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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAging Board Minutes-04-11-2023 Orange County Department on Aging Advisory Board on Aging Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Seymour Center Hybrid MINUTES In Attendance: Rachel Bearman, Ann Bradford,Jeff Charles, James Harris, Jackie Podger, Saru Salvi, Vibeke Talley, Sandy Walker, Dick White, Heather Altman, Staff: Anshu Gupta, Beverly Shuford and Janice Tyler Absent— Excused: Colin Austin and Jerry Gregory 1. Introductions and Announcements a. Vibeke Talley served as Chair and led introductions b. Our condolences go out to County Manager, Bonnie Hammersley, at the loss of her mother c. NC MeclAssist Free OTC Medication Giveaway event on March 17 at the Passmore Center was incredibly successful. The event was sponsored by Alliance Health and served 730 people served (308 online pre-orders and 420 nonregistered served). 22%of participants who attended were uninsured. 29 volunteers, including Board member, Jackie Podger, reported that, "The preorders were very successful and that the level of organization was incredible." 2. Approval of Minutes— March 7, 2023 a. Minutes were approved as written. Director's Report 3. Staff Updates a. Volunteer Coordinator position i. Interviews were completed last week and the position was offered to a candidate yesterday. We will move quickly to bring the new person on board. HR orientation dictates when person can start based on the orientation schedule.The new hire will start on May 8. b. Passing of Mike Komives, Senior Employment Specialist i. Mike died unexpected this past Monday. He was a vibrant 86 years young and served so many people. His work has been invaluable. Mike started with OCDOA in 2017 and it is really unbelievable how many people he served during his time with the department. did. ii. Memorial Service—Tue, May 2 at 10 a.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church iii. Heather, suggested that we honor him by naming a program or something after Mike. 4. Employment Services continuation plan a. We are sending employment calls to the Aging Helpline who will assist callers by directing them through our resources on the OCDoA Employment webpage. b. If you know of someone that does this type of work, please let Janice know. The position is a temporary, part-time position. 5. TJCOG-AAA Annual Monitoring Visit a. Staff are preparing for the monitoring visit on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. 6. Older Americans Month (OAM) a. "Aging Unbound" is this year's theme. c. Janice is submitting a proclamation to the BOCC requesting that they declare May 2023 as Older Americans Month. d. We have some special things planned in recognition of OAM, please check the current "Endless Possibilities" activity guide. 7. Upcoming Events: e. Aquamation: What You Should Know i. Seymour Center, Thursday, April 13 from 5:30—7 p.m. ii. New business in Hillsborough offering aquamation in place of cremation. Sandy went on a tour of the business and reported that it was, "A nice visit with a variety of urns. Cost $2500 including service."The process uses water and chemicals that do not go into the water system, causing no environmental harm. Recycling metals that might be left over to sell and benefit a benevolence fund for those who cannot afford aquamation. f. Scam, Frauds and You program i. Seymour Center, Wednesday, May 17 from 10 a.m. —2 p.m. ii. Grant funds from SHIIP are being used to offer this program, including an onsite shredding truck. If you have things to shred, bring up to 2 banker boxes on May 17, free of charge. g. Orange County Senior Games i. Happening all over Orange County from April 13—April 30. SilverArts entries will be displayed at the Passmore Center, stop by to see them. ii. Kick-off and Silver Arts Opening— Passmore Center, Thursday, April 13 at 4:30 p.m. iii. Celebration/Closing Ceremony- Passmore Center, Wednesday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m. h. Check the "Endless Possibilities" activity guide for many more programs. New Business 8. Development of a Five-Year Strategic Plan for Orange County a. The Plan will guide future plans and budgeting for 2024-28. The County is getting input from all County employees and boards 9. HOPE NC Focus Group a. HOPE NC Focus Group originated through discussions of parents of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and how can their children can they live on their own in the community with supportive services. b. HOPE NC is working to create a housing community with folks with IDD and older adults living together in a supportive community, not as caregivers but as looking out for your neighbor situation. c. We are looking for an older adult representative to serve on their action team. If you are Interest in serving, or you know someone interested in helping to develop this team, please let Janice know. 10. FY 23-24 Budget a. Departmental Budget Requests i. Our "big asks" are, 1) For the difference between what we had budgeted for direct care workers and what we are paying, and 2) A second person in the evening at Seymour, Mon-Thu & Sat., and one at Passmore so the Center can be open two nights per week. b. CIP Request for Seymour Center i. Request for an outside fitness area at the Seymour Center in Yr. 2. This will include stationary equipment, which uses your own body weight as resistance. To get an idea of what this looks like, check Google AARP "Fit Lots." Southern Village Park and also a Mebane Park has this type of equipment. ii. We anticipate the fitness area would be used often and especially by our Chinese participants, who enjoy this type of equipment in the parks in China. 