Case managers can also help people find medical and therapy providers and make sure they get to appointments and take medication.

In some cases, a person can have the same case manager for years or decades, building a relationship that creates a high level of understanding.

Hageman cited a man who lives in Kalispell as an example of someone who benefits from case management. He had previously lived at Montana Developmental Center, a state institution for the developmentally disabled in Boulder and is in his mid-60s.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do without us,” Hageman said. “We make sure he has his housing voucher, make sure he gets SNAP benefits. We’re the ones who get him to the doctor, otherwise he won’t go. We help him with all types of stuff. We work with his employer if he has any hygiene issues so he can keep his job.

"I really worry without us he’s going to end up in a nursing home.”

Many case managers contacted Wednesday said a case manager can often be the only unbiased advocate for a person.

Barb Sanford, a case manager with Central Montana Medical Center, works with nine people in Roundup and said that sometimes problems people are facing don’t come up in phone calls.