Consumers Energy Gatekeeper of the Year to be Honored

The Michigan Office and Commission on Services to the Aging have named Trisha A. Hayes as the 2009 "Consumers Energy Gatekeeper of the Year." She will be honored with a plaque and a congratulatory letter from Governor Jennifer Granholm on May 21.

"Congratulations to this outstanding individual," said Sharon Gire, director of the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging. "She demonstrates the importance of the Gatekeeper program that was started by Consumers Energy in 1987 to identify older members of the community who need assistance."

Each year Consumers Energy employees are nominated for their efforts to identify and assist at-risk elder customers age 60 and older. The Michigan Office and Commission on Services to the Aging then select one employee each month to be named "Gatekeeper of the Month," and from those employees select the "Consumers Energy Gatekeepers of the Year."

This year, the statewide honor goes to Hayes for identifying an older adult who had critical needs, and referring her to agencies to receive assistance so she can live safely, healthy and independently in her own home.

While working for Consumers Energy as a customer services representative at the Virtual Call Center in Saginaw, Hayes talked with an older adult who was worried about being unable to pay her heating bills. A relative who was assisting her had just died. She needed food but didn't know how to apply for food assistance, and was too embarrassed to ask.

Following a home visit, the customer's heating bills were resolved through the Oakland Livingston Human Resource Agency, and she received home delivered meals, home repairs and chore assistance through Area Agency on Aging 1-B in Southfield.