Burlington Aging Council

CITY OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT Burlington Aging Council c/o Community & Economic Development Office City Hall, Room 32 • 149 Church Street • Burlington, VT 05401 802-865-7144 VOX • 802-865-7024 FAX • www.burlingtonvt.gov/cedo Draft Minutes Meeting of the Burlington Aging Council Tuesday 18th April, 2023 3:00pm – 4:30pm Sharon Bushor Room, 1st Floor City Hall, 149 Church Street, Burlington VT *Denotes Co-Chairs Member Status Full Name April 18th 1 member representing an organization supporting New Americans in Vermont Symphorien Sikyala 1 member representing a healthcare provider Jeanne Hutchins x 1 member representing a long-term care organization in Burlington 1 member representing an affordable housing organization in Burlington Molly Dugan 1 member representing an organization working to fight food insecurity in Vermont Jane Catton x 1 member representing an organization providing advocacy and support for older adults in VT Kelly Stoddard Poor x 1 member representing a senior center in Burlington Andrea Viets 1 member representing an organization providing mental health services in Vermont Alison Miley 1 member representing an organization providing transportation services in Vermont Chris Damiani 1 member representing the City’s Community and Economic Development Office Brian Pine* x 3-5 older adults living in Burlington Barbara Shaw-Dorso x 3-5 older adults living in Burlington Glenn McRae* x 3-5 older adults living in Burlington Martha Molpus 3-5 older adults living in Burlington Charles J Messing x 3-5 older adults living in Burlington Lorna Kay UVM Center on Aging Janet Nunziata x Staff CEDO Staff MG x 1 member representing an organization advocating for racial equity, inclusion, and belonging in Burlington The meeting was called to order at 3.10pm 1. Motion to approve agenda, as below 04 18 23 GM, BSD - unanimous 2. Motion to approve minutes 03 21 23 GM BSD, unanimous 3. Public Comment – 1 member of public present. No comment 8. Update on DAIL Outreach work and State Plan development  Working Groups are meeting to develop strategies and objectives in each key area (Kelly, Jeanne, Jane, Glenn are sitting on various sub-committees)  Develop plan by fall and submit to Legislature for review and adoption next session  Outreach to citizens across the state is still ongoing. Brian suggested connecting to Trusted Voices network.  New AARP survey being analyzed for VT. More information on results soon. 4- Updates and new recommendations from a. Accessible Outdoor and Indoor Public Spaces (Kelly) Focus on Winter plan as reported last meeting. Need to add in More seating opportunities; Bathroom access during winter; Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety; Management of parks for safe, inviting use by all. b. Technology accessibility (Jane) As reported last meeting c. Multimodal Transport (Chris) Aas reported last meeting CM suggested that further attention should be paid to pedestrian safety and comfort along all corridors, sidewalks, Church Street, and waterfront recreation path with more signage, education and enforcement The programs and services of the City of Burlington are accessible to people with disabilities. For accessibility information, call 865-7144. For questions about the meeting Contact Marcella Gange at mgange@burlingtonvt.gov or 802 865 7178 d. Family Caregiver Support (Jeanne) As reported last meeting e. Food Security (Marcella) To be convened f. Civic Engagement (Andrea) No update g. Health Promotion (?) No lead – Suggestion to merge with another working group - Food Security or Accessibility as it is closely related? Need plan to convene all the local actors (Y, Agewell, UVMMC, Parks and Rec, Senior Centers, etc.) Note: BAC Plan Recs Draft March 23 Working Groups updates and Other Docs on BAC Web Page 5. Discussion: What key actions/recommendations will make the biggest impact for Burlington? (Short – mid and long term) Continue individual work to review reports and recommendations and send in comments, critiques, and priorities to Glenn and Marcella for inclusion in updated preliminary planning results for next meeting. Look at state plan process and pick strategies under each topic and then divide into short, mid, and long term objective. SEE BELOW FOR COMMENTS RECEIVED TO DATE. Comment on JC recommendations to be broad and non-specific – to ensure inclusion of all agencies. KSP, highlights the importance of being specific about programs with trusted reputations, more likely to generate action and support from City Council and Administration. Charlie is conducting an overview of similar size age friendly communities and their plans. 