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Minutes 05-14-01MINUTES OF SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD AT THE SENIOR CENTER, 1021 SOUTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, MAY 14, 2001 AT 3:00 P.M. PRESENT ALSO PRESENT Betty Collins, Chairperson Amelia "Terry" Benell Lillian Bruzzese, Alternate Denise Chamberlain, Alternate Olive Field Jeanne Hasty Elizabeth Jenkins Christine Wilson Carolyn Sims, Recreation Supervisor ABSENT Bernice Joyce I. Pledge of Allegiance Chair Betty Collins called the meeting to order at 3:10 p.m. and led the Board in;the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, followed by a moment of silent prayer for all the seniors in the City, including the absent member of the Senior Advisory Board. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary took an informal roll and declared that a quorum was present. III. Approval of Agenda Not addressed. IV. Approval of Minutes of January 8, 2001 Meeting Motion Ms. Chamberlain moved to approve the minutes of the January 8, 2001 meeting as written. Ms. Hasty seconded the motion that carried unanimously. V. CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS Chair Collins stated that they had to identify the purpose of the Senior Advisory Board (SAB) and consider their goals for the future. The purpose of SAB is to advise the City Commission on matters pertaining to the senior citizens of the City. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2001 Their original goals had been to get the Senior Center up and running and to establish transportation for the seniors. The Senior Center is now an accomplished fact and comes under Parks & Recreation who have their own Board. They had transportation in the form of the Shopper Hopper buses bUt Chair Collins believed that their next goal might well be the lother aspects of transportation such as doctor apPointments, nursing home visits for spouses, church appointments and other such purposes. VI. PURPOSES & GOALS OF THE BOARD Bus Service The City has initiated a policy that the bus drivers are not to leave the Shopper Hopper buses even for a moment. Since only Leisureville had volunteers to help the seniors take their groceries to their houses, this created a problem. Before this policy change, the bus drivers would occasionally pitch in and assist the seniors to their door with their groceries when no volunteers were present. Assistance of some kind is needed because when people have canes and walkers, it is difficult to manage them along with bags of groceries. The Board discussed the issue at length and it was decided that Chair Collins woUld enlist the aid of Herb Stevens with RSVP about getting two volunteers to ride the buses each day to help the seniors in all the areas that the bus visited. The Board's goal for the upcoming year was "Transportation for all that need it". Also, the volunteer coordinators had to see if people were buying a year's worth of groceries for example and if so, to contact Chair Collins. That would be an unjust burden on the volunteers. Chair Collins had heard that some people were not getting picked up because the drivers did not want to go down certain streets. She asked to be advised if any of the Board memberS heard such a complaint because the service was for everyone in the City, regardless of What street they lived on. Chair Collins was to arrange a meeting with the Public Works Director to discuss the transportation issues. Funding Ideas for Increased Bus Services for Seniors The Board brainstormed about ways to get buses to provide transportation to the seniors for doctor's appointments, nursing home visits, and church. Some ideas were: 1) 2) 3) Kiwanis or other fraternal organization donation Drug company donation See if churches had buses they only used on Sundays that they would be willing to allow the seniors to use Ms. Jenkins commented that the bus from Mae VOlen that picked people up by appointment was often two to three hours late. This was not acceptable when going to 2 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida MaY 14,2001 doctor's appointments, the single biggest need the Board identified for transportation requirements. Another need the Board identified was spousal visits to nursing homes and attending church services. The Mae Volen buses were very slow in that one might get on the bus at 9 a.m. and be delivered to the nursing home at 11:00 and picked up at 1:00 p.m. and returned home by 3:00 p.m. for example. This was a very long day for a senior. These needs for transportation and their solutions were identified as the Board's current projects. Federal & State Grants The Board agreed that it wanted Ms. Debbie Majors to provide the Board with a list of all the grants for seniors that had been applied for including how much, who, and when they were granted or denied. They decided to ask for this list to be available at their September meeting so they could discuss their submission to the State and Federal government for money. They intended that Ms. Majors include any requests she had made to the Florida legislature for money for seniors. Board Representation on Area Agency on Aging and Mae Volen The Board discussed the necessity of getting on the Board of Directors of both Mae Volen and the Area Agency on Aging so that Boynton Beach would get more for its seniors than it had to date. Ms. Chamberlain was to take on the responsibility of determining how the Area Agency on Aging acquired its Board members and if possible, interview a current Board member, if it were a matter of political appointment, Chair Collins would become involved. Chair Collins was to investigate the possibility of getting on the Mae Volen Board of Directors. it was believed that representation on these Boards would allow the SAB to better carry out its responsibility for monitoring and lobbying legislation for the elderly. They also felt that this representation would tend to assure Boynton Beach a larger share of the funding so it could enhance its services. VII. DISCUSSION Mae Volen The Board discussed the needs of the Boynton Beach Senior Center for a social worker. Mae Volen will send out a caseworker but it was usually a matter of getting on a waiting list. Chair Collins cited several examples of people who really needed assistance and that getting on a waiting list was not acceptable. The Board thought Boynton Beach was large enough that it really needed its own Social Services agency but especially, its own social worker at the Senior Center. The fact that area seniors were mostly unaware of the services available through Mae Volen such as their AIzheimer's Daycare Center was discussed. The Board discussed the early days when Mae Volen took over management of the Boynton Beach Senior Center. The SAB hosted Mae Volen and Mae Volen showed the Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2001 SAB a lot of things it could do for Boynton Beach. They offered their Dixieland band and Boynton said they wanted it. However, there was a $250 charge as the band did not want to travel to Boynton Beach. This was just one example of the lack of cooperation on the part of Mae Volen. When the Board asks for a dollar figure spent on Boynton Beach by Mae VOien, they are given a lump' sum amount that is not broken down. The general feeling was that Boynton Beach was getting the short end of the stick in terms of services and funding. VIII. OTHER BUSINESS Chair Collins shared a recent news clipping with headline "Boynton Beach may scrap some advisory boards", but it said that two of the most successful boards in the city were the Education Advisory Board and the Senior Advisory Board. Over the summer, the Board decided to survey the transportation needs of seniors that were currently not being met and to document the stories surrounding them. They were also to search out and list agencies in the vicinity that help Boynton seniors but might not be in the City. IX, ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting duly adjourned at 4:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Recording Secretary (1 tape) 4