Department of Human Services / Council on Aging

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING May 8, 2019 PRESENT: Anne Bisson Kelley Sylvia Tracy Heger Ann Kardamis Barry Burke Jim Lincoln Joanne LaFerrara ABSENT: Lori Gonsalves, Charlotte Carr, Ted O’Brien Anne Bisson called the meeting to order at 10:05 Ann Kardamis made a motion to accept the April 10, 2019 meeting minutes. Jim Lincoln seconded. All in favor. Director’s Report Board Meeting 05.08.19 Old Business: 1. FY 19 State Budget COA Earmarks: a. Dementia Friendly Taunton - Janet Richardi, Consultant, has been doing an excellent job in outreaching and training. It is hoped that a grant will be received to continue this very important program. Upcoming trainings include: Taunton Housing Authority employees, City of Taunton employees and elders of Taunton. b. Enhanced Services at COA – i. The Wisdom Wednesday trainings have gone exceptionally well. We have had maximum attendance with waiting lists. There are three Wisdom Wednesdays remaining. ii. Due to roof repairs, we had to reschedule the Suicide Awareness training until May 31. Our next training is May 17 on ‘Exploring the Experience of Aging’. 2. FY 20 CDBG: I have not heard anything regarding the grant submission or award as of the date of this meeting. The Community & Economic Development Assistant Director, Michael Ferreira, has retired so I am not sure if the announcement will be later. 3. FY 20 City Budget: As stated last month, the budget has been submitted with requests for line item increases. I have not heard from the Budget Director requesting additional information. Budget hearings usually occur in late May, early June. 4. Substance Use Prevention Grants (MOAPC, SAPC and PFS): The grants continue. I met with our Grants Coordinator from SSTAR. She stated that all grants are scheduled to end in June 2020 but expect that new Requests for Proposals will be coming out to continue the services. The MOAPC Coordinator from SSTAR resigned and they have yet to fill the position. We are still waiting for the Grant Announcement for the Drug Free Communities Grant. Once announced, SSTAR, Taylor Torres, City of Taunton Grant Coordinator and I will begin the writing of the grant. 5. Taunton Opiate and Substance Use Task Force (TOTF): A TOTF meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14, 2019. The Guest Speaker will be Allison Andrade from the Recovery Pathfinder Program through the Department of Corrections. 6. Age and Dementia Friendly Taunton: A meeting was held on April 22, 2019. There were six in attendance. Discussed were the trainings completed, upcoming trainings and the Tufts Grant Submission. The next meeting is scheduled for May 20, 2019. 7. ‘My Senior Center’ statistical software program: Charlene, along with Kelley and Mary Beth, have been working tirelessly on inputting the basic information, participants, programs and activities, program rosters, outreach information, ‘one call’ groups and key tags. The ‘one call’ groups are wonderful in that an automated call goes out to all attendees as both program reminders and cancellations. This saves a lot of time for our Reception staff. Thanks to Charlene, Kelley and Mary Beth! 8. Collaborative Grant Submissions: a. Tufts Dementia Friendly Taunton - We had a site visit with Tufts representatives on April 26, 2019, at the offices of the Associates for Human Services. We all felt that the visit went well. b. Tufts Healthy for Life with the YMCA – Tufts wanted Taunton to remain in the grant for service provision only. We will not receive direct funding. We had a preliminary meeting (I attended by conference call) on May 2, 2019, and there was a site visit (I attended by conference call) on May 7, 2019. 9. Taunton Safe Neighborhood Initiative (SNI): SNI Annual Meeting was held on 4.24.19. The Guest Speaker was April Cabrera from the Office of the Bristol District Attorney. She also hosted a ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ mock bedroom demonstration. There were 32 in attendance and special guests included Mayor Hoye, Councilmen John McCaul and Gerald Croteau and District Attorney Tom Quinn came later. 10. Councils on Aging/Catholic Social Services (CSS) re: Elder Homelessness: A meeting was held on May 7, 2019. There were 11 COA representatives and the Chairperson of the South Coast Regional Network to End Homelessness in attendance. Angela Eddings Clarke from Catholic Social Services provided an overview of what their services are and how Councils on Aging can make referrals for homeless elders. New Business: 1. Meeting Summary/Anne attended the following meetings: a. Dementia Friendly Taunton consultant: 4.10.19 b. Age & Dementia Friendly Taunton: 4.22.19 c. Taunton Safe Neighborhood Initiative Annual Meeting: 4.24.19 d. Dementia Friendly Taunton Consultant: 4.24.19 e. Dementia Friendly-Tufts Grant-Site Visit at AHS: 4.26.19 f. TOTF Overdose Awareness Day committee: 4.29.19 g. Elder & Human Services Council Committee: 4.30.109 h. Proclamation for ‘Older Americans’ Month’ at City Hall: 4.30.19 i. MA Councils on Aging Board Meeting: 5.1.19 j. Healthy for Life-Tufts Grant-Conference Call: 5.2.19 k. MA Municipal Human Services Council: 5.2.19 l. Healthy for Life-Tufts Grant-Site Visit (conference call): 5.7.19 m. Elder Homelessness in Bristol County: 5.7.19 2. Upcoming Scheduled Programs/meetings: a. TRIAD Fashion Show: 5.9.19 b. Mayor Hoye: 5.13.19 c. Dementia Friendly Consultant: 5.13.19 d. Manet Strategic Planning Committee (conf. call): 5.13.19 e. Department Head Meeting: 5.15.19 f. Volunteer Recognition: 5.16.19 g. Age & Dementia Friendly: 5.20.19 or Hopewell: 5.20.19 h. Manet Community Health Center Board: 5.21.19 i. Safe Neighborhood Initiative: 5.22.19 j. Bristol County Regional Alliance in New Bedford: 5.22.19 k. Bristol Elder Services: 5.23.19 l. Elder Affairs FY20 Formula Grant training: 5.30.19 m. Senior Tax Workoff/City Hall: 6.3.19 n. CPR Training: 6.5.19 o. MMA Human Services Council Annual Meeting/Westwood: 6.7.19 p. Mayor Hoye: 6.10.19 q. Manet Strategic Planning Committee (conf. call): 6.10.19 r. TRIAD: 6.11.19 s. Taunton Opiate and Substance Use Task Force: 6.12.19 3. DHS Updates: a. Inform of new Board Member- Joanne Laferrara b. Two part-time staff being trained as SHINE Counselors (Manuela & Jennifer) c. Roof Repairs d. Bathroom lighting – Fire requirements e. ADA Compliance - Senior Center furniture purchased by THA f. Safety Audit by Taunton Police Department 4. Senior Center Coordinator Monthly Report 5. Next meeting: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 Senior Center Coordinator’s Report – 05.08.19 During the month of April, applications were available for all Taunton seniors who wanted to participate in the Senior Tax Work Off program. This program gives seniors $750.00 off their real estate taxes after working 62.5 hours in a city department. We have received 49 applications as of today and the assessor’s office has given us 65 slots to fill so we are still accepting applications right now. The hours are to be worked between July 1st and November 30th. Human Resources is now requiring a physical for each applicant. Tracy will be meeting with Human Resources in June to set up new Senior Tax Workers. The Taunton Nursing Home, the Treasurer’s Office and the Engineering Department will not be participating in the program this year. Tracy is working with the Assessor’s Office to raise the Tax Credit to $800.00 but using fewer participants, which must go through The Taunton City Council. AARP volunteers have processed 586 tax returns from February 1st through April 17th. The filing date was extended due to the Patriots Day holiday and a Federal Holiday. Our IPhone / IPad classes started back up in April on Monday morning and we have had a great showing each week. The Diabetes Self-Management 6 week class started back up in April. On April 4th our Never Stop Learning Group discussed the History of Spain and 6 seniors attended. On April 9th, Paul Arikian was here again for Ask Paul the I.T. Guy – 3 seniors attended. Our Wisdom Wednesday on April 10th was on Brain Health: Use it or Lose it – 73 seniors attended. Farm Visits came back again this year on April 16th and we had 51 seniors and children attend. We all had a fun time!! The April 18th TED Talks topic was, Cloudy with a chance of Joy…The Power of Appreciation. 6 seniors attended. We had a movie on April 18th – The Book Club – 12 seniors attended. On April 23rd we had the Classic 5 Jazz Quintet play at the Senior Center and 36 seniors attended. They will be returning to perform on October 1st with the singer. The April 24th Wisdom Wednesday was on Spirited Aging and 66 seniors attended. On April 30th 15 seniors came to the City Hall council chambers for the Mayor to read the Proclamation for Older Americans Month in May. Our Never Stop Learning Group on May 2nd had 8 seniors attend and the topic was Last Stands. The June topic will be “Building Bridges Not Walls”. Upcoming Events -On Friday, May 10th at 10:30 am Lt. Nichols from the Taunton Police Department will be here to talk about Weapons ownership and Older Adults. -May 14th we will have Ask Paul the I.T. Guy. -May 16th at 11:30 am TED Talks topic is “Art and Imagination…How Creativity Helps All of US”. -May 16th at 12 pm – Volunteer Recognition -May 20th – Hopewell Gives Back @ 10:00 am at the school. Kindness Project is going to be painting flower pots with our Seniors. _May 13th Tracy is working with Paula Ward from Gatra on a project with the Taunton Animal Shelter for which carnations will be purchased and then donated to Seniors here at the center of Monday 05.13.19. -May 21st at 1 pm – Hidden in Plain Sight -May 22nd Wisdom Wednesday – Good News on Aging -May 24th at 10 am – Taxpayer Advocate Service will be here to work on any IRS issues Seniors may have questions about. -May 28th @ 1 pm – MA Bar will be here to do a “Legal Check-Up” for our Seniors. Meeting adjourned at 10:44 a.m. Barry Burke made the motion. Seconded by Joanne LaFerrara All in Favor. Next meeting: Wednesday, June 12, 2019