6. Discussion: What resources and support are needed for the ongoing work of BAC, to continue as an advocate, supporter of Program implementation, and evaluator of how Burlington is tracking to become more age friendly The BAC has a mandate to do work in addition to creating the plan.  elevating the contributions of older adults in Burlington;  raising issues facing older adults in Burlington and the organizations that serve them;  making policy recommendations to the Mayor and City Council to address gaps, needs, and opportunities that impact older adults in Burlington; and  ensuring that the voices of older adults in Burlington are at the forefront of City policy; and  creating and maintaining a “Burlington Plan on Aging” to act as a guiding template for City policy and initiatives. Level of involvement for the BAC in implementation of plan recommendations is not yet clear. The BAC should recommend what its role and work should be, and what resources (staffing, funding, etc.) it will need to do that. As background info on the types of resources that might be needed - Feb 2022 the Council adopted the resolution: Resources and Funding Request For the Council and its working groups to be effective the volunteer member efforts need to be supported by sufficient resources. The exact amount is to be determined. The Council requests:  (a) Dedicated staffing. If sufficient staff time is not available through CEDO, an alternative would be to recruit a paid full year intern, most likely from UVM, to meet the Council’s needs for coordination, outreach, and research. (b) Dedicated funding for Council efforts (to be determined), recognizing that for outreach to be effective it does require both staffing and funds, whether fielding surveys, hosting focus groups, or printing materials. While some of this may be able to be coordinated with other City Departments (e.g., BED bill stuffers, Fletcher Free Library programs, Parks and Recreation events) that will also take more Council Staffing time. A modest fund to draw on for materials and services is needed. For some of the effort it was recommended that we look to SCORE as a source for future work support. https://www.score.org/vermont It is business oriented but might provide some overlap. 7. Next Steps on Plan - Contract for Plan facilitator Members to circulate the Request For Proposals to networks and connect any suggested consultants to Marcella, for outreach. Deadline for submission is May 5th, 2023. RFP and documents are on BAC webpage 8. Any Other Business See below update from http://www.WindhamAging.com 1. What key actions / recommendations will make the biggest impact for Burlington? These can be sorted by short, mid, and long term impacts. NOTES received at time of meeting. Barbara Shaw-Dorso I just went ahead and prioritized the bullets as I read down the document. I have to admit that my personal needs as well as the attainability, specific, timely, (SMART) goals were what guided me. Expand existing Home Modifications program within the City of Burlington with a specific focus on older adult homeowners (develop a survey to determine most common and pressing home modification needs) to help them age safely in their homes. Create a comprehensive communications strategy to reach all older residents with essential information and resources. Assess the multiple platforms currently used. This builds off and can be combined with comprehensive communications above Large need for better information sharing of current transportation options, programs, etc., as well as transportation advocates for older Burlington residents. This also can be combined with the broader comprehensive communication strategy Consider consolidating information of all things winter onto a main webpage on the official city website. Consolidate information pertaining to all things winter onto one webpage location such as: Having a central node for winter information can act as a starting point for residents to navigate easily. This centralized information should be current, removing outdated events and details is important for user navigation and information sharing. Comment for this bullet is to include a resource list of people available to help elders shovel out after snow storms Advance Training/Education: Tap into high schools and colleges for student/intergenerational tech teaching programs. Pilot some. Promote the Vermont Assistive Technology Program that offers free supports/ hardware/ assessments. https://atp.vermont.gov/ Expand Safety/Security Access: Collaborate with security/safety companies to offer older adults access to security systems at a low cost e.g., “Ring app” on the iPhone or other security systems for their home. Convene a Semi-annual Peer Group of mature worker (from different fields, backgrounds and employers) to share and learn new tricks and techniques and provide support whether one is returning to the workforce or shifting to a new area or field or reducing hours or negotiating other flexibility. Document the lessons learned. Charlie Messing - Here are some of the ideas I'm bringing: 1. Getting older folks to join together in neighborhood groups, all around town, evolving into a city-wide association, designed for building community. I'd like to start some history groups that meet regularly at the Library, or wherever else is available. 