Jenny Miller, an advocate for those in need

Practicing empathy one senior at a time

Jenny MillerIf you ask Jenny Miller, the president and owner of Senior Care Concepts, eldercare experts in Rhode Island, what the most important qualities of someone in her profession are, she’ll say, understanding and compassion. In the same vein, Miller’s favorite quote is “It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice.” Her life choices mirror that philosophy. Miller’s achievements illustrate that empathy is crucial to her existence. Whether she’s teaching American culture and English language at a kibbutz, making a difference on the board of the Rhode Island chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association or solving community problems with the Rotary Club, Miller lives according to her grandmother’s guidance “to take every experience that you are faced with and do something to help others.”

In fact, it was her grandmother who was her inspiration in life. When Miller was young, she looked up to the refined woman with whom she drank tea out of china cups and listened to classical music. She, too, wanted to become a successful entrepreneur, not unlike the grandmother who, along with Miller’s father, ran a business. The granddaughter heeded the sage advice to listen to people, be compassionate and kind. Raised to believe that she could do anything as long as she put her mind to it, Miller absorbed the teachings. When her grandmother succumbed to Alzheimer’s in 2004, Miller knew that she needed to share her knowledge of caring for a sick elder with others who were dealing with a similar predicament. She opened Senior Care Concepts to assist families navigating the challenges of aging and the hurdles of the healthcare system.

For more than 15 years, Miller has been offering in-depth assessments and long-term planning. When her clients arrive for help, they are feeling “overwhelmed,” “concerned,” “confused” and “stressed,” as Senior Care Concepts’ website indicates. Despite the fact that they all experience the same range of emotions, each treatment calls for a different approach due to varying levels of need. A certified case manager and a member of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers and The National and Rhode Island Associations of Social Workers, Miller is qualified to assist seniors in maintaining their well-being, independence and dignity. Along with her staff, she offers clients and their families personal, individualized service. Miller says, “Not everyone fits into the same mold.” Her goal is to ensure that a care plan will ease not only the clients’ health worries, but also their financial concerns.

Miller recalls a client who was suffering from the beginning stages of Parkinson’s disease when she came to Senior Care Concepts. This woman’s hope was to stay at home and live as independently as possible. Miller made that happen. After the client died, her family wrote to Miller, “We could not have done this without you. Your guidance, assistance and support allowed [the client] to live her life the way she wanted, and we learned that we needed to adapt, adapt, adapt, and we did!” Miller says that knowing how helpful she and her team are to such families is the best part of the job.

Miller must be succeeding in accomplishing her objectives because her clients are not the only ones who appreciate her hard work. In 2011, the National Association of Social Workers, Rhode Island Chapter, named her Social Worker of the Year in Aging. Her career accomplishments haven’t kept Miller away from her loved ones. Her parents and her husband are her biggest supporters, she says, and she feels that she’s extremely lucky to have an understanding family who appreciate everything she does. Mother of two, Miller says, “As the girls have gotten older, I have found a good balance.”

She and her husband are raising their children with the time-honored Jewish values, namely “giving back to those in need and learning from those who have come before us.” The emphasis on performing mitzvot was part of her own upbringing, and now Miller is ensuring that the tradition continues. Back when she and her siblings were young, her parents instilled the concept of tikkun olam in them. When the kids complained about receiving the wrong brand of jeans for Hanukkah, their parents showed them the kind of lives others lived by taking them to McAuley House in Providence. After preparing, delivering and serving Christmas dinner, as well as passing out gifts to the less fortunate patrons, the siblings never grumbled about their presents again. Moreover, a new ritual was born; for more than 20 years now, Miller has volunteered at McAuley during the holidays.

Miller has also been teaching her daughters by example. For the past two years, she has visited the Dominican Republic with members of the Rotary Club of Providence. There, they built latrines and installed water filters to rural sugar cane communities. She never thought that she’d do something like this, but now can’t imagine not going back. Miller’s lesson is already paying off – after she’d shared with her older daughter that the kids lacked footwear, her daughter has started a collection of flip-flops through her school, Girl Scout chapter and the community. Next December, they plan to bring roughly 1,000 pairs of shoes to kids in Dominican Republic. After all, Miller thinks it truly is better to give than receive.

IRINA MISSIURO is a writer and editorial consultant for The Jewish Voice.