Commission on Aging GENERAL MEETING Minutes Monday, March 9, th Avenue, San Mateo 9:00-11:00 a.m., Room 100

Transcription

1 1 Commission on Aging GENERAL MEETING Minutes Monday, March 9, th Avenue, San Mateo 9:00-11:00 a.m., Room 100 Present: Excused: Staff: Public: Walter Batara, Sandra Cooperman, Aurea Cruz, Lisa Costello, Aurea Cruz, Patricia Erickson, Christina Kahn, Mary Larenas, Sandra Lang, Alex Melendrez, Scott McMullin, Pamela O Leary, Armetta Parker, May Ratiu, Francine Serafin-Dickson Joanne Armos, Katie Eiseman, Melodie Lew, Cherie Querol Moreno, Marisa Robles, Jody Dalton, Rita Magdalena Marsha Fong Tim Stevens, Ashley McDevitt, Joe Hunziker, Craig McCulloh, Lisa Mancini, Supervisor Tissier, Claire Ramsey, Lorelei Bresler, Bertha Sanchez, Wesley Taoka, Art Kiesel, Sue Digne, Ami Anderson Item DISCUSSION ACTION/DECISION Call to Order 9:00 am 9:00 am Pledge of Allegiance Call to Order Correspondence None Oral Communications None Approval of Today s Agenda March 9, 2015 Motion: Sandra Lang Second: May Ratiu Agenda approved Approval of Minutes February 9, 2015 Motion: Aurea Cruz Second: Alex Melendrez Minutes approved Close General Meeting for Public Hearing 9:30 am

2 2 Open Public Hearing Aging and Adult Services for San Mateo County, Community Program Analyst, Cristina Ugaitafa Area Plan for Older Adults & Adults with Disabilities Public hearing is to provide an open forum for input and develop on Senior Services offered in San Mateo County. The Public Hearing notice was advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, city councils, and County providers, New Beginning Coalition, Meals on Wheels recipients, and Commission on Aging and Commission on Disabilities. A power point handout was passed out to commissioners and people attending the meeting. Brief History-Agencies on Aging (AAA) was established in 1966 with the Older Americans Act. AAA provides oversight for those agencies that receive funds from the Older Americans Act. Focus is on older adults and people with disabilities. Aging and Adult Services is the AAA for San Mateo County. Needs are indentified by a needs assessment. A survey is distributed throughout San Mateo County to older adults and people with disabilities Goals are developed from the survey results. Questions and Answers: Commissioner Serafin-Dickson What is the target date to distribute the surveys? Response from C. Ugaitafa Distribute to the community in September and October. Review the results before the Holidays. Commissioner Lang Are the allocation of funds based on the assessment findings? Response from C. Ugaitafa Yes. AAA determines where to allocate the funds. It s possible a program or service might be created by the AAA to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities because of the survey 9:30 am

3 3 results. Commissioner Serafin-Dickson Hospital use the results of this needs assessment because they are legally bound by the State to respond to the needs in the community. Hospitals do their own assessments; do you incorporate their results into the decision making for funding? Response from C. Ugaitafa Yes, it is included in the needs assessment as another data source to help them identify the needs in the community. Response from M. Fong To review the other data sources, the area plan are on their website, in case you would like to review it. Commissioner Costello Clarify today we are talking about the area plan already in progress for 2015 & 2016 but we are starting to plan for the needs assessment ? Response from C. Ugaitafa Yes that is correct. Commissioner Cruz As commissioners, we can convince seniors to complete the survey by word of mouth. Response from C. Ugaitafa AAA will provide outreach materials to distribute throughout the community. This will include talking points. Commissioner Kahn What type of outreach plan is in place for distributing the needs assessment and notifying Community Based Organizations (CBO) about it? Are we doing an online survey again? Will the AAA provide presentations to CBO s about area plan and survey? Response from C. Ugaitafa Yes, she is available to give presentations to CBO s good idea to start that now. Difficult to reach out to all the CBO s because of her other job responsibilities. Getting help from CBO s to help AAA disseminate surveys is greatly appreciated. Greater return with hard copy surveys for the area plan. Comments from L. Mancini Thanked C. Ugaitafa for explaining the need assessment plan and commissioners for asking good questions. We did the survey four years ago and one of the biggest issues today was not included in the area plan-housing. We need to develop a need assessment that meets

