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Minutes 09-12-05 MINUTES OF THE SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD AT THE SENIOR CENTER, 1021 SOUTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 AT 3:00 P.M. Present: Denise Chamberlain, Chair Rose Love Betty Spinelli Christine Wilson Steve Lulkin, Recreation Supervisor Absent: Lillian Bruzzese Elizabeth Jenkins Leota Suah Robert L. James, Sr., Alternate Susan Fetner, Alternate Also Present: Joyce Edison and Sheila Pechman, Area Agency on Aging and Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP) I. Call to Order Chair Chamberlain called the meeting to order at 3:06 p.m. II. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Due to ongoing renovations at the Center, there was no Flag in the room, so the board did not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. III. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared that a quorum was present. IV. Approval of Agenda Motion Ms. Spinelli moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Ms. Wilson. No vote was taken. V. Approval of Minutes May 2, 2005 Chair Chamberlain apologized that the May 2, 2005 meeting minutes had been distributed in handwritten form. Due to a mix-up in the dates, the usual Recording Secretary was not in attendance. Motion Ms. Spinelli moved to approve the minutes as written, seconded by Ms. Wilson. No vote was taken. Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board September 12, 2005 September 12,2005 VI. Chairperson's Remarks Chair Chamberlain introduced the two visitors from the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), an arm of the Area Agency on Aging: Joyce Edison and Sheila Pechman. She had also invited Cindyann Held from the Community Caring Center (CCC), who was not present. VII. Old Business A. Development Atlas Discussed under New Business. B. Meeting Dates The board will meet on 3:00 p.m. at the Senior Center on the following dates: November 7, 2005 January 9, 2006 March 6, 2006 November 6, 2006 VIII. New Business A. Coordination between CCC, RSVP and Senior Center B. Use of Development Atlas C. Transportation During the hurricanes of 2004, many seniors called or came to the Senior Center because they were unaware of where to go or how to get food, water, and ice. Since all three entities: CCC, RSVP, and the Senior Center have been involved in this in different ways, it was thought that coordinating and combining efforts would serve the higher good of the seniors. Chair Chamberlain thought it would be beneficial for the Community Caring Center to receive the ice, water, and food, and bring it to the Senior Center, who could then distribute it to the seniors with the help of volunteers. Volunteers were still needed to get the supplies to the people who could not make it in to the Center. The RSVP representative said one of the questions asked on their application was, "Would you be willing to volunteer after a storm?" Mr. Lulkin remarked that the Senior Center had been without power after the hurricane last year and they did not have a generator. This year, a large generator was in the Capital Improvement Project budget for the Center. Since the Community Caring Center was not represented at this meeting, it was difficult to talk about the coordination issue. Chair Chamberlain displayed a copy of the City's Development Atlas, a treasure trove of information useful to the board. Mr. Lulkin was going to try to get some copies for the board 2 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board September 12, 2005 September 12,2005 members. The information contained in it might help the board find developments with seniors who might be in need of services. It can be purchased in the City for $5.00. Getting to and from doctor's appointments is an ongoing problem for seniors and the board discussed transportation issues. The Palm Tran Connection bus will take people to doctor's appointments if they call ahead (561-649-9838 or 1-877-870-9849) for $5.00; however, while they get them to doctor's offices on time, the seniors often have to wait 5-6 hours for the return trip home. The hospitals have a bus that takes people to and from their homes for people going to the hospital. The Shopper Hopper (561-742-6590 or 742-6240) bus does not have the long wait times, but only goes to specific locations. Mae Volen Center in Boca Raton also provides a bus, but the same inconveniences are associated with it. The demand is huge and existing services are overwhelmed at times. The board discussed funding and maintenance issues of getting a bus for this purpose. The We Care organization was discussed. We Care organizations operate in a place with a telephone where people call when they need to be taken to and from doctor and dentist appointments. The person answering the phone takes the pertinent information from the senior needing the service and contacts a volunteer who will drive the senior to and from his or her appointment. The volunteer uses his or her own vehicle and insurance and is given a small stipend, at least enough to pay for the gas. Many seniors live in neighborhoods that do not have access to organizations like We Care, who operate in developments like Leisureville and Kings Point. There are a large number of seniors living in smaller neighborhood settings scattered throughout the City without benefit of such organizations and this is the group the Senior Advisory Board is trying to help. The RSVP volunteer thought in order for RSVP to help set up a We Care organization, there would have to be a volunteer in the community - someone who would use his or her phone and their