Department of Human Services / Council on Aging

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING March 10, 2021 PRESENT: Charlene Bonenfant Laura Miola Tracy Heger Joanne LaFerrara Ted O’Brien Lori Gonsalves Kelley Sylvia Mary Beth Forshaw Barry Burke Jennifer DeLuca Herbert Day ABSENT: Ann Kardamis Meeting called to order at 10:05 a.m. by Ted O’Brien Herbert Day made a motion to accept the January 13, 2021 meeting minutes. Joanne LaFerrara seconded. All in favor. Board Meeting Reports 03.10.2021 I. Charlene Bonenfant - Interim Director Board Report March 10, 2021 a. Old Business: i. Status of the Director’s Position – The position remains status quo. ii. COVID 19 and Program Updates a. Elder Outreach – Jennifer Deluca b. Senior Center – Tracy Heger c. Community Relations Program/Emergency Fund – Mary Beth Forshaw d. Financial Status of the Department of Human Services – We currently have sufficient funding to continue all employees through the end of this fiscal year. We are able to carryover unused Formula funds in FY22 which will be well received as we hope to slowly open back up. We have expended all CDBG funding for the nurses salary and she was transferred over to Formula Funds – and the CDBG caseworker has a few more weeks before she is transferred over. II. ANNOUNCEMETS AND NEW BUSINESS a. Vaccination Clinic – The COA has participated and or facilitated 4 immunization clinics. The ever changing regulations rolled out by the state has caused chaos however we are determined to get our seniors and those in housing vaccinated. b. Peer Friendly Visiting Program – Jennifer Deluca c. SHINE Coordinator – in an effort to give Tracy the time to focus on reopening and reimaging the Senior Center – we have contracted with a consultant to do SHNE. d. FY 21 SIG Award – We received $7,500 from SIG this year – we will be using these funds to address food insecurities with a focus on targeting social isolation and loneliness. e. Next Meeting: April 14, 2021 – we will have taxes in the building on the 14th – we will check with state guidance and if possible we will have the meeting in person. Jennifer DeLuca-Elder Outreach Director Board Report March 10, 2021 o Outreach continues to assess and address the needs of the elders in the community o As of this week- they have been allowed to resume in home visits with restrictions keeping both the client and staff member safe. This guidance has been approved by both Taunton Board of Health and HR • You must be double masked • Only one worker in an Elder’s home at a time – all workers who share a client with Marie please check to make sure you are not arriving at the same time • The scheduled visit can only last for 15 minutes if you are inside the home • You must maintain social distancing requirements by standing at least 6 feet away from the elder • All home visits must be documented as “in the home” or “outside the home” in case there is any contact tracing that needs to happen; you can document the aforementioned in your note in MSC. • When you return to the office please wash your hands • If you would like the inside of your car sanitized please ask Jen Martins to give you directions on how to use the sanitizing gun. I recommend that you sanitize your car but I will leave that up to you. Also please feel free to use the sanitizing wipes in place of the spray • Please wipe down any and all office supplies, medical equipment etc. after each and every visit • Please continue to wipe your desk area down at the end of your shift o We have continued to receive new referrals and work with community partners to ensure all unmet needs are being addressed and referrals are being made o This week, I began taking names of individuals in the community who are homebound and in need of the COVID 19 vaccine. The information will be forwarded to the Taunton Board of Health Nurse who will then call the information into the state. At this time we have 50 documented names and have assisted numerous others with direction to obtaining the vaccine if they are not homebound. o We have a new outreach worker hired as the Friendly Peer Visiting Coordinator. She has been making wellness check in calls to Seniors who are part of Senior Center Programs, as well as individuals in the system who are not associated with programming or Elder Outreach. She is responsible for overseeing a caseload of level 3 clients. This has assisted in her getting names of individuals interested in being a volunteer or those wishing to receive a matched volunteer. The program will begin as friendly check in calls and will move on to indoor/outdoor home visits between the 2 matched individuals. Tracy Heger – Senior Center Coordinator Board Report March 10, 2021 On March 1st we held our “Spread the Love” grab & go event at