out what services are available for their elderly family member in need.

Phillips has the capability to make a three-way call to a hospital-billing department, for example, with the senior on the line.

"I can guide the questioning to hopefully get the issue solved, with the senior there, giving permission," Phillips said. "We do guarantee their privacy for all the matters we deal with."

The Senior LinkAge also provides forms assistance for county assistance and other services.

The Hackensack site should benefit area seniors who can receive assistance without driving to Brainerd.

"I'm authorized to go to people's homes if they truly can't get out; and I will continue to do that but it's more cost effective for me to be in a location and have the client come to me," Phillips said.

Seniors seeking assistance should call 1-800-333-2433, which will connect them to Senior LinkAge call center in St. Cloud.

A dispatcher there will refer callers from Cass County to Phillips, who will return their call. Dispatchers can also determine if disability or veterans' linkage lines better serve a caller.

The Senior LinkAge site also partners with Cass County Social Services and Cass County Faith in Action.

"That is our role: we're an information and referral service. We are supposed to know the information and make the appropriate referral," Phillips said. "My job is to know the resources, and if I don't have all the answers, then it's my job to research it and try to get some answers."

It's preferred that callers make an appointment to meet with Phillips in Hackensack.

"I will accept walk-ins, certainly, but I don't want people to have to come in and wait," she said.

Last year 639 people from Cass and Crow Wing counties were served with face-to-face assistance from a Senior LinkAge Access Site.

And, telephone assistance was provided to 3,683 people in Cass and Crow Wing counties in 2007, according to Senior LinkAge Coordinator Peggy Rieland of the Central Minnesota Council on Aging.