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Minutes 03-07-05 Mt'NUTES OF THE SENt'OR ADV:ISORY BOARD MEET:ING HELD AT THE SENt'OR CENTER, 1021 SOUTH FEDERAL HTGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORI'DA, ON MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 AT 3:00 P.M. Present Denise Chamberlain, Chair Steve Lulkin, Recreation Supervisor Lillian Bruzzese Elizabeth .]enkins Christine Wilson Rose Love, Vice Chair Betty Spinelli Robert L..]ames, Sr., Alternate :i. Call to Order Chairperson Chamberlain called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. :i:i. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. TT:I. Pledge of Allegiance Members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. :iV. Approval of Agenda There were no changes to the agenda, which was accepted as presented. V. Approval of Minutes Mr. Lulkin requested an amendment be made to the minutes of .]anuary 10, 2005 on page 2 under Old Business to show that the generator was not "pending," as stated in the minutes. Senior Center staff was merely looking into the cost of getting a generator and did not have concrete plans to purchase one. A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made and duly seconded. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 7, 2005 VI. Chairperson's Remarks Chair Chamberlain reminded the members whose terms were expiring they must re- apply by April 15, 2005 on forms that were available in the City Clerk's office. Chair Chamberlin introduced three guests: Fire Chief Bill Bingham of the City of Boynton Beach, ]oyce Edelson of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (R.S.V.P.), and Brian Miller, Chairman of the Community Relations Board. VII. Old Business A. Letter to Mayor on Emergency Services Chair Chamberlain read a letter she had written to the Mayor as follows: "The Sen/or Adv/son/ Board met on 3anuary lO, 200S and discussed the prob/em that sen/ors, espec/a#y those in the north end, had during the hurricanes. A vote was taken to have a special meeting to address emergency services pr/or to the upcoming hurricane season and to invite the Rlayor, the Commissioners, and the City klanager. We would like to meet w/th you at your convenience some t/me in April, 2005. I would like to inform the Board at our March 7 meeting of your date preference. Thank you for your consideration." Fire Chief Bingham advised Chair Chamberlain of the Mayor's suggestion to have Fire Chief Bill Bingham address this issue with the Board. If the Board was not satisfied after this, the Mayor offered to come to the Board's April or May meeting for further discussion. The Board talked in recent meetings about having an educational forum for the City residents on this topic, but was concerned about possible overlap with other community agencies, especially the Community Caring Center (CCC). The Board wanted to discuss this with them at this meeting, but the CCC was not able to attend. Ms. Lillian Bruzzese had previously been directed to investigate the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program also. This is a team trained by the Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Department to care for the community until professional help arrives during emergencies. They are trained to administer basic first aid, set up a triage area, fight small fires, and search for and rescue disaster victims. They stay in contact with Boynton Beach Fire Rescue, giving them medical reports and damage assessments from the scene. Fire Chief Bingham later commented that in the past three years. 140 people had received certification in the federally funded CERT program. He urged the Board members to spread the word in the community to get more people to sign up for this training. Ms. Jenkins offered to sign up for this training. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 7, 2005 The CERTS team is very active in Palm Beach Leisureville and helped the citizens of that development all throughout the recent hurricane emergencies. Chief Bingham advised the Board that the training classes were offered from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The telephone number to call to get an application is 561-742-6332. The training takes eight weeks and involves emergency first aid, CPR, and the use of the Automatic Electronic Defibrillator (AED). Additional training drills are offered two or three times a year. Since the Citizens on Patrol (COPs) were already deployed throughout the community, it was thought that extending their training to include certification in CERTS could be very useful. The restriction on COPS getting out of the car to speak to people might make this idea impractical, but the Board still wished to pursue the idea. Mr. Lulkin commented that during the last hurricane, the Senior Center received a number of telephone calls from seniors who were without food and/or water. The staff of the Senior Center purchased water and food and delivered it to the individuals who called the Center. The consensus was that people had to be educated about where to go for help before the next hurricane emergency. Ms. Jenkins was given an opportunity to speak about her concerns that citizens of the north end had not been treated appropriately during the hurricane. Ms. Jenkins stated that when Hurricane Frances struck, she had no lights, could not cook, and was afraid to use the water. Due to her medical condition, she had to eat and she went over to her grandfather's house to do so. She returned to her home after 8 p.m., the established time of the citywide curfew. The vehicle she was traveling in was stopped by a police officer, who said: "! don't care if you're the Pope, no one can be out during the curfew." She felt that this was abusive, under the circumstances. She understood that the reason for the curfew was for the protection of the residents, but believed the treatment they received was unnecessarily cruel. She telephoned the Police station after the incident and reported it, but had not yet heard back from the Police about her call. l~n response to Ms. Jenkins' concerns, Chief Bingham did not wish to comment, criticiize, or judge another department's actions. However, he did feel that what happened to Ms. Jenkins was unfortunate. He went on to say that during the last hurricane, the Fire Department had received over 150 emergency calls. When sustained