Mary Shepherd Home Citizens' Advisory Committee

SHEPHERD HOME CITIZEN’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Those in attendance: Atty. Ralph Wilson, Atty. Sebastian Giuliano, Veteran Phil Cacciola, Deputy Mayor Vinnie Loffredo, Veteran Larry Riley, Community Member Carl Rodenhizer, Chief Real Estate Officer for Columbus House, Christine Garriga, Property Manager for DeMarco Management Corporation, Mayce Torres, Case Manager from St. Vincent DePaul Meeting called to order at 5 p.m. by Chair Atty. Ralph Wilson. Public Session: No members of the public attended. Minutes of October 23, 2019 Approved Old Business Additional Services In response to the objective to increase the extent of services available to tenants at Shepherd, Phil Cacciola reported that he was able to connect with:  Tracy Staarburg with the CEO’s office, where she can refer to services available on campus like the soon to re-open cafeteria. Action: CG to follow-up  Mark Masselli suggested connecting with Yvette Highsmith at Behavioral Health Services. Action: CR to follow-up  CHC has dental services that we can arrange for protocol to access. Action: CR to follow- up Other linkages:  Staff are meeting with administrators at River Valley Services on November 15 to explore utilization of behavioral health services.  Dr. Jeff Palmer is offering help with tenants who need eye glasses  Jeff Blankeshet can help with accessing benefits  Tracey Applegate at VA visits monthly – can we increase the frequency  Mike Black, of Gilead Community Services is currently visiting once a week Discussion about securing interns to help with services. Availability of transportation In addition to the on-call access to the MAT, the committee discussed replicating the individual transportation services that St. Luke’s provided. Phil Cacciola is exploring such a service with various veteran groups. Use of social media Staff will explore with tenants to explore someone taking on the responsibility for a facebook page to report on activities at Shepherd Home. Clothing donations The initial batch of clothing donations were scoffed up over the weekend. We’ll continue the practice as long as donations are clean and tenants are accepting them quickly. New Business Tenant Demographics Christine Garriga reports that thirty one of the thirty two units are occupied. Christine is working through the wait list and targeting December 1 for the vacant unit to be filled. Tenant Services Mayce Torres reports that sixteen of the tenants are service connected. Mayce reports one tenant is on dialysis, but receiving treatment in Rocky Hill. The individual missed appointments in Middletown and has been banned from receiving treatment locally. We discussed revisiting that restriction. Action: MT to follow-up. Building issues Issues that need some resolution include:  water pooling near the front entrance. There is a curtain drain, but the sidewalk is not sloped properly.  exterior gutters and downspouts that need to be replaced – causing water infiltration on the western wall. Some of the construction involved replacing some of the gutters/downspouts – this one mixed the list Next Meeting: Due to the holidays, the next meeting is scheduled for December 11, 5:00 at Shepherd Home, conference room. Adjournment: 6:20 p.m. Submitted by Carl Rodenhizer