Steve Seltz honored

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN

South Minneapolis resident Steve Seltz was honored on April 24 at a Minnesota Literacy Council luncheon celebrating people whose volunteer work supports literacy in the Twin Cities. Seltz was nominated by the volunteer coordinator at SHAPE (South Hennepin Adult Programs in Education) where he has put in a thousand hours.

For much of his adult life, Steve Seltz took care of the elderly. From the time he graduated from high school, in the late ’70s, he worked as a nursing assistant at a number of nursing homes. One of the places disbanded and he continued to take care of two of its clients on a personal basis until they passed away. Then he passed his civil service exam and worked at the state nursing home, then the veterans home. He said, “I saw myself as a caregiver and friend. I took care of people with lonely lives. They would get put in a home and the next time you saw their family was when they’d pass on.”

In 2002 Seltz was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis—most of the debilitation is in his lower left leg—and it was clear he wouldn’t be able to continue doing the work he loved. He began consulting with the Workforce Center to figure out how to move from one line of work to another. He took a two-day work skills test to assess his weaknesses and interests, “to see what I could do besides feed old people”—said lovingly. Ironically, he scored low on nursing. The tests showed he was well suited for the kind of work he’d been doing as a volunteer at the Minnesota History Center, customer service.

So he got re-trained and went on a job hunt. For a while he was sending out eight resumes per week; everybody at Kinko’s knew him by name. The interviews he landed went well until they asked why he was changing jobs. “People were leery of hiring someone with MS,” he said.

Seltz gave up the dream of becoming re-employed and started volunteering at the Walker Methodist nursing home delivering mail room to room on a couple of floors. But due to downsizing those floors were closed.

Why not just stay home and read? Seltz knew he’d watch TV and not read, and “I didn’t want to get involved with Bob Barker.” So he switched his search to volunteer opportunities and in 2003 found SHAPE, a state-funded school (in various South Hennepin sites) where adults can finish their high school education and adult international students can learn English.

According to the volunteer coordinator, Mary Jo Bayliss, Seltz works two to three hours every day. His job is to keep office records at SHAPE’S central office in Bloomington. He files student forms about personal goals and scheduling preferences as well as tests that measure math and reading skills. His work supplies the hard copy backup for the system. At the end of the year all the paper is recycled and private information, such as SS numbers, is shredded. His cheerful competence is much appreciated from what I could see talking to other people in the office.

Seltz enjoys the support of a large family: his mother, three older sisters, five nieces and nephews and a great niece—none of whom have MS: “It’s not genetic, I’m the only one honored in the family to have it.” He also counts on a lifetime church community: His parents were members of the Missouri Synod Mt. Zion Lutheran Church when Seltz was born, he was confirmed there as a teenager and continues to be active today, volunteering in public relations.
Everyone with a major illness knows that managing the disease is more or less a full-time job.

For Seltz, that job consists in part of going to Lifetime Fitness every other day to stay fit, seeing a neurologist four times a year, and getting a shot once a week to control the symptoms of the disease, unfortunately not the causes (He had a choice between a long-needle shot once a week and a short needle shot every other day). He wears a leg brace and walks with a walker, which makes it more laborious to do every necessary thing. He says he’s lucky he’s only fallen five times, he was diagnosed only a month after his symptoms showed up, and he receives an excellent pension from the state as well as a disability check. He is cheerful and continues counting his blessings: “I still have my brain and I can still drive.”

While he will always miss his nursing home work, he really enjoys his new volunteer gig.