Can 2-1-1 Find Help for Gratiot County, MI Seniors and Caregivers?

When times get dark, we can’t see the help that’s all around us.
When you don’t know where to turn, let 2-1-1 be your guiding light.

This is an excerpt from the narration of a 2-1-1 video published to YouTube in 2022.

Opinion: The people running the 211 phone and text lines are qualified and helpful, but I'm skeptical the resources database got updated during the pandemic, and hasn't been maintained well into 2023. It's a net positive, but could be much better with one person accountable for good local data.

The official Michigan 2-1-1 website at mi211.org promises a free, confidential, and supportive service for Michigander to find help of all kinds right in your community.

I performed a quality assurance test of the Michigan 2-1-1 services in July 2023 and concluded these results. The good people who operate Michigan 2-1-1 are rendered ineffective due to its bad database with bad information for Gratiot County senior citizens and caregivers.

What is Gratiot County’s 2-1-1 phone number?

Gratiot County is located within the Northeastern Michigan 2-1-1 service area, with a bunch of other counties around the thumb.

It’s a free and confidential support hotline which connects Michiganders to community resources in categories like food, housing, supplies, and more. 

How to contact Michigan’s 2-1-1

You can search the internet at mi211.org website.

On a phone, call ‘211’.

On a phone, text your ZIP code to ‘TXT 211’ (‘898 211’).

Or go to 211nemichigan.org for live chat or to search their directory online.

Try these tested tips for success with Michigan’s 2-1-1

1. Phone call the 2-1-1 for best results, rather than online search or text message.
2. Have a pen and paper ready when you call, that’s what they tell you while you’re waiting.
3. Know your ZIP code, it’s the first thing 2-1-1 asks you for.
4. Define the problem you want to find help for, it’s the other thing 2-1-1 asks you for.
5. Know your and insurance provider and benefit programs like Medicaid and Medicare, you’ll need something like it to qualify for many senior service programs for the referral 2-1-1 gives you.

Recommended: Calling and Waiting

Methods: On a Saturday in July 2023, I called the number ‘211’. After prompting for English, and entering my ZIP Code (48801), I waited and waited for 19 minutes until a 2-1-1 representative answered, then I spoke with the representative, asked questions, listened to answers, and scribbled notes with a pen and paper.

Results: I told the 2-1-1 representative my household has a senior citizen with Parkinson’s and dementia, and a spousal caregiver to that senior, and an adult child caregiver to that senior. I just told them about my family situation, and they used their know-how to suggest home care services and advocacy services, and gave me contact information for them. The representative qualified me for home care services and advocacy services, providing contact information for two home care agencies located in surrounding areas outside of Gratiot County in Midland and Saginaw and contact information for one Parkinson’s related advocacy group at the State-level (whose office is in Bingham Farms). Like you’re supposed to, I called the two home care agencies to find that they serve seniors residing in Gratiot County, but they were located in Midland and St. Johns outside of Gratiot County.

Analysis: It’s really great that I talked to a real person after waiting 19 minutes on the telephone on a Saturday afternoon. Talking with a person made me feel good, attended to, not isolated. The person proactively asked questions to know what I wanted. They stayed on the telephone with me for 15 minutes, which demonstrated patience and compassion. The emotional connection part of talking with a person while feeling helpless in my circumstances was uplifting and positive. The factual accuracy part is suspect. Why wouldn’t 2-1-1 refer me to any one of the in-home care services within Gratiot County lines?

Recommended: Texting your ZIP code to the ‘TXT 211’ number on a Saturday

Methods: On a Saturday in July 2023, I texted the zip code ‘48801’ to the number ‘898 211’.

Results: Results are favorable! After texting them on a Saturday when I was feeling an emotional low, I felt a little more low not receiving a response. But sure enough, on Monday of the following week, I got a response from the 211 representative. They texted me to ask for confirmation about what I needed help with, so I responded about respite care options in Gratiot County. And the 211 representative quickly responded offering options including: Region VII Area Agency on Aging. Gratiot County Commission on Aging, and Masonic Pathways. These are geographically correct. Plus, it's correct that both the Region 7 AAA and GCCA facilitate respite service. But Masonic Pathways has closed their day-care and short-term care as far as I know. I sent an email to Michigan Masonic Home to ask about their Alma location and will report here if I get a response.

