Council on Aging Meeting

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, January 6, 2016

  

 

HARWICH COUNCIL ON AGING BOARD MEETING

 

JANUARY 6, 2016

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair Adrienne Johnson at 9:30.

 

Attendance: Adrienne Johnson, Joe Johnson, Ralph Smith, Lee Culver, & Richard Waystack

Barbara-Anne Foley

 

Excused: Mike Smith

Guest: Jim Mangan, new prospective member

Staff: Kevin Grunwald and Susan Jusell

 

Minutes: October minutes were reviewed and discussed. November meeting did not have a quorum and there was no meeting in December. Lee Culver moved to accept Joe John seconded.

 

Treasurer’s Report: reviewed and discussed, seems to be on target.

 

Adrienne Johnson introduced Jim Mangan who would like to become a member of the board. Jim is a retired nurse anesthetist, works for Meals on Wheels and wanted to get involved to help.

 

Director’s Report: Barbara-Anne Foley reported on the meeting she attended with Town Administrator Chris Clark with the Adult Day Center in Orleans.  Due to a large deficit Orleans Town Administrator and board had discussed having to eliminate people from other towns. Lower Cape COA Directors and Town Administrators met and agreed to put a request for approval into their budgets to pay for a percentage of each town’s usage of the Adult Day Service for their own Town residents.  Harwich was given the numbers of 15% totaling $7500.00 to add to the COA budget.

 

Staff members had been invited to the board meeting to give an overview of their past year.

Kevin Grunwald, Social Services Director stated the Outreach Dept. basically is a bridge for seniors to other services, agencies, etc. in the Community.  His department advocates for the clients, helps fill out forms, applications, etc. and follows thru so as not to let them fall through the cracks.  He works a lot with other agencies such as PD, FD and Health Dept. The COA is one of the designated facilities for fuel assistance applications. This year he assisted with about 50 applicants for Fuel Assistance. He is in charge of the Government food disbursement, Lower Cape Outreach food (brown bag), Holiday food, cranberry bread from Kiwanis, and Home Instead (Be a Santa to a Senior.) Kevin runs a Hoarding class and support group called Buried in Treasures. He was trained to teach this class with specific instructions and a work book to follow. There are 10 people in this group and has a wait list. It has been very successful. One member stated “The name Buried in Treasures is perfect because it is led by a Treasure. Another says it is the Highlight of my week. Kevin has run the Men’s Breakfast for 2 years to help bring more men into the Community Center and be active and social. It is a huge success which started with 10 men and is now over 65. He usually has a guest speaker of great interest. This group has bonded to helping each other get their breakfast plate, share rides, go walking, help support each other with loss of spouse, check on each other if not well.

He also started the Men’s Book Group which has been growing in size.

Barbara-Anne Foley read some statistics for Outreach Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator Rick Anderson. The 28 volunteer medical drivers have given 104 clients 329 rides to doctor appointments.  She stated he is looking for more volunteers for positions such as desk receptionists, greeters, dining program assistants, etc.

 

Susan Jusell the Town Nurse spoke about her newly extended work hours. She thanked any who helped change her hours from 30 to 40. This has been very helpful in taking better care of her patients and being able to follow up and follow through on their care. She connects to their primary care physicians for full spectrum of problems. She tries to get neighbors involved in checking on each other. Her Wednesday morning Clinic has been very successful. Susan stated she is glad to have time to work with some classes here.

 

The Board recommended Rick Anderson should go to any and all groups that are meeting in the Community Center. Richard Waystack recommended the Board could become involved by reaching out to their associates.

 

Barbara-Anne Foley reported the “Remembering When” grant program for checking smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in homes.  They have appointments to check the homes. They replace batteries or install new detectors, fall prevention checks, change light bulbs etc.

 

Meeting adjourned at 10:40

 

The next meeting will be held in Room #5 at the Community Center at 9:30 on February 3, 2016