Medicare Open Enrollment has just started, and already JABA volunteers have seen hundreds of clients and saved the members of our community over $30,000.

Last year, JABA’s Insurance Counseling saved people over one million dollars on their prescription plans and saw over 2,000 clients. What’s more, when Affordable Care Act open enrollment begins on November 1, JABA’s trained ACA Insurance Counselors will go to work helping people of all ages get the best deals on health insurance for themselves and their families.

This year JABA expects to see even more clients, and we've more than doubled our volunteer base. But we still need help to make all this happen. We need Administrative Volunteers.

"We need more support staff, we need some more admin volunteers, we definitely need some more greeter volunteers because we are seeing people in three different places all at the same time,” said JABA Manager Of Community Services Randy Rodgers.

Rodgers says the program has already helped hundreds of people.

“Our insurance counseling staff is always comparing open enrollment periods to planning for a wedding,” says JABA Volunteer Services Coordinator Winter Broadhurst. “ While Insurance Counselors are the officiants of the ceremony, the administrative volunteers are the florists, bakers, decorators, and wedding planners, making sure that everything is in order for the big day…or in this case, the next few months.”

Receiving over 90 calls a day, JABA administrative volunteers assist clients in scheduling appointments across all of JABA’s Insurance Counseling sites. A volunteer is the first person clients see, and after open enrollment ends you can still find volunteer support staff inputting data and logging information.

“Signing up for an administrative support shift here and there doesn’t simply mean answering phones and inputting data,” says Broadhurst.” You join a team of around 100 volunteers who are working for the same goal: to provide seniors with the information they need to access their medications. When you volunteer to support the Insurance Counseling Program, you gain connections and community that only working alongside other compassionate professionals can bring.”

Anyone interested in becoming a JABA Administrative Volunteer can call Winter Broadhurst at 434.817.5226 or email her at wbroadhurst@jabacares.org