Westchester Library System Rolls Out Medicare Mashup

Some patrons aren't just heading out to the Grinton I.Will Branch Library to pick up their reserved copies of the latest best-seller. This branch of the Westchester Library System (WLS) in Yonkers, N.Y., recently added a Health Advocacy Resource Center to help with specific Medicare questions.

"The program came about as an interesting confluence of events," according to Siobhan Reardon, WLS director. She and Lois Steinberg, who is the Westchester program director of the Medicare Rights Center, discussed the concept of a librarybased center and decided to test its feasibility. They reached out to Sarah Lawrence College's graduate program in health advocacy as the other cornerstone to the project. And, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Reardon says the center was designed to be an information hub for adults and caregivers as they negotiate "the penultimate maze of Medicare." As her first program as director of the WLS, Reardon was determined to "do it right the first time," she says, and admits to taking the time to coordinate the center and finetune the resources before opening the doors. "We officially started offering the services in November, and it continues to grow from month to month," says Reardon. While helping patrons find information isn't exactly a new avenue for a library, the center's counseling component definitely is.

As a mashup of organizations, expertise, and resources, this one-stop shop provides general information and specifics about prescriptions, healthcare, insurance coverage, claims, and health concerns. Visitors to the center can access print and online resources as well as set up an appointment with a volunteer counselor for a one-to-one session. "The volunteers can help answer questions on Medicare forms or procedures as well as provide assistance with finding a hospital or doctor," she says. The center is also setting up workshops to assist in training health advocates, has a hotline for those who can't come into the library, and even has a calendar of speakers set to talk about health-related topics. Steinberg calls the collaboration and the center a "win-win arrangement for everyone." Rolling out the first resource center at the Will Library is just the first of many, according to Reardon. The second center will be established at the Shrub Oak Library by June 2008.

Staffing the new center also involved the collaborative efforts of all three organizations. The 60 total volunteers, who provide part-time support 3 days a week, benefit from a three-tier training program. First, the volunteers receive extensive training from the WLS in internet search techniques, as well as in the WLS online services and its health-related website. second, they receive 15 hours of training from the Medicare Rights Center including the use of Medicare Interactive Counselor (the online Medicare resource). Third, the faculty of the Sarah Lawrence Health Advocacy Program offers expertise and assistance for Medicare- and health-related questions not covered in the initial training.

"Baby Boomers constitute a large number of our volunteer base," says Reardon. "Some of the Boomers are retiring early and are looking for alternate ways to keep active. This is ideal."

As one of New York state's 23 public library systems, the WLS encompasses 38 member public libraries in Westchester County with a collection of 4 million books. This year, the WLS is celebrating its 50th anniversary and continues to offer a full range of services for the community, including help with Medicare issues. According to Reardon, the success of the center not only breathes new life into the library as a community resource, but it reflects the power of new partnerships.

-Barbara Brynko