time to call the neighbors in their community and see if they would volunteer their time to take people to and from doctors. RSVP would give the volunteer/coordinator a pamphlet on how to set it up and run it. They also provide secondary liability insurance for the We Care. Once the We Care is set up, RSVP has no control over it - it would be on the shoulders of that particular neighborhood/community. Ms. Spinelli said they had a We Care in Boynton Lakes but over the years, volunteers moved and died and it just fizzled out when no more volunteers came forward. Ms. Edison thought the volunteer/coordinator would have to be someone who was known to the residents in the neighborhood. There seemed to be agreement that while this could be done in a place like Leisureville, the smaller neighborhoods did not have a focal point and for the most part, probably did not know each other or know where the seniors were. Chair Chamberlain mentioned it would be necessary to send out a flier to determine interest in having this first. She thought it would be preferable to have the program run out of the Senior Center instead of the "neighborhood" approach. If the City allowed it, a telephone at the Senior Center could be dedicated to this and answered by a volunteer charged with the responsibility of making appointments and coordinating with the drivers. The Senior Center could recruit 3 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board September 12, 2005 September 12,2005 volunteers to use their own cars and do the driving for this from among their already wide membership. Mr. Lulkin favored having the We Care program run through the Senior Center, but would have to check with the City on the liability angle firs~. Ms. Edison understood that, but said that when people volunteered for We Care, RSVP provided them with secondary medical and accident coverage. If someone were injured in an accident with a We Care volunteer and tried to sue the We Care, it would not get very far in the State of Florida. Also, some of the We Cares are linked and have contracts with RSVP. Ms. Spinelli said Boynton Lakes had a monthly bulletin listing the four names of the individuals who were willing to provide transportation to doctor and dentist appointments with two or three days' advance notice. The older volunteers were nervous about driving. For this reason, it would be a definite benefit if the younger community members could be recruited as volunteers. Ms. Spinelli commented that the Jewish Community Center asked her if she wanted to be a companion to a senior for $7.50 an hour for four hours a week driving people to the doctor and back in her own car. The RSVP representative was concerned about associating the Boynton Beach Senior Center and by extension, the City of Boynton Beach, with the We Care program. Although the Senior Center could be a base for it, it should not be construed in any way as being a City job. Mr. Lulkin commented that congregate meals were provided at the Senior Center through a Mae Volen program in Boca Raton. People came in off the street to have meals at the Center so there was liability on both sides. If the Senior Center were not running the program and had a volunteer working out of the Center, it might be possible to do this. A volunteer would be necessary to man the phones during a set time period. Ms. Edison believed RSVP could find a volunteer to be responsible for the program and asked for a contact person at the Senior Center who could receive the rules, regulations, and set-up procedures. Mr. Lulkin will let her know after he talks to his supervisor about the feasibility of running the program out of the Center. Chair Chamberlain asked how CCC was involved in transportation. Mr. Lulkin said they were not really involved with transportation, just with getting food and basic needs to the seniors. What the CCC needed was help to get food and water supplies to the seniors. Ms. Edison said that the Veterans Administration had buses that were owned by the Veterans Administration but driven by volunteers. Mr. Lulkin did not think using a City vehicle would be possible. The Citizens on Patrol vehicles were donated to the City and driven by volunteers. Mr. Lulkin will look into transportation and We Care issues with his supervisor. If the Senior Center were allowed to run the program out of the Senior Center, Mr. Lulkin thought local car dealers might wish to donate a vehicle for a tax write off. However, there would still be the issue of maintenance and insurance to consider. Mr. Lulkin said there was a possibility the City could maintain a donated vehicle and he would investigate it. It was noted the seniors who use this service would have to be mobile. However, if a wheelchair could be folded up, it could be put in a car. People who were not mobile would have to take Palm Tran, other public services with chair or scooter lifts, or private means. 