Linda Archer Retires

“This is so hard. I still call it my office,” Linda Archer said about retiring from White River Area Agency on Aging, after working for the agency for 37 years.

In 1979, Linda opened a Stone County office for the agency, providing in-home services with the goal of keeping people living at home, where they are the happiest, she said.

She previously worked for NADC for a short time, providing in-home services. After the grant-funded program expired, there was no home health service in Stone County. Linda saw an opportunity for an Area Agency on Aging office locally.

Many changes have occurred since then, including going paperless in 2006. She overcame the challenge and learned how to input information from client files in the computer “with the help of God and another worker,” she said.

With each change in government, the company also saw changes, especially in the way client evaluations were handled. At one point, she explained, meetings with the doctors were required in the evaluation process.

The company continued to grow and every two to three years the company expanded its services. Today, there are six office employees, 80 aides, and around 150 clients.

See the full story in the June 8, 2016 issue.