4 4 the needs of today. Encourage commissioners to participate in developing the survey. Commissioner Cruz Create bullet points for commissioners to use while explaining area plan and need assessment. Response from C. Ugaitafa That would be helpful.commissioners can be the voice in the community to spread the word about the survey. Commissioner Lang Expanding on Commissioner Kahn s comment about outreach. Is the AAA planning to notify city governments about the survey? How are we going to strategize outreach look into disseminating surveys in the private sector besides programs funded by the Older American Act. Responses from C. Ugaitafa If you have contacts in the private sector, tell me. Comments from M. Fong New Beginning Coalition (NBC) will develop an outreach plan. You are welcome to participate in the planning. Commissioner Kahn This is great opportunity for commissioners to give presentations about the needs assessment to CBO s. Also, it s a good time for the Communication Committee to get involved with advertising the survey. Commissioners have good contacts in the community, such as Commissioner Serafin-Dickson, she works closely with hospital discharge planners. They could provide good insight about what is needed when a client is discharged home. Especially, because Medicare is denying ambulance claims that are not medically necessary. This includes trips home from the hospital. Response from C. Ugaitafa Now, is a good time to start making those connections in the community. Commissioner Parker Comment about outreach-there are ways to facilitate outreach by using technology. Do a webinar or conference call? Commissioner Cooperman Putting pressure on the public to encourage Congress to reauthorize the Older Americans Act Response from C. Ugaitafa Currently, we have a committee working on it.

5 5 Comments from M. Makino Funding is restricted by titles, specific program descriptions and how the Federal Government has allocated the funds. Try to match the funding stream with program descriptions. Public Comment from Claire Ramsey with Legal Aid Society Couple of thoughts some of things people considered an issue do not always represent their true needs. One thing to consider is how people think about their problems and solutions to their problems. Might not always be a match. How many people returned the survey three years ago? Who are likely to return these survey verse community at large? We might want to tailor the survey based on the programs funds can go to. Response from C. Ugaitafa You are welcome to participate in creating the survey or at least give me suggestions about it. Close Public Hearing 10:20 am 10:20 am Open General Meeting 10:25 am 10:25 am Action Item Presentation Commissioners vote on Area Plan update California Senior Legislation (CSL)-Evelyn Tom What is CSL and what do they do? Power point handout was given to all the commissioners Motion: Lisa Costello Second: Christina Kahn Yes-13 No-0 Non-Voting Commissioner (not sworn in yet)-1 10:30 am

6 6 Chair Report Staff/Liaison Report Discussion Items Standing Committee Reports Liaison Committees (Monthly Meetings) Liaison (Quarterly Meetings) Other Commission on Aging, Chair, Mary Larenas Executive meeting was held on March 3. There is an open slot on the committee because Alex resigned from it. Due to a conflict in his schedule. No verbal reports from standing committees. See written reports attached to agenda. Pat Brown-Retreat Facilitator she is attending the next General Meeting on 4/13/15. She ll give a brief summary about the retreat. Mary is meeting with Pat beforehand to discuss retreat findings and goals. Commissioners submit your written reports on the Wednesday before the General Meeting (2 nd Monday of the month). Aging & Adult Services, Health Services Manager, Marsha Fong Area Plan work groups review the calendar for dates. Marsha is retiring on March 31, Currently, Aging & Adult Services is interviewing applicants to fill her position by the end of the month. They are splitting her position into two positions. Duties of the support for the commission-lindsey and Elizabeth. Elizabeth has new job duties, payroll processing. Aging and Adult Services will determine who will do what for the commission. Received County Fair invitation to participate in Senior Day. Discuss doing the Executive Meeting. Commissioner Kahn Thank you to Marsha Fong for her service to the commission and service to the public. See written reports See written reports See written reports Supervisor Tissier brought copies of the San Mateo County Boards & Commissions Handbook for the commissioners and commented about the Measure A funds available. Board of Supervisors are looking at senior issues and possibly funding them. Question from Commissioner Kahn Do the Board of Supervisors need help from the commission to indentify senior issues that need funding? Supervisor Tissier said Not at this time. Currently, they

7 7 are reviewing the Letters of Intent (#300 received), Measure A funds $295 Million, $15 million dollars available for senior services, pair down the main issues and gaps in senior services and also avoid duplication from current providers. They are planning to put money aside towards a task force and that is when they will need help from the commission. Follow-up about the CoA retreat held in February---Pat Brown will continue the retreat by attending the next two General Meetings to follow up on the discussion items. Supervisor Tissier will come back with senior issues from the Board of Supervisors. Such as crime-fraud and Abuse. Announcements Making the Invisible Visible-Next performance 3/12/2015 at Pacifica Senior Center (Commissioner Lang) Adjourn 10:55 Next Meeting: Monday, April 13, 2015