4 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board September 12, 2005 September 12,2005 Limiting the scope of the transportation service to within the City limits was also discussed. Chair Chamberlain mentioned the large number of people who go to doctor and dentist appointments out west, especially to the Hagen Ranch Road facility. Chair Chamberlain preferred to see how this worked out before pursuing the original alternative mentioned by Ms. Edison of finding a volunteer in the community to run it out of his or her home. She was not sure how this would be done. Ms. Edison said they would start with the condos. The individual neighborhood approach could only work if a person were willing to go from door to door in the neighborhood and say, "This is what we are trying to start." From there, it was a matter of finding someone to do the driving. Ms. Spinelli thought that individual seniors looked to their churches as coordinators of services. Ms. Edison agreed, saying the churches could also house the program. Chair Chamberlain wondered if churches would be willing to let someone use space in their church to do this program - provide a desk and a telephone. It was thought that churches were already doing outreach programs and this could be one more. Also, they know the people. Mr. Lulkin was still concerned about liability. Ms. Edison said if it were 100% volunteer, and the church or the Senior Center were just used to set up appointments, with volunteers driving their own cars, the liability issue would go away. Some HOAs are willing to take part of the responsibility/liability involved in this kind of effort but many are not. Ms. Edison said that issues of liability had never come up with We Care because it was on a 100% volunteer basis. Also, the person using this service has to sign a contract with We Care. She had never seen a case where a volunteer had been sued and lost. Chair Chamberlain said if We Care could be centered in a church or the Senior Center, a committee from the board could visit the very impressive facility in Kings Point to see how it was run. Ms. Edison responded Kings Point had a whole management team who were convinced of the benefits of We Care. There was a brand new We Care in Ponte Vecchio West and she was very impressed with what they had done. In addition to transportation, they also try to coordinate the efforts of other charitable organizations for the benefit of the seniors when needed. Some We Cares have only three volunteers and some have more. Some had closed because it was found they were seldom used. Each We Care is different, depending on the needs of the community. Chair Chamberlain noted that the Citizens on Patrol were supported by donations from the communities using their services. Without those donations, they could not exist. Chair Chamberlain asked the board members to consider bringing this up in their churches to get an idea whether any would want to do this. Another selling point was that the phone used for We Care is paid by RSVP, so the church would not have that expense. If it were run out of a church, a lot of people would be covered, even if the church decided to limit it to members of their congregations. If more churches decided to participate, it would broaden the coverage even more. Ms. Edison mentioned that in one of the Area Agency on Aging's disaster exercises the year before, someone prepared a list of all the churches in Palm Beach County. Using this list, RSVP sent out a mass mailing to let the churches know they were going to find out where 5 Meeting Minutes Senior Advisory Board September 12, 2005 September 12,2005 the distribution sites were and advise them so they could let their parishioners, including the seniors, know where to go. Ms. Edison thought RSVP could possibly compile a list of the churches in Boynton Beach, do a similar mailing, and find out if any of the churches want to participate in the We Care program. Senior Center Open House and Anniversary The Anniversary Party is scheduled for October 6, but they wanted to combine it with the Grand Opening and were thinking of delaying it for two weeks. The construction would probably be completed in the next two or three weeks. All agreed it was going to be beautiful. Mr. Lulkin offered to take interested board members on a tour of the new features of the Center after the meeting. Accreditation Mr. Lulkin said the package was ready to send out for accreditation. He found out that the application fee was based on the size of the budget for the senior center seeking accreditation. They were not getting many requests for this reason so the Association of Senior Centers had started fundraising activities to help offset the cost for seniors centers that apply. It was hoped the Boynton Beach Senior Center would be one of the first to benefit from this. A few months after the application is mailed in, the Association of Senior Centers will come to inspect the facility . Ms. Love asked about the timeframe for the We Care activities. Chair Chamberlain said it depended on the We Care. In Kings Point, the program was operated everyday. In Leisureville, it was only operated three days a week. A program at a church could offer the program two days a week and state that persons wanting to use the service would have to telephone to make an appointment between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on those days, for example. No one would sit there for eight hours every day. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on Monday, November 7, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. at the Senior Center. IX. Adjournment Since there was no further business, the meeting was duly adjourned at 4:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~...- <::::;::" > /.',- ~.7dH, "h -f Susan Collins Recording Secretary (091305) 6 SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD September 12, 2005 1. Call to Order 2Pledge of Allegiance 3. Roll Call 4 Approval of Agenda 5. Approval of Minutes 6. Chairperson's Remarks a. Introduce guests b. Comments about last Minutes 7. Old Business a. Development Atlas of Boynton Beach b. New schedule of dates for year 8. New Business a. Co-ordination between CCC, RSVP and Senior Center b. Use of Development Atlas c. Transportation 9. Adjournment Next Meeting------------Monday, November 7, 2005 At 3 :00 P.M.-Senior Center