Council on Aging Board

SALEM COUNCIL ON AGING Minutes of Regular Meeting Date and Time: November 20, 2019 at 5:15 P.M. Meeting Location: Board Room, 401 Bridge Street Members Present: Lynda Coffill (LC, Chairperson), John Russell (JR), Julie Carver (JC), Elaine Heredeen (EH), Alice Williams (AW), George Barbuzzi (GB), Donna Clifford (DC), Abigail Butt (via phone) Also Present: Teresa Arnold, (TA, Director of the COA), Elaine Milo, City Council Liaison Clerk: Kathleen Fitzgerald Meeting Called to Order LC calls the meeting to order at 5:13 P.M. Motion made by JR to approve the October Minutes, seconded by AW and passes unanimously. Old Business: Sr. Housing Advocacy: LC stated that concerns and discussions continue. She advised that last month she spoke with Amanda Chiancola who was excited about our wanting to publicize a new series on SAT. Lynda thinks that Amanda would be a great guest with a spotlight on the ADU Ordinance. LC advised that they were thinking about doing this in January possibly with Amanda and a couple of Board Members. GB stated that January made sense and LC asked if there should be a couple of Board Members who could talk about the process and the Ordinance itself and what it entails. JR said he and AB would be willing to go, but that AB needed to speak for herself. AB said she would be willing if she had a babysitter. LC said she would begin to coordinate and plan for January. JR asked what the process is for funding, what the agencies are, etc. AB said the Housing authority will be able provide some information around this. LC advised that Micky Northcutt, the CEO of the CDC will be developing St. James and if anyone knows about funding for senior housing it would be Micky. She advised that Amanda could come and talk about the City side. -1- GB asked about SSU South Campus. TA advised that Patricia Zaido was on that working group. GB stated that they are talking about senior housing and it seemed to him that based on a meeting that he attended, so much has already happened. As a Ward 7 resident, he felt like a lot of the groundwork had already been done. LC stated that they were also talking about Veterans housing as well as seniors and that one of the issues she keeps hearing is about social isolation. TA advised that she and Patricia Zaido attended a seminar and there is the ongoing concern about social isolation, and that residents of any intended housing villages would need social opportunities. LC advised that South Campus is surrounded by housing and conservation land. GB said the dorms had not aged well and they would be torn down. AB asked if there were any VNA housing in Salem. LC advised that we have an agency but not housing labeled as such. AB stated that the VNA has housing in Somerville and accepts Medicaid. LC asked if it was a step down; i.e. independent living to assisted living. AB advised that you could access medical services on the housing campus. GB asked AB if she was sure that this was not part of the adult foster care program. AB stated that in Beverly there is assisted living that accepts Medicaid. TA said when she worked for the PACE model, there were some consumers who lived in communal housing. GB advised that PACE accepts Medicare and Medicaid. AB advised that it would be good to learn more about this and to bring VNA services to Salem. LC asked in what way and AB said to build housing. LC asked AB if her schedule allowed her to attend housing meetings at Salem for All Ages and AB said if the meetings were late. LC asked if there were any other comments or concerns about Salem senior advocacy. JR stated that we needed to do a better job with senior isolation. LC advised that she had spoken with Domingo Dominguez regarding his help finding someone from the Latino community to be on the Board. She said she sent him an email reminding him and would follow up with him. AB advised that Councilman Dominguez had given her the name of a person called Hermana and she called her but had not heard back. LC said she would follow up with him again to see what the story was. New Business: Friends Update: JR advised that Comedy Night went off well. The comedians were great but there was a snag with the food which was sorted out. Apparently Roots just dropped off the food without servers. JR advised that he did not have the final tally yet because the bar tally was needed but that it should be over $5,000.00. LC said that the -2- Comedy Night was a great and fun night. JR advised that the CLC sets up beautifully for a night like that and that the sound system worked perfectly. JR advised that he was able to get the CLC parking lot the Saturday before Halloween and raised $2,200.00 before 1:00 P.M. and raised $1,500.00 on another Saturday in October for a total of $3,700.00 for the month. He further advised that the Friends had raised over $28,000.00 this year and that it was a good year and would be better next year. LC encouraged Board members to attend Friends fundraisers. Director’s Report: Transportation – Transportation has been very busy and there seems to be increase in ride requests. The two-day notice is working well, but there have been some upset seniors when they are advised that we are full. Policies and procedures are being revamped and there will be driver trainings in 2020 regarding lift, sensitivity CPR, etc. Social Services – The team is quite booked and incredibly busy with Medicare and the December 7th deadline. There have been some client concerns, i.e. people with medical issues which boils down to safety and our inability to transport them and educating staff regarding transgender challenges. TA said it is difficult for some seniors to understand this. GB said you must educate people and JR said education can be simple. Nutrition: Served 736 meals in October. TA advised that she is meeting with Sam Hunt from Root in December to discuss the possibility of offering healthy meal options in the Great Room. EH said that Beverly has a salad bar 2x a week and that they got a grant for a refrigeration table. Those Were the Days: Linda Werbner, LICSW, from North Shore Community Health Center will be facilitating the group which will meet on December 12th and December 27th to share and listen to stories from the past and present that have enriched lives. The idea of this group is to help determine support groups and individual needs. Meals on Wheels – Tom St. Pierre, the building inspector for the City of Salem, and the Salem Fire Department met with NSES and now think that our corridor next to the kitchen can be used for pick-up by the Marblehead and Salem Meals on Wheels drivers. There will be an MOU from NSES who will oversee this. Internship: The Kay Walsh paid internship will start in the summer of 2020. TA advised that she and the social workers are drafting a job description centering around outreach to help prevent social isolation. -3- Grant: The EOA formula grant will go out this week. Next Board Meeting: December 18, 2019 A motion to adjourn is made by JR. The meeting adjourns at 6:10 P.M. Respectfully Submitted, Kathleen Fitzgerald, Clerk -4-