winds are over 55 miles per hour, the emergency response vehicles and personnel (Police and Fire) are confined to base until weather conditions permit safe operation of their vehicles. Once they were able to get out in the City, it took several hours to reach all the people who had called for help. During this time, they relied on the CERT volunteers to help people and keep the Police and Fire up-to-date on conditions in the community. Chief Bingham spoke of his department's efforts during the hurricanes to distribute food and ice to areas where the help seemed most needed; 3 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 7, 2005 however, they were trying to provide services to a community having 70K people and their resources were limited. When the Fire Department got an urgent call from the Boynton Bay area, for example, they pulled trucks off the street and convoyed ice and food to them. Chief Bingham also commented on the breakdown in communications that occurred for people using cell phones as their primary means of communication. Hurricane shelters were discussed, including the closest one in Boynton Beach, the Boynton Beach High School. Chief Bingham emphasized that this shelter was primarily intended for use by those living in evacuation areas, which normally means the individuals living east of the railroad tracks near Federal Highway. Ms. Jenkins commented that she lived in a flood zone, and Chief Bingham said that was a factor also. Chief Bingham stated that there was a list on which people could put their names ahead of time if they had special needs. The phone number to do this is well advertised in pamphlets that can be obtained at such locations as Publix Supermarkets. The Fire Department will pick up or arrange to have picked up the individuals on this list and take them to the special needs hurricane shelters in the event of a hurricane emergency. Since some people with special needs went to the Boynton Beach High School shelter instead of going to the Fairgrounds (the location of the special needs shelter during the last hurricane), it was necessary to divert paramedics from normal service to set up a clinic in the shelter. This deprived the other citizens of the services of ten paramedics, who could not be out on the street helping others. Chief Bingham spoke of the upcoming hurricane season and emphasized the urgency of preparation including flashlights, batteries, non-electrical can openers, non-perishable food and water. Having an adequate supply of non-perishable food on hand was especially important for people with medical conditions. A Board member asked Chief Bingham about generators. He commented that the generators could not be set up inside a home due to carbon monoxide. Also, the generator will only power appliances that are actually hooked up to it. Chief Bingham asked the Board if they knew of any local social service agencies that might assist during hurricanes. Chair Chamberlain said that was why they had an R.S.V.P. volunteer present at this meeting. Chair Chamberlain commented that the Board had many discussions about the problems of seniors in individual homes in terms of getting to doctor's appointments and so forth. They would be especially vulnerable during hurricanes also. Some of the larger communities seem to have more resources for coping with emergencies. The Board wanted to see if something could be put in place to remedy the problem of isolated seniors, at least in part. 4 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 7, 2005 .loyce Edelson, representing the RSVP organization, expressed her belief that the Area Agency on Aging was working on a program that would identify homebound seniors in individual homes. After the hurricane, RSVP staff of 45 went door-to-door to find out where the vulnerable seniors resided, but this effort covered five counties and fell short of the actual need. They delivered meals, flashlights, and batteries. Ms. Edelson will get a status report from the Area Agency on Aging and report back to the Board. She will also contact the Leadership Volunteer Director to see if anyone wants to work with Boynton Beach to get some kind of volunteer organization started. Ms. Edelson commented that in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office, some of the COPS had CERT training also. She believed that prior to a time a Sheriff's deputy arrived at a scene, the COPS/CERT representative could go to the house and ascertain the needs of the homeowner. This made her believe that a dual role was possible. Chief Bingham stated that if there were enough CERT members in the communities, it would not be necessary to discuss COPS participation. A comment was made that during the summer, the COPS population dropped dramatically when the "snowbirds" went up north and this was also the time period for hurricanes. Mr. Lulkin felt it was important to find out which areas already had CERTS volunteers and which did not, to help the Board focus their efforts to solicit new volunteers. Chief Bingham noted that the City's Emergency Operations Center was manned 24/7 during the hurricanes and that the telephone number had been broadcasted on the radios and was on the City's answering machine as well. Several people commented that the hurricane had brought people closer together on a personal basis and agreed that this was a good thing. Also, it was agreed that it was important to get the word out to the people before the hurricane. Mr. Lulkin suggested the Senior Center offer a seminar two or three times before the hurricane season, inviting the Police and Fire Departments, and all the communities in the City. This would go a long way towards increasing public awareness. Chief Bingham suggested having one in April, May, and .lune. The seminars could be advertised on the City's marquee and in the Boynton Times. The people who come to the seminars could take the information back to their communities to spread the word. Chief Bingham offered the services of the Fire Department to speak at community organizations on the topic of hurricane preparedness. He also recommended churches as an alternate means of disseminating information to a large number of individuals. VIII. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 4:20 p.m. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida March 7, 2005 Susan Collins Recording Secretary (O3O8O5)