Volunteer Profile
Who:
Michelle N., a junior at Brown University studying Applied Math Economics
Volunteer Position:
Summer Intern
Responsibilities:
Answering calls on the helpline, supervising high school interns, casework, general office assistance
Interests:
Ballroom dancing, bilingual education, bilingual families
Foreign Languages:
Fluent in Spanish
How She Learned About Us:
Michelle's grandmother has been a volunteer here for many years. When Michelle started looking for summer work, her grandmother suggested she pay us a visit.
Why Volunteering With Us Appealed To Her:
Michelle's mother is a chiropractor and her father designs billing software for health care providers, so Michelle already had some familiarity with the health care field.
Michelle felt that her math and economics perspective could be useful in researching how Medicare resources are allocated and in assessing the effectiveness of particular strategies.
She also thought her Spanish-language background would be useful on the helpline.
What She's Learned From Us:
When Michelle first started, she didn't know anything about Medicare, but caught on very quickly. Through the many different tasks she's been asked to handle, she's learned quite a lot about Medicare and the problems people face.
One particular case made a great impression on Michelle. Her client, who lives in a skilled nursing facility, has been trying to untangle billing problems that went back several years. They involve both his Medicare private health and retiree plans, and his bills now total over $200,000!
Michelle is making good progress in straightening out the billing mess, and hopes that she will see this case resolved before she heads back to school.