Heidi Stinnett.

After nearly four weeks on the job, new Council on Aging Director Heidi Stinnett is hitting the ground running, so to speak.

Outgoing interim director Helen Carter said she couldn’t be more pleased with the direction Stinnett is taking.

“She’s here to make a difference,” said Carter. “She loves to be around people. We’ve got great drivers (COA buses for seniors) and she has worked with them. She has held staff meetings with them to see what we can provide to help them out.”

At the end of fiscal year 2023, COA vehicles logged 78,184 miles, serving 8,461 elderly, disabled and others, transporting them to medical appointments, jobs, meals, recreation, education, personal needs and home.

Stinnett, 32, the mother of three children, Boone, 8; Baylon, 4, and Beasley, 2, said she has worked since graduating from West Limestone High School and attending Calhoun Community College. and being the eldest of seven children of David and Debbie Appleton of the Owens Community, she grew up helping out and taking responsibility for her younger siblings.

“Even before I knew this job was available, I always knew I had a servant’s heart, and I was always volunteering,” said Stinnett.

But one wonders how she found time in her busy schedule to volunteer. She said she was hired two days before graduation by the late Betty Sue Christopher to work at Reliance Bank. After several years she worked briefly in an insurance office and “went back to finance” at Redstone Federal Credit Union.

Along the way, she married Athens Bible School graduate Will Stinnett, a machinist helping produce medical equipment at Intech in Athens. She said she took a few years off when her three children started to arrive.

“You know, when you become a mother, you can kind of lose yourself,” she said. “I needed to do something for me. I had always heard that, ‘God will lead you to it.’”

Then one day an elementary principal called her to become a teacher’s aide in classes for autistic students at a Title I school as well as coaching youngsters’ ball teams. She said she found these activities satisfying.

Then she saw that the Council on Aging was looking for a director and she became one of some 15 applicants to sit for an interview.

“After the first interview I had a feeling of peace,” she said. “It was not like an interview but a conversation. I prayed over it and I was at peace with it. Everything had fallen into place.”

Carter said Stinnett was the only applicant to be called back for a second interview.

“She is enthusiastic with great ideas,” said Carter. “I hope they can be implemented. I think she will make people sit up and take notice.”

Stinnett is overseeing 18 staff members.

“If it wasn’t for the Limestone County Commission, we wouldn’t be here,” said Carter. “We have saved seniors in our community $11 million, and that’s not counting transportation.”

Other fiscal 2023 on senior savings include:

· Medicaid waiver program caring for nursing home eligible clients at home — $9.5 million

· Nutrition Program — $400,000

· Medicare Part D assistance — $101,700

· TARCOG (Top of Alabama Regional Council of Government) legal services — $105,450

· Medications from pharmaceutical companies through SenioRx Program — $1.2 million

· Respite hours for caregivers through Alabama Cares Program — $88,700

· Jobs and training through Senior Employment Program — $27,300