Nelson invigorated by challenge of DHS caseloads

Cindy Nelson doesn’t take work home with her in the traditional sense, but it doesn’t mean that work -- and the people and their tear-jerking stories that comprise it -- just sits at the office waiting for her to return at 8 a.m.

Even though she has been promoted from off the front line and into a supervisory role at the Department of Human Services, Nelson still wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking about the clients that stream into her office day after day and how she can help them.

“It’s not a job you leave when you walk out the door at night,” she said. “It’s heart-breaking sometimes, but also very rewarding.”

Often after awaking with such thoughts, she will call the office and leave herself a voicemail as a reminder to take care of it when she arrives later that morning.

“When you get home, it keeps going through your mind,” she explained.

Nelson serves as the assistance payments program manager for the Grand Traverse-Leelanau-Kalkaska County Department of Human Services.

She has worked for the state for 20 years, primarily at DHS, though she began her career in public service with a job at the local unemployment office as a seasonal worker.

“I saw the writing on the wall and started looking around and there were openings at Human Services,” she said.

Nelson started in Benzie County as an assistance payments worker, and moved her way up the ladder over the years. In March, she was promoted to second-line supervisor, meaning she supervises the supervisors.

With this job, every day is a little different, she said.

A typical day finds Nelson attending community meetings along with working on internal reports and keeping up-to-date on changes at the department and with a new computer system.

And there have been many changes over the years at what is now called the Department of Human Services.

When she started as a caseworker, if she wanted, she could talk to all of her clients in one day.

Not anymore.

In her role now, she oversees four managers who oversee a total of 38 front-line workers.

Those workers, in turn, each have an average caseload of about 600.

When she talks with her staff, she often hears how they are flooded with phone calls and emergency applications for assistance.

And those include notifications about a job loss, a change of address because they have lost their home or a need for financial help because of a utility shutoff.

“That has become the biggest part of the day,” Nelson said. “Sometimes you can’t get all the work done.”

When work piles up in a particular county or area, she asks workers in other units to help those falling behind.

“They feel like they struggle to keep up every day,” she said. “They are caring people and they don’t like to operate this way. They want to work fast and make sure people don’t have to wait to call back.”

Staffing levels have grown in recent years to meet the increased demand they have seen coming through the door, particularly in the last two to three years, Nelson said.

“For many years, you saw the same people,” she said. “Now it’s growing all the time and you see people you would have never thought to see coming through the doors.”

Originally from Kalkaska, Nelson said she ended up working for the state because school counselors pushed students into either working for the utilities or government, as they were the only games in town.

“The opportunities for a good job were kind of limited,” she said.

She took classes for several years at Hope College and then started with a job at the Jackson-based Consumers Energy at its office in Traverse City. She worked as a customer service representative for several years before it closed.

She also took classes at Central Michigan University before getting serious about completing her degree. She holds a bachelor's in business from Davenport University.

A single, self-described country girl, Ms. Nelson has three dogs, raises chickens at her home and sells the eggs at work.

At 52, she said she is way too young to retire, and the job is still both challenging and rewarding.

“I’m never bored,” she said. “It’s a very good feeling at the end of the day.”

Editor's note: This story was produced in a collaboration between Bridge Magazine and Gongwer News Service.