11. Change of time and location for May Aging Board meeting a. May 91" meeting will start at 12:30 p.m. instead of the usual start time of 1 p.m. to accommodate Janice, who has been asked to present on a national AARP Age Friendly Communities webinar that afternoon. 12. Outreach Efforts - New radio show, Aging Well Together, with WCOM. a. The new weekly "Aging Well Together" radio show will be hosted by Heather Altman and launches on May 4. The show will be every Thursday at 2pm on WCOM-LF 103.5 FM and streaming live at wcomfm.org. b. The Board was asked to please send Beverly or Heather your suggestions for topics and speakers. 13. Reminder: a. Let us know if you hear of community events where we might have an informational table. b. Clayton Foster, our Outreach Coordinator is out and about sharing information about our department and is at DSS today. 14. BOCC Board Appointments a. Congratulations are in order; everyone the board recommended has been appointed. Colin will serve as Chair once Heather's term ends. Janice asked members if anyone was interested in serving as vice-chair at that time. We can re-visit this at a future meeting. 2022-27 Master Aging Plan 15. Baseline data is being developed for each MAP workgroup a. Leiha Edmonds, MAP intern, along with Janice, have been meeting with are have already met with workgroup leaders to get baseline data so that at the end of five years we will have a good data of what we have accomplished. b. The Housing Workgroup is being co-led by Ryan Lavalley and Kendall McMillian. c. Jeff Charles expressed concern that the Transportation Workgroup has not met this quarter. Brandi Beeker has had some difficulty in getting the meeting scheduled due to scheduling conflicts with all the providers. d. Orange County Public Transportation was recently discontinued for the senior centers. They were only providing medical transportation. However, everything is now on track now. Many of the buses were broken down and in need of repairs and/or in need new buses. Our participants were very upset as the buses brought them one day, then the next day they didn't show up. There was no communication that the service was down. After learning about the situation the Senior Center staff reached out to the participants and offered to deliver lunch to them, as many of them are dependent on that daily meal. At this time the transit services have resumed, but it was a very frustrating situation and lacked communication. Committee Progress Reports if needed: 16. Senior Tar Heel Legislature— Dick White/Vibeke Talley a. The recent STHL meeting went well with very good attendance. There were 60-70 counties represented and hope to have all 100 at the upcoming meetings. STHL will meet in June for the celebration of their 30t" anniversary.They are recruiting for money and sponsors, and will receive materials for planning and recruiting from the Raleigh office. It looks like they will be successful in filling the board. 17. Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee a. Vacancies were discussed and need to recruit new committee members. 18. Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee—Jackie Podger a. Jackie reported that the committee had three vacancies b. CAC Trainings per State Ombudsman c. Do you know anyone interested in serving? It is not favorable and is undesirable to have so many vacancies on the ACH and NHC d. BOCC chair wrote to the state ombudsman, Victor and didn't hear back. She wrote to him again and finally heard back. Janice noted that she had done an orientation for our new county commissioner Phyllis Portie-Ascot. Commissioner Portie-Ascot is very familiar with the work of the CACs and regulations, as she is a social worker and has worked locally with group homes. 19. Friends of the Passmore Center—James Harris a. Yard Sale on May 13 from 9 a.m.— 1 p.m. Vendor spaces cost $15. 20. Friends of the Seymour Center a. Janice report that a liaison had been appointed by the Friends Board and she had received an invitation Question: Do we have specific money for veterans who are disabled? No, we do not have specific money allocated for veterans. The Orange County Veterans Service Officer position (housed with OC DSS) is vacant. Robert Gilmore was hired last week as the interim Veterans Service Officer. We have space for them to have office hours at the senior centers. Adjournment Next meeting: May 9, 2023 from 12:30- 2:00 p.m. — Passmore Center &Virtual