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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAging Board Minutes - September 14, 2021 Advisory Board on Aging MINUTES Tuesday, September 14, 2021 1—3 pm; Virtual In attendance: Heather Altman, Colin Austin, Rachel Bearman,Jeff Charles,Jerry Gregory,James Harris, Vibeke Talley, Dick White; (Staff) Cass Dictus, Anshu Gupta, Kim Lamon-Loperfido, Shenae McPherson, Cherie Rosemond, Beverly Shuford, and Janice Tyler. Absent: (Excused) Jenny Womack 1. Welcome a. Janice Tyler welcomed everyone back to the board meetings 2. Introductions and Announcements a. Janice announced that due to COVID the County manager has directed meetings to continue virtually until further notice b. Welcome Kenesha Wood, UNC MSW student intern c. Chair, Heather Altman, welcomed the group and thanked Janice and OCDOA staff for keeping everything afloat throughout the pandemic d. Group introductions followed 3. Any other Agenda items a. Change in agenda order — Moved MAP agenda items after announcements to accommodate those who have to leave early Director's Report 4. Challenges of COVID— Hybrid programs, curbside lunch, supporting caregivers, hybrid staff schedules, etc. a. Aging Helpline calls are up. Suggested by board to create additional programs to help individuals "age in place," in their current home b. Bottom-line, we never closed. Kudos to the OCDOA team for their dedication onsite still serving older adults and their families c. Curbside 1000+ meals a week M, W, F and still growing. Challenge: how to serve those who were transit dependent. All municipalities police departments including the Orange County Sheriff's Office delivered meals to those transit dependent. However, in the last couple months those helping to deliver meals had to phase back into their regular work. Shenae McPherson, VCSS+, is seeking drivers to deliver meals. Some people were being fed by us and by Meals on Wheels; they can only be served by one or the other, not both. This has been corrected. CARES funding enabled us to keep meals going and feed folks. Contracted with Meals on Wheels ($90k) to increase meals to Orange County residents who qualify d. Shenae (VC 55+) continues to distribute food boxes (300+) monthly to qualifying participants. The Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement continue to help with Food Box distribution and delivery e. OCDOA has reinvented ourselves with virtual and hybrid offerings; purchased equipment with CARES funding to aid in offering live virtual and pre-recorded programs f. We will be in a rebuilding program going forward as many people may not return and others have been lost. July 1, reopened for on-site group programming. There has been reluctance to return and some still don't know we are open. Delaying promotion of open until Delta variant subsides. Meal program curbside at direction of Health Director until further notice. Those picking up meals have remained connected socially while waiting in the drive thru line. g. Seymour Center Expansion almost completed. Still working on punch list items. h. Supporting caregivers through Aging Transitions and Helpline. Aging in Place supported through Durable Medical Equipment loan program, Handy Helper (HH) installation of ramps and grab bars. HH partnered with the Housing Department, along with HOPE Renovations enabling HOPE workers to go inside during COVID; now HH back inside doing the work i. Staffing— kept the building staffed throughout. Using hybrid work model to reduce density and COVID— Delta exposure j. Aging Transitions & other staff reviewed our 3500+ person database to identified persons that we had not been in touch with during the pandemic. 1600 persons were identified and received a received a personal "check in" call from a staff person. Some needs were found and addressed. Those who were doing well appreciated the call so much that they wanted to "pay it forward" by volunteering to help others. Encouraging notes were also sent to those living alone and this is continuing k. July— May over 1200 virtual programs were offered. 5. Staff updates a. Aging Transitions Administrator— Kim Lamon-Loperfido went from being one of our Aging Transitions Social Workers to Division Administrator b. Transportation Specialist— Brandi Beeker replaced Alison Smith as transportation specialist. Brandi moved from Orange County Public Transportation to OCDOA c. Aging Transitions Social Worker— Kendall Kopchick was hired as the new Aging Transitions Social Worker d. Job postings: i. VC 55+Volunteer Coordinator—Sadly we lost Bobby Cobb. Interviewing for VC+ Coordinator on Friday ii. Aging Transitions Specialist— Needed a MSW for the position and we did not find the right person. The job description was revised to include other social sciences and we have a new staff person coming to this position at the end of the month e. Vacancies and Hiring Freeze i. Passmore Center Front Desk Manager—We couldn't post both the front desk and VC coordinator, so the Passmore Front desk is being covered by rotating staff until County lifts hiring freeze ii. Seymour Center Evening Facility Manager—currently we do not have evening or weekend hours iii. DSS/Aging Social Worker—Waiting for this to be filled for over a year f. Retirements i. Robin Bailin (Seymour Facility Manager) retired giving 2+ months notice;job posting request