2. We need to be able to reach everyone involved - we should survey the population - (50 years up?). Flyers and posters. We could compose a simple survey, asking them what the City's priorities should be. Let us see which are most common. Ask them what "age-friendly" means to them. Focus on putting older people in the best possible light: Wisdom, Experience, the voices of History, and useful perspectives on the world of 50 years ago, the world of which the youth have only rumors, cautions and legends. We could bring to life the world they never knew - no internet, no cell-phones, no chain-stores. Describe the world older generations come from, and what we wish to carry forth, as we get older. Where do the youth want to grow old? Do they know it is up to them to preserve nature, and the planet? 3. When people can see how valuable the older generation is, community will become more unified. 4. When the older generation can make sense of the youth, it will help them get along better. Alison Miley: I think a lot of these areas are important. I will be curious to see what we come up with regarding health prevention, access and quality, as I think there are a lot of barriers and challenges there, but many may be hard to address locally. I think ensuring we have a plan for our next year to hear from older Burlingtonians directly will be important, as that is part of our charge. I think fostering collaborations with providers and other agencies doing this work, such as COVE, will be important as well. I’m wondering how to do some more of the legwork and coordinating needed to dive into some of these topics deeper with the limited time and availability we all have. I see that as a barrier, but I’m not sure what the solution is. Do we focus on 2-3 areas/year so that there is enough time to do some deeper work, including coordinating public forums, surveys, convening stakeholders, etc.? Jane Catton: Overall, I think we are off to great start- more fine tuning will help the plan come to fruition and I look forward to more discussion today. I have a couple of comments to share- as I think it is very important for us to keep our recommendations (like policy) a bit more broad yet focused and inclusive. Two areas in the housing and social isolation/wellness summaries got my attention as I think we are calling out specific programs to support- and not others. I believe that perhaps we should stay a bit more generic around these principles- I say this because there are so many local non-profits that do great work and should be supported too, yet the list is long and we run the risk of leaving out important partners. By promoting only SASH and /or Age Well in our recommendations only- (although their/our work in housing is great) – this seems unbalanced and may draw some unintended consequences from other community partners around inclusivity. Here are the two recommendations I might have us consider rewording: Under the Housing slide: (current) “Increase accessibility to service enriched housing- expand SASH and SASH type programs to serve more older Burlington residents in congregate settings.” Rewrite something like: “Increase accessibility to funding to expanded services for older adults in their home setting- this may include programs that support them in their homes e.g. Home Health, Bayada, AAA’s, SASH and other agencies that provide supports in homes.” I think our overarching goal is to access increased funding for housing and in home supports (that may mean personal care attendants, home care aides, clinical care etc.)- which this statement would address and remains specific- without simply promoting only one service system. Under the Social Isolation Slide: (current) “Advance a Community Emotional Wellness framework. Recognize that Emotional Wellness of all residents is a critical attribute of a livable and sustainable community. Convene Stakeholders regularly (e.g., SASH, Howard, Cathedral Square, AgeWell). Evaluate the expansion of the program embedding mental health services in congregate housing (SASH-Howard Center –Cathedral Sq). Rewrite something like: “Advance a Community Emotional Wellness framework. - Recognize that Emotional Wellness of all Burlington residents is a critical attribute of a livable and sustainable community. Convene Stakeholders regularly (e.g., Howard Center, Housing Agencies, SASH, Age