Analysis: The text messaging service is great for anxious introverted caregivers who like to text more than they like to talk. You actully get to converse with a person, with is highly valued, especially from a free state-provided service. Thanks, Michigan Government. But the shotty database of senior care resources in Gratiot County, Michigan still renders lackluster results. I already knew about the AAA and Commission on Aging. I'm pretty sure Masonic Home's respite care options closed several years ago. And the service completely overlooked the several private-pay respite care services located within or serving the area of Gratiot county. As a middle class Michigander, whose not on Medicaid, I'm skeptical the AAA and Commission aging mostly cater to poor people's needs. Which is cool, but not for me, and Michiganders with circumstances like me.

Not recommended: Searching 2-1-1’s database online

I used my computer internet browser to visit mi211.org, and tried to search for resources for seniors and the elderly, because I’m a family caregiver trying to help me and my family members.

When you search on the Michigan 2-1-1 website, you need to know your ZIP code, and know what type of service you want. Otherwise the 2-1-1 website can’t help you.

Gratiot County residents can select: 48614, 48615, 48637, 48662, 48801, 48807, 48811, 48818, 48831, 48835, 48835, 48877, 48879, 48880, 48883, 48889.

You also need to know what service you need. So I picked senior care services that seem common.

Test One: Finding a Senior Center in Gratiot County.

Methods: In July 2023, I ran three queries, each requesting ‘Senior Centers’. To represent Gratiot County’s major cities, I searched for Ithaca (48847), St. Louis (48880), and Alma (48801).

Results: The mi211.org website told me that the ‘Saginaw County Commission on Aging - Friendship Center Senior Center’ located 35+ miles away at 1915 Fordney Street in Saginaw, MI, 48601 is the only senior center which serves Gratiot County (these three ZIP codes).

Analysis: This information provided by 2-1-1 is wrong. For just one obvious example, the Ithaca Senior Activity Center, is a Senior Center located inside Gratiot County. That’s factually true, and 35+ miles closer to Gratiot County than Saginaw. 2-1-1 failed to find the resource right in my community. That’s important, because that’s what the 2-1-1 website promised and failed to deliver when I searched online.

Test Two: More of the same

I’m giving full details of the Senior Center example above, and telling you now, that’s just one example of the 2-1-1’s online database's shortcomings.

Despite the service being designed for people who are in the darkness and can’t see the resources around them. I’m showing you the inverse. I’m the Michigander who sees the resources around me, and 2-1-1 is in the darkness.

It’s a poor user experience because you have to pick the service type you want, out of several, or several dozen. You’re quickly and repeatedly disappointed by the 2-1-1’s online search functionality, because you keep trying different service types in your zip code, and it keeps coming up with nothing or something far away outside country lines.

2-1-1 loses credibility when you do a search for something you know, and find 2-1-1 has wrong information. The Ithaca Senior Center, for example. Or when you’ve ordered a Dial-a-Ride to your doorstep in Alma before, but 2-1-1’s website is telling you there’s no Senior Dial a Ride service in 48801.

Now that I know the 2-1-1 database is both missing correct answers and giving wrong answers, I’ve become a skeptic.

What 2-1-1 Taught This Michigan Caregiver

1. You need to know your ZIP code and insurance of the person to receive care. It’s the first question many providers of senior services ask.
2. You need to be willing to take the next step. 2-1-1 is a referral service. You contact 2-1-1, then they tell you someone else to contact. That is the referral service.
3. You can learn from nice people on the phone. Diane at 2-1-1 stayed on the telephone line with me for 15 minutes. That’s really nice of her. I called the contact information and talked to Justin to help me understand the reasons why I needed to call other people. That was more than a referral.
4. How nice the person is biases the experience. Diane was nice to surf the internet and find quick answers for me. It’s proof the people are limited by systems and databases. Their hearts are in the right place, I'd say!‍
5. You can learn principles and strategies for “navigating the system”. 2-1-1 serves people who know nothing because they are in the darkness. After my first call, I knew a thing about zip codes and insurance, and how the elder person has the insurance to get the care.

Updates and Amendments

On July 22, 2023, this post was updated to amend information about the Michigan 2-1-1 Text Messaging Service. Originally I texted 211 on the weekend, didn't hear back, and published this post reporting that. During early weekdays following this event, a 211 representative responded to me via text message - hooray! So before this article said they never responded, but UPDATE now they responded, thanks!