97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.

Welcome to “Paying it Forward,” a monthly interview series made possible by Piedmont Health. In this series, we hear from the folks at Piedmont about the importance of community health centers – and why they chose a career in community health.

This month, Aaron welcomes Michael Trollinger, who’s had a long career in public service: after spending 15 years with the Department of Defense, he went on to serve with police departments, fire departments, and emergency management departments. Now, he’s with Piedmont Health, serving as the transportation director for their PACE program.

“I absolutely love being able to help people,” Trollinger says.

He discovered that love in high school, when he took part in a program called Police Explorers with a local law enforcement agency.

“On one shift, there was a house fire,” he says. “We started knocking on doors and windows, and we made an emergency entrance through the front door of a house and were able to rescue a mother and three children. A couple weeks later, that mother actually came to the police department, and the kids had written out handwritten thank-you notes…

“We were recognized as heroes, but I’ve never felt (like) a hero: I was just doing what someone else would do if they had the opportunity.”

Trollinger has spent the last four years at Piedmont Health Services, running transportation for the PACE program – which stands for Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. The program has offices in Pittsboro and Burlington.

“Our mission is to keep (participants) at home and independent as long as possible,” he says. “When you become a participant in the PACE program, we become your insurance, we become your pharmacy, we become your doctor, we provide socialization skills, we provide meals, and we provide transportation from your home.”

Trollinger says that work has been as gratifying, and as impactful, as anything he’s done in his long career in public service.

“Every day, I get an opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life,” he says. “(I came to Piedmont) almost four years ago – and I have not worked a day since I’ve been there, because I absolutely love what I do.”

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