Black Hills Advocate

About Black Hills AdvocateEmpowering Black Hills Seniors

Jenny Schmidt - Founder/Co-Owner

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Jenny Schmidt has over 25 years of experience working in the health care field. She has a passion for serving vulnerable people in our community. She is a Rapid City Stevens High School graduate. After graduation, Jenny honorably served the Marines for four years as a field medical hospital corpsmen in the United States Navy. She went on to attend Elmhurst College, graduating with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional Communication.

Following graduation, Jenny worked in business development for large companies in Chicago including Orbitz.com during its startup and IPO as well as piloting a new sales initiative and successfully creating a new revenue stream for Cars.com. Her business background gives her a unique perspective to address financial, insurance and quality of life questions.

Following her return to Rapid City in 2006, Jenny worked for 9 years at Westhills Village Retirement Community serving in the role of Director of Marketing/Business Development and subsequently the Director of Independent Living.

Seeing the need for someone to help people in the community quarterback care and ensure quality of life with an unbiased opinion and fierce allegiance only to the client, Jenny launched Black Hills Advocate in June of 2015 with a passionate focus on connecting people with the services that were right for them while ensuring delivery of the best care available.

In November 2015, Jenny, along with her team, launched Chair Lift, a 501(c)3 non-profit which provides handicap accessible, same day, one call transportation for residents of Rapid City and the surrounding area.

Jenny serves on the Board of Directors for Youth and Family Services and is an active voice in the community for seniors and other underserved populations. Jenny makes her home in Rapid City with her two children, Henry and Claire, one sweet chocolate lab and one bossy French bulldog. On weekends, she can be found spending time with friends, reading, and enjoying the beauty of the Black Hills.

Amy Matson - Co-Owner

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Amy has 15 years of experience working in the health care field. Her areas of expertise are insurance billing, durable medical equipment, office management and advocacy. Prior to moving to Rapid City she was a corporate trainer at a large medical facility with 150 locations, clinics and hospitals, throughout the Midwest. Her years as a trainer allowed her to work in numerous areas of the organization including billing, collections, pre-service collections, registration and working with the Minnesota Attorney General to ensure the organization was compliant with the MN Attorney General guidelines.

Amy moved to the Rapid City area in October of 2015 with her boyfriend Warren Hansen and daughter Haylee. Warren grew up in Rapid City and always had a desire to move home to the beautiful Black Hills. The opportunity arose for them to move ‘home’ and they quickly jumped at the chance. Amy came to know Jenny through Warren as Jenny and Warren were friends throughout elementary & high school.

In early 2016 Jenny had a client with a tremendous amount of medical bills, she knew Amy had extensive knowledge in this area so she reached out to Amy for some assistance. Within a day Amy had organized the client’s medical bills, identifying what the client owed versus what was still processing with insurance. The moment Amy sat in Jenny’s office explaining the billing cycle and sharing her knowledge with Jenny, Jenny knew she had to hire Amy.

In January of 2016 Jenny had only been in business for a short period, she wasn’t sure if she could even afford herself let alone an employee. With the promise of occasional pedicures, some free lunch now and then and a dream for her company to grow, Amy accepted Jenny’s offer of employment. Through hard work, number crunching and organizing the operations side of Black Hills Advocate, Jenny quickly decided Amy was an asset to the business she started and asked Amy to become her business partner.

In January 2017 Amy became co-owner of BHA and is now its Chief Operating Officer. In addition to sharing a client load, she is the number cruncher and handles the client billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable and human resources. She also manages the court reporting for the guardian and conservatorships. She manages payments for clients that BHA serves as Financial Power of Attorney or Representative Payee. She is the glue that holds us all together and provides team members with a route plan every week to serve our clients in the most efficient and prioritized manner possible.

We are Here to Help

If you or your loved one has been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening or debilitating illness, is receiving home health services, hospice services or residing in a nursing home or assisted living facility, or perhaps you reside in the private community and your children live outside the area or have limited availability due to juggling other family obligations - Black Hills Advocate is here to help.

We can coordinate all the services necessary to ensure that you or your loved are receiving the highest standard of quality care and services possible and report to the family members so they remain involved. Our services vary between a single visit to ongoing advocate services.

Kelly Renner - Operations

Kelly joined us in August 2017, bringing with her 30+ years experience in the healthcare field. She prides herself in her organizational skills and loves to be an intrical part of helping people in her community. Always wanting to be a Caretaker, Kelly has been blessed with finding just the right nitch to always fill this desire. She was born and raised in Rapid City, along with a wonderful human being who she calls her husband Marvin. Marvin and Kelly were joined together as a family unit along with their daughters Alyssa and Tayler by the Mayor of Rapid City at midnight of the Millinnium. When she's not filling her day being a part of such an awesome mission in life (her job), she loves to ride motorcycle with her hubby, spend time with her grandchildren and since we live in the most beautiful place called the Black Hills...she spends time, hiking, snowshoeing and exploring. She feels blessed to have found her Black Hills Advocate/Chairlift family and looks forward to being part of such a wonderful mission in providing services to those who need us!