Well, Senior Centers and others). - Evaluate the expansion of the program embedding mental health services in congregate housing - Offer expanded mental health elder care clinician (ECC) supports for older Burlingtonians who need assistance to allow them to remain in their homes or living setting of their choice in their community. Again, Howard, SASH and Age Well are not the only entities that provide emotional wellness for residents. We need to be broader and inclusive of other entities who offer services e.g. Senior Centers, Community Centers etc. in our Burlington communities. They play a huge role in emotional/physical wellness and we want to be sure we don’t exclude their contributions/accessibility. Just my two cents- hoping this helps to keep us a bit more inclusive in our recommendations, while still getting our message across with focus. Again, my apologies for the late entry. From: Roger Allbee <roger.allbee@yahoo.com> Date: Fri, Apr 14, 2023 at 3:11 PM Subject: Fwd: Update from Windham Aging Subject: Fwd: Update from Windham Aging Dear friends and colleagues of Windham Aging, Since we last emailed you, we've been busy in our effort to plan for the significant increase in older residents of Windham County anticipated for the next 10 and 20 years. Our goal is to help our older population be connected to systems of support in this timeframe. This email is an update to keep you informed of and aware of how you can contribute. New Team Member. We contracted with Greg Hessel of Regeneration Resources to facilitate some important aspects of the next phase of this effort. Greg is gathering the best ideas and practices to help chart a new way forward for the systems of care serving older residents of our County. Identifying Outcomes. This next phase of our work is about identifying the outcomes we want to see in Windham County for the next 10 and 20 years. We know that we will reach our peak number of older Vermonters in this timeframe, so we're going to need robust systems to support older residents in that time. The outcomes we select will help focus efforts to bring about the changes that are most impactful and realistically achievable. Identifying Metrics. Once we identify the outcomes we want, we'll need to identify how to measure our progress towards meeting those outcomes. Measuring our progress is essential to ensure we stay on track to reach our goals. Six Areas of Focus. Over the next year we'll gather suggested outcomes and strategies to reach those outcomes from subject matter experts on topics in the following, 3-stage order. First, Transportation and Housing. Second, Disease Management and Staying Well. Lastly, Income and Workforce. Your help. We plan to host sessions where experts in different fields, and concerned community members can contribute ideas, assess plans, and offer feedback. We know that the work of including voices, especially those who may be hardest to hear, is critical to charting the path that benefits all. One of the most serious risks for aging well is the loss of health and autonomy from isolation, both physical and social. And we want to make sure that we do everything we can to include the interests of those who are most at risk of being isolated in our County by intentionally including them. Coordinated with the State of Vermont. We continue to coordinate our efforts with the State of Vermont in creating a Master Plan for Aging for Vermont. Windham Aging Collaborators Mark Boutwell and Maggie Lewis are members of the Vermont Action Plan for Aging Well (VAPAW) Advisory Committee, the state's effort to develop an aging plan. While Windham Aging Collaborators Eliza Eager and Mark Boutwell participate in the Center for Health Care Strategies Learning Collaborative, a group working to develop state-level aging plans. And Collaborator Dr. Carolyn Taylor-Olsen sits on the Governor's Commission on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Related Disorders. We imagine that Windham County, the County with the highest percentage of older residents in Vermont, will help lead the effort to make our State a great place to grow older. Email us. If you would like to contribute to any of these six topics through a listening session or in any other way, please reply to this email, and note the area(s) of focus in which you are most interested: Transportation, Housing, Disease Management, Staying Well, Income and Workforce. Or if you know of someone who may want to contribute, please forward this update to them so we can add them to our mailing list. Sincerely, The Windham Aging Planning Team, Roger Allbee, Lynne Feal-Staub, David Neumeister, Rob Szpila and Greg Hessel PS. If you haven't already ready our report on the state of Aging in Windham County, you can find it on our website: http://www.WindhamAging.com