Senior Center Committee

BO AR D M EM BE R S Noreen Shea, Chair * Asuncion Austriaco Chizoma Nosike Christian Roberts Facely Henriquez * Lovo Koliego * COMMISSION ON ELDER AFFAIRS Matthew Torrey Olanike Ojelabi MEETING AGENDA Pavel Terpelets Monday, October 27, 2025, 4:00 p.m. at Roxana Gomez Vargas Sarah Faucher Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence Street Stephen Corridori * Tamara Cullen * For more information concerning this meeting, please contact the Elder Ted Biba Affairs Division/Worcester Senor Center by email at Thuha Le elderaffairs@worcesterma.gov or phone at 508-799-1232. Please send *Senior Center Committee Members written comments 2 business days or more in advance of the meeting. If you need reasonable accommodations to participate in the meeting, please C ON T A CT reach out to the staff contact listed. While boards and commissions do their • Address: WSC, 128 Providence St. best to accommodate you, certain accommodation may not be available if requested within short notice of the scheduled meeting. Requests for • Hours: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. American Sign Language interpretation must be made 10 business days or • Phone: 508-799-1232 more in advance of the meeting. • Email: elderaffairs@worcesterma.gov Para más información sobre esta reunión, comuníquese con el Elder Affairs Division/Worcester Senior Center por correo electrónico al correo • Website: elderaffairs@worcesterma.gov o por teléfono 508-799-1232]. Envíe sus www.worcesterma.gov/senior-center comentarios por escrito 2 días hábiles o más antes de la reunión. Si The Commission on Elder Affair is committed to necesita adaptaciones razonables para participar en la reunión, comuníquese ensuring that its public meetings are accessible to con el contacto del personal indicado en la lista. Aunque las juntas y all. If you need reasonable accommodations to participate in the meeting, please reach out to the comisiones hacen todo lo posible para atenderle, algunas adaptaciones staff contact listed. While boards and podrían no estar disponibles si se solicitan con poca anticipación a la reunión commissions do their best to accommodate you, certain accommodations may not be available if programada. Las solicitudes de interpretación de lenguaje de señas requested within short notice of the scheduled estadounidense deben hacerse 10 días hábiles o más antes de la reunión. meeting. Requests for American Sign Language interpretation must be made 10 business days or Call to Order – 4 p.m. more in advance of the meeting. 1)Attendance/Approval of September 29th Commission meeting Hay disponibles servicios de interpretación y otras adaptaciones con solicitud previa. minutes & October 14th Senior Center Committee Report/ Confirm next meeting for November 24, 2025 at 4 pm, virtual. ‫تتوفر الترجمة الفورية وغيرها من وسائل التيسير عند الطلب المسبق‬ अनवु ा द र अ6य आवसह अ'-म अनरोधपचत ाु उपल5ध हु6छ। 2)GUEST SPEAKERS-Rogerson Communities: Walter J. Ramos,JD, President & CEO; Interpretação e outras adaptações estão disponíveis mediante solicitação prévia. Jeremy Vieira, Director of Real Estate Development; Përkthimi dhe akomodime të tjera janë në Kenneth Crisafulli, VP Real Estate Construction & Design. dispozicion me kërkesë paraprake. Kasa nkyerɛaseɛ ɛne akwanya afoforɔ da hɔ 3)DIRECTOR’S REPORT-GOALS/OUTCOMES ma wɔn a wɔn bɛ bisa ato hɔ. Phiên dịch và các hỗ trợ khác có sẵn theo yêu cầu trước. 4) OPERATIONS & SPECIAL PROJECTS DI V IS IO N S TA FF 5) SENIOR SERVICES, EDUCATION & OUTREACH Amy Vogel Waters, Director Patricia Hainsworth, Operations 6) Comments/Questions (up to 2 min. each) Linda Wincek-Moore, Senior Services Adjourn 1 *Insert dates* COMMISSION ON ELDER AFFAIRS Meeting Minutes September 29, 2025 Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence Street Attendance: Noreen Shea-Chair; Chizoma Nosike; Christian Roberts; Facely Henriquez; Matthew Torrey; Olanike Ojelabi; Pavel Terpelets; Sarah Faucher; Stephen Corridori; Thuha Le; Amy Waters; Linda Wincek-Moore; Dr. Mattie Castiel. 