Memorial Park. This event was in collaboration with Park & Rec. We had 147 seniors who registered for the February 16th event but since it was rescheduled due to weather we had 135 seniors who received a boxed lunch from the Council on Aging handed out by the Mayor and Laura Miola as well as other goodies from City Departments that were in attendance. It was a rainy damp day but we made their day!! AARP started tax preparation on March 2nd at the Senior Center. They will be here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays by appointment only. This year we were only given 147 appointments as opposed to 2019 when we assisted 586 Taunton residents. The lesser appointments are because the season didn’t start for us until March 2nd and because of COVID guidelines and regulations they could not take as many clients per day. Our office has hired a part time SHINE coordinator (Mary Ann Riva) who will take the majority of the calls to our office for health insurance counseling. She has the ability to work from her home, because of social distancing guidelines, with a laptop and phone. If she has too many clients she will then give to other counselors in the office to help. Counselors need to have 4 hours of SHINE per month to keep their certifications. I am working on setting up weekly Grab & Go food events for the community with the Grant monies that Charlene spoke about earlier. We will start by delivering to a different housing site each week and add in a few grab & go’s too. For the housing sites we have decided to work with Trucchi’s and each unit will receive a cold cooked rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and veggie that they will just have to re-heat. We are hoping to start mid-March. Mary Beth has put a different craft project together for March, April & May for the first 30 seniors that call each month. All the supplies needed are in a bag along with directions on how to create the project. Seniors just have to call our office to save their spot and we will run it out to their car or they can pick it up at our door. I am working on outside activities here at the COA and at other outside locations starting at the end of April. Might start off chilly but most will be happy to get moving again. I will give you more information on this next month. Mary Beth Forshaw – Community Relations Counselor Board Report March 10, 2021  UW Family Fund COVID 19 FY 2020 - $50,000 Received. Current Balance $9,764.87  o 50 Applications Completed (18 Utilities; 2 Security Deposit; 2 Fuel; 28 Rental Assistance) o Total Served 125 o Adults 66 o Children 59  UW Family Fund General Fund FY 2021 -$16,204.94 Received. Current Balance $13,181.63 o 12 Applications Completed (11 Utilities and 1 Fuel) o Total Served 41 o Adults 18 o Children 23  NEW! UW Family Fund Flex Fund - $20,000 Received. Current Balance $20,000.00.  Earmark from the office of Senator Pacheco - $250,000 –Have not received yet!  Our Daily Bread Information o Severe Weather Shelter-Assisted homeless when weather dropped below 32 degrees. o ODB Resource Center-Assists homeless weekly at resource center. o Matthew Mission – Will be closing as of 03/31/2021. Charlene asked if there was anything further anyone wanted to discuss or any questions anyone wanted to ask. Ted O’Brien mentioned that Bethany House will not be reopening after the pandemic, and wondered if we heard if any of the other Adult Day Health programs in the area had mentioned plans of re-opening or not. Charlene added that one of the programs did call us and would look into which one it was. Charlene mentioned that a Regional Vaccination Site was in the works and the City is looking into using either the old Taunton/Raynham Dog Track or the Holiday Inn Taunton as potential sites. Charlene added that EOCD would like to see more programs in the East Taunton Community. Mary Ann has a direct telephone line enabling SHINE clients to reach her outside of office hours if Mary Ann chooses to set up those appointments with a client. Ted made mention of setting up a community survey with an online program such as “Survey Monkey”, as well as providing paper surveys to Seniors, to inquire what programs and services the Senior Community would like to see our department provide. Charlene mentioned that she and Colleen from the Taunton Housing Authority were considering renaming the Senior Center. Charlene said the April meeting will remain via Zoom due to AARP conducting Tax Services in the center, but in May we will resume in person Board Meetings if regulations allow and if everyone agreed. All in favor. Lori Gonsalves mentioned that the Taunton Opiate Task Force meeting would still be held via Zoom for April. Next meeting: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 @ 10:00 a.m. Via Zoom