Even if you’ve never played ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,’ you probably know the concept: take any actor, living or dead, and trace them back to Kevin Bacon in six jumps or fewer. Swap actor for health care professional and Mr. Bacon for Michele Murray, Lifespark Community Liaison, and you get a sense of the vast network of connections she’s built over the last 30 years. “I’ve been in this business long enough to know that it’s not what you know, but who you know,” Michele said.
Since joining Lifespark in 2005, Michele has been making connections at dozens of hospitals, clinics, transitional care units (TCUs), skilled nursing and long-term care facilities, and assisted living communities across the Twin Cities. And while making connections might seem effortless for an off-the-charts extrovert, Michele works tirelessly at all aspects of her job.
“As a Community Liaison, my role is to educate the community about our services and build relationships with professionals who either work in health care or interact with the health care system,” she said. “Another part of my job is to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to support clients.”
For Michele, this work is also personal. As an adult daughter, she understands many of challenges facing families with older loved ones. “My personal experience has given me a unique perspective on what’s at stake for the people we serve.”
Solution-based collaboration
“I remember getting a call out of the blue from someone I hadn’t talked to in over 12 years, not since she left her job at a senior living community and started working at a hospital in Shakopee,” she said. “She said she called because she trusted me to do whatever I could to help her.”
The issue was a client who was about to be discharged from the hospital but had no place to go. She couldn’t be sent back to her apartment where she lived alone because she was still too frail to manage by herself and she couldn’t afford private-duty care. At the same time, no assisted living facility would process her admission over the weekend, and it was now Friday afternoon. And the reality was that most assisted living communities were out of her price range.
Michele proactively reached out to the hospital to help them understand that the family’s financial situation left them with few options. In the end, she was able to convince hospital to keep the client through the weekend, giving them time to find an available bed at an affordable assisted living community and get the client on Lifespark Skilled Home Health. “We were willing to advocate for the client so she would have a safe and seamless discharge,” Michele said.
“This is why I work for Lifespark—being part of a team that goes above and beyond to support people in every way we can,” Michele said. “I love having a hand in helping others age magnificently.”
Visit Lifespark.com to learn more about our core services. To make a referral, contact the Intake team directly at 952-345-0919.
