Grand Rapids Woman Wins State Award for Medicare
April 17, 2006
Grand Rapids. Jo Murphy of Grand Rapids has been named 2006 Coordinator of the Year by the Michigan Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program (MMAP), a statewide award given for her efforts to educate the community about the Medicare Modernization Act. Murphy has led more than 125 community education presentations in West Michigan on the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program in the past year and has trained scores of volunteer MMAP counselors. She has also partnered with agencies in the community to help older adults choose and enroll in plans that best meet their individual needs.
Murphy was chosen from a field of 59 MMAP coordinators statewide by the MMAP Board of Directors and MMAP Steering Committee. “It was a hard decision. All of our MMAP coordinators have given a 175% effort and have exceeded our expectations in educating the public,” said Mary Johnson, director of the Michigan Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program. “Jo was chosen for her consistency and constant dedication. She has consistently kept her volunteers (counselors) in the know, has gone to bat for a lot of Medicare beneficiaries, and has done countless community training events. She is a model MMAP coordinator,” added Johnson.
“It was a nice surprise,” said Murphy of the award. “My priority is always helping Medicare beneficiaries. This year I had the opportunity to reach even more people by training professionals from other social service agencies who could take that knowledge to their own clients,” she said.
Murphy trains and supervises MMAP coordinators in an eight county region. She is also the program development coordinator at the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan. “We are proud of Jo’s efforts to take a program that can be confusing and intimidating and make it understandable and beneficial for older adults,” said Tom Czerwinski, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan.
For more information on MMAP, call 1-800-803-7174 or log on to www.MyMMAP.org
For more information on the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan call 1-888-456-5664.