1. Call to Order: Noreen called the meeting to order at 4 p.m. The newest Commission Member, Christian, introduced himself; The following items were approved by the Commission: Commission minutes of 6/23/25 and 5/19/25, and the Senior Center Committee report of 9.9.25 (m/s/a). Noreen confirmed that the next meeting will be October 27, 2025 at 4 pm at the senior center. She introduced and thanked our guest speaker, Dr. Mattie Castiel. 2. Guest Speaker: Outgoing Commissioner of Health & Human Services, Dr. Castiel, talked about her tenure with the city which started in 2015. Prior and during parts of these ten years, she also worked in internal medicine at UMass Memorial and volunteered in the community. Her accomplishments include the development of a treatment and supportive housing program for Latino men recovering from addiction; brought focus to mental health needs & created the stigma-free app; developed the city’s quality of life team and the HUB; expanded outreach to unhoused individuals; developing tiny homes and a shelter for unhoused seniors; supported the development of a day center for unhoused individuals; and supported the HHS Divisions in a myriad of ways assisting seniors, youth, veterans, and many public health efforts such as the CHIP and collaboration to address the COVID pandemic. In response to Pavel’s question, she noted that there will likely be huge gaps in needed services in 2030, including an increasing shortage of physicians. 3. Director’s Report: Amy highlighted items in her first quarter report including: the progress made to address the city’s strategic plan objectives; funding awarded by the city, state, Fallon Health, Attorney General’s Office, Friends, MCOA & the Dept. of Agriculture; 200 different programs & services provided as of first quarter; reorganized space due to some vacancies while still generating over $75,000 in rents for the city; Rogerson Communities has agreed to attend the Oct. meeting to discuss progress with development senior housing in the vacant portion of the senior center; and today Patty, Vanessa and Wei are attending the Caregiver’s summit and doing a Dementia Friends training. 4. Senior Services, Education & Outreach: Linda reported on the following: new offices for senior services; SHINE open enrollment; upcoming multicultural event; various outreach events; food, utilities & housing remain big stresses for seniors & we are researching more resources for emergency assistance. 5. Adjournment: Noreen adjourned the meeting at 5:10 p.m. (m/s/a) 2  COMMISSION ON ELDER AFFAIRS Senior Center Committee Meeting Minutes/Report October 14, 2025 Virtual on Teams Attendance: Noreen Shea-Chair; Facely Henriquez; Tamara Cullen; Amy Waters; Patty Hainsworth. 6. Call to Order: Noreen called the meeting to order at 12:03 pm on Teams. The September 9, 2025 minutes were approved (m/s/a). Due to the conflict with Veterans Day, it was confirmed that the November meeting will take place on the 18th instead of the 11th. 7. Finances: Amy reported on the following: While the Governor has reduced some line items, our COA funding is intact; Our first quarter meeting with the city budget office is this week; Grant was received for kitchen equipment totaling more than $37,000; There are no changes in allocations and space licenses to report; Rogerson Communities plan to develop senior housing in the vacant space of the senior center was announced in article in the Worcester Telegram and they will discuss it at the October 27th Commission meeting; staffing remains stable. 8. Operations: Patty reported on the following: The grant for kitchen equipment is coming just in time as there are many repairs/replacements needed; Addressing 3 water leaks in 10 days; Dept. of Public Facilities hired a new supervisor and is providing more support; Had intergenerational Halloween event with Girls Inc. and a mission society; Walgreens clinic offered 6 different immunizations, providing 75 seniors with 120 immunizations; Coming up in October is the Dementia and Music event as well as the annual multicultural event; November will be highlighted with the annual events for veterans, Thanksgiving and our craft fair; As of January 2026, the new publisher of our newsletter will be Lpi. 9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 pm (m/s/a) 3