HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdvisory Board on Aging Minutes 02-08-2022 Orange County
Advisory Board on Aging
Tuesday, February 8, 2022; 1—3 p.m.
Hybrid Meeting (Passmore Center/Virtual)
MINUTES
Attendance: Heather Altman, Colin Austin, Rachel Bearman, Jeff Charles, Jerry Gregory,James Harris, Vibekey
Talley, Dick White, Jenny Womack. Staff: Janice Tyler, Beverly Shuford, Kenesha Wood, Shenae McPherson
1. Introductions and Announcements
a. No announcements
2. Approval of Minutes—January 11, 2022
a. Corrections:
i. GARE (Government Alliance on Race and Equity)
ii. Jenny Womack was absent and excused, not present;
b. Minutes approved with corrections
Director's Report
3. COVID Update and Department operations
a. Employee COVID protocols change often. Latest guidance:
i. Vaccinated, boosted and exposed but showing no symptoms: must mask for 10 days,
eat distanced 6', on 5t" day after exposure get official PCR test. Vaccinated but not
boosted: must quarantine for 5 days
b. Unvaccinated employees must test weekly and upload results in the County Co-verify system.
Volunteers also verify their status in the Co-verify system
c. We are open, but general attendance is low. However, there are many of our activities that are
well attended, some are hybrid and virtual. Hybrid and virtual programs will continue even after
the pandemic.
d. Beverly is working on a marketing campaign, "We're Here for You!" to let folks know that we
continue to offer on-site art, educational, fitness classes and more. In addition to classes, there
are resources and services. All offered on-site, virtually, hybrid and by phone.
4. N95 Mask Distribution
a. There was a mad distribution rush at the IFC and Library. OCDOA chose not to publically
advertise a mask distribution but instead advertised by contacting our participants individually,
walk-ins and word-of-mouth. We bag and give three masks with instructions in English, Spanish
and Mandarin. Number distributed tracked. If you know of someone that needs masks let them
know. We have also reserved masks for our SHIIP, VITA, other volunteers & community
advisory committees. The masks can be reused, but you need to rotate them: wear 1 day, put in
paper bag for 48 hours before wearing again
5. Update on New Lunch Caterer
a. We are serving—1000 meals week, adding more all the time, including 8 new applicants this
week. Meals are catered by Spicy Green. It is going well, but the caterer is dealing with her own
staffing issues and we are adapting. To accommodate the catering situation, we will serve
Monday (2 hot meals), Wednesday (1 hot meal/1 cold meal) and Friday (1 hot meal). The
caterer packages the meals, reducing staff time plating & distributing. Allows us to freeze any
leftover meals for those who show up needing a meal.
b. Orange County MOW uses Spicy Green. Rachel reported that MOW finds out if they have the
ability to reheat, as part of their intake process. Frozen meals are served in the north/south of
the County until more volunteers are available to prepare and deliver. Some choose shelf stable
food instead of frozen in those areas.The days that frozen meals are offered will go down as
more volunteers are recruited.
6. Items submitted to be reviewed for BOCC legislative agenda
a. Submitted Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Legislation to the Orange County Legislative Issues
Work Group for consideration and possible inclusion in the County's 2022 Legislative Package
for the 2022 North Carolina general Assembly Session.
b. It was also mentioned that if there is legislation supporting direct care workers that it should
also be supported. We are not able to provide some clients service right now because the
agencies that we contract with do not have enough help. We are looking to contract with
additional agencies
New Business
7. Annual Board Report to the BOCC will be reviewed at the April 14 BOCC Work session
a. Heather Altman will represent the Aging Board and present the report
8. 2022-23 Budget
a. Budget to be submitted on February 17
i. Janice, OCDOA division administrators and business officer working on the budget. The
BOCC has requested that the performance measures be three pages instead of the
previous 6-8 pages. It is difficult to tell the story of what we do in three pages but this
will make it easier for the BOCC and public to read the entire document. We must have
data to support any instance where we are asking for additional money.
b. Outside Agency Application Review—Scorecards are due to Manager's office by March 4. Board
members are needed to review and score applications.
i. Four agencies have applied
1. Helping Hand, OCMOW, Charles House and Senior Care (Soltys Place)
ii. Vibeke, Dick, Colin and Jeff volunteered to review and score applications
1. Janice will send applications and score cards to volunteers
2. Janice will schedule a date to meet with volunteers to finalize and submit before
the March 4 deadline
9. Aging Board vacancies/recruitment
a. Janice will check with Lucinda Poole to see if she will be joining us as a guest to see if she is
interested in applying
b. Application from Martha Bell; Janice has met with her twice. She isn't able to join at this time
but is still interested when she is available
c. We hope to get applicants from the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority recruitment for a more diverse
board. We will hold off on any appointments until hearing results of this effort
2022-27 Master Aging Plan
10. MAP Workgroup Leaders and OCDOA staff completed GARE (Government Alliance on Race and Equity)
Training. Racial Equity presentation will be given at the second meeting of all the workgroups. OCDOA
Racial Equity Team: Meghan Rushing, Latonya Brown, and Cydnee Sims
a. Janice reported that the first Racial Equity presentation was at the Community Support and
Health Services Workgroup. It was hard to get people engaged in a hybrid platform.
i. Suggestions:
1. Discuss ideas with the MAP Leadership Team on how to get people to engage
virtually
ii. Change the discussion questions to those posed in the GARE training
iii. Offer more opportunity to dig deep. Continually bring focus back to racial equity and
inclusion questions; ask the questions for every goal, strategy, indicator
iv. Send relevant resources, questions, articles and videos out ahead of time to be
prepared for discussion in an informed way, as opposed to hearing for the first time and
no time to consider.
v. List high points in advance, not requiring an immediate responses
vi. Need to have guiding principles in the forefront of our minds that we can check
ourselves as we work
1. One of the OCDOA Race Equity will be in all of our future meetings to keep it in
the forefront
11. MAP Leadership Team —Workgroup Leaders, Board Chair, Racial Equity Team, interns weekly meetings
a. Meets every Tuesday to discuss how workgroups are going, share resources and problem solve.
Will meet weekly unless not needed on a particular week
12. Workgroups— Board members represented on all workgroups
a. Transportation —Jeff Charles
b. Housing—Dick White
c. Community Supports and Health Services— Rachel Bearman, Jerry Gregory, Heather Altman,
Civic Participation and Employment—Colin Austin
i. It was noted that the Chapel Hill Carrboro Chamber of Commerce is now attending this
workgroup
d. Outdoor Space and Buildings—James Harris
e. Social Participation—Jenny Womack
f. Communication and Information —Vibeke Talley
13. Updates from first MAP workgroup meetings
a. Meetings are being offered in a hybrid format
b. Importance of having everyone at the table. Some workgroups are still needing more
representation both from community partners and older adult community
i. Make sure that everyone is at the table (community partners, older adults, communities
of color. Ensure that this is an inclusive process rather than exclusive)
ii. If you know of anyone, please invite them to join a workgroup
14. Continuing to work on Key Informant Interviews
a. Kenesha Wood and Janice continue work on the Key Informant Interviews. Scheduling is a
challenge, but it is happening
b. Heather thanked staff and interns for the work being done on MAP
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. Friends of the Passmore Center
20. Friends of the Seymour Center
Adjournment
Next meeting: March 8, 2022 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. —Seymour Center and Virtual