is with HR. ii. Deborah Lemmerman (Evening Front Desk/Facility Manager) retired as of Oct. 1 g. New interns—Vital to what we do i. Aging Transitions/MAP MSW Interns— Kenesha Wood, UNC-CH; Kim uria Snipes, NCCU ii. VC 55+- Akira Sutton — Liberty University iii. VC 55+/ UNC Partnerships in Aging MPH Intern—Sarah Muskin Continuing Business 6. Seymour Center Renovation Update— Happy to report that we are almost done! Doing final punch list items now. It is beautiful, come by and see it New Business 7. Redesign of Senior Times— Now Endless Possibilities a. Beverly shared information about the redesign and thanked all involved in the redesign and new submission database build. Everyone encouraged to pick up a copy 8. Need delegates for the TJCOG —Area Agency on Aging Board a. We currently only have our Sr. Tar Heel Delegates (Dick & Keith) representing us. We have two vacancies; Janice asked for volunteers. Vibeke Talley and James Harris volunteered. Thank you, Vebeke and James! 2017-22 Master Aging Plan 9. Ripple Effect Mapping and Evaluation of the past four years of current MAP—Presentation by Cass Dictus, UNC PiAP Fellow and OC MAP evaluator a. Community assessment survey 1000+ responses b. Minority response tallied thus far: OC residents 74%white 12%African-American/Black, 14% Remainder minority or chose not to respond c. Over 70% of indicators met by the end of year 4 d. A written document will be made available for sharing 2022-27 Master Aging Plan 10. Timeline: a. Janice reported that we kicked off the next MAP on July 1 with a community survey and data collection b. Upcoming Community Engagement events (see bullet#12) c. Next, workgroups will start talking about goals and strategies, then writing of the MAP begins d. Document by early spring to be available for the public e. Plan to have the 2022-27 MAP complete and presented to the OC BOCC in May for Older Americans Month f. Janice asked advisory board to put the Community Engagement events on their calendar 11. Community Assessment Survey completed with over 1000 responses 12. Community Engagement Drop-In Events: Seymour Center Monday, Oct. 4 3:30 p.m.—6:00 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11 10 a.m.—noon Passmore Center Tuesday,Oct. 5 11 a.m.— 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11 4—6 p.m. Hargraves Community Center Wednesday, Oct. 6 11 a.m.—1 p.m. Efland-Cheeks Community Center Thursday, Oct. 7 2—4 p.m. Cedar Grove Community Center Tuesday,Oct. 12 10 a.m.— 12 noon Rogers Road Community Center Thursday, Oct. 14 4-6 p.m. Virtual Event Tuesday,October 12 2:30 p.m.—4:30 p.m. The plan is to have two posters from each workgroup: One highlighting the accomplishments of the past four year, the second with key survey data findings. Attendees will go from poster to poster and talk to the workgroup leaders and provide workgroups with additional input/feedback. Next couple of months 13. Key Informant Interviews a. Intern, Kenesha Wood, will be going out with Janice to do key informant interviews and build relationships with community partners 14. Workgroups and Aging Board members assignments: a. Janice— Invited Aging Board members to choose a workgroup. Come to the open houses to hear what the community says about specific subject areas b. Where there are gaps in the workgroups it could help board members choose a workgroup. Board member workgroups assignments: Jeff—Transportation Dick— Housing Rachel —Community Supports Vibeke— Colin —Civic Participation and Employment - Outdoor Spaces - Social Participation - Communication — might or might not be a workgroup—cross cutting issue - Respect & Inclusion is also a cross cutting issue c. We will look at board vacancies and assigning to workgroups starting in 2022. Members commit to 4 meetings per year x 5 yrs Committee Progress Reports if needed: 15. Dementia Friendly Business Campaign 16. Senior Tar Heel Legislature— Dick White 17. Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee 18. Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee—Vibeke Talley 19. Housing— Dick White 20. Friends of the Passmore Center 21. Friends of the Seymour Center Jeff requested that we disuss "Aging in Place." Aging in community is a direct mission of our department to help people to age in community "Aging in Place" is aging in your existing home. Concerns raised: socialization, access to other services. Virtual Assisted Living through technology supports (ex. Door Dash, Insta-Cart, caregiver support/health appointments virtually. Brings out access to high-speed internet to those without. Put on your radar for the future discussion Adjournment Next meeting: Instead of the board meeting next month - MAP Community Engagement Virtual Event, October 12 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. all come to the virtual open house. Announcement: Soltys Center/Senior Care, Inc. entered into partnership with Teepa Snow— Positive Approach to Care. Efland native, internationally known — hope to reopen the Soltys Center by the end of the month. Staff and families need and want to come back, they have been waiting a long time for the doors to reopen. New director, Katie Garvey, was hired. A number of adult day health across the state are not going to reopen because of COVID. We are thrilled with the partnership and that we will be reopening. The facility has been renovated and it is beautiful.