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February 2005 Minutes

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SAN MATEO COUNTY COMMISSION ON AGING MINUTES February 14, 2005 Health Department, 225 37th Avenue, Room 100, San Mateo PRESENT:  Andre Belarmino, Suzanne Black, Dorothy Borbidge, Bob Collins, Arline Elliott, Bill Lathrop, Ming Tak Leong, Treva Ludy, Jerry McCarthy, May Nichols, Mary Pappas, C.W. Roddy, Annie Sadler, Rachel Sanchez-Parodi, Scott Smyth, Aaron Straus, Fiona Wainwright EXCUSED:  Janet Galeno, Robert Prevot GUESTS: Elizabeth Furber, CoD Liaison to the CoA; Lorraine Simmons, Supervisor Tissier’s Office; Honorable Adrienne Tissier, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors; Michelle Knapik, Peninsula Volunteers; Anne Hipskind, YFES/YDI STAFF:  Lori Sweeney, Community Program Specialist; Lisa Mancini, Director, Aging and Adult Services; Mary Robblee, Administrative Secretary 1.  CALL TO ORDER: 9:00 a.m. by Chair Elliott. 2.  CORRESPONDENCE:  Commissioner Black read the following: Letter of resignations from Commissioner Karr and Goldman. Thank-you letter from Lori Sweeney for her birthday celebration at January’s CoA meeting. Letter from John Sorenson from AARP addressing the changes in social security proposed by President Bush. In addition: Commissioner Price has also resigned. Chair Elliott looked into the CSL regulations for membership since the resignations of Commissioner Karr and Goldman.  Based on the Procedural Rules, members of CSL can also be members of the COA and have voting rights but COA membership is not required.  Commissioner Pappas suggested that the problems surrounding Social Security and Medicare be brought to the Legislative Advocacy Committee for discussion.   3.  ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:  None 4.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  M/S/C – Elliott/Nichols (one abstention) with two corrections:  Suzanne Black was excused from January’s meeting, and under Ad Hoc Arts, sentence should read in addition to a Poetry Contest, there will also be a Photography Contest. 5.  CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT:  Chair Elliott reported on the following: Commissioner Collins will replace Commissioner Nichols on SPATS, as she has a conflict with meeting times. Appointed Commissioner Ludy to take Mary Pappas’ place on the Executive Committee as Commissioner-at-Large. Would like to add two ad-hoc committees as follows: a Procedural Committee under the direction of Commissioners McCarthy and Pappas, and a Evaluation & Succession Committee under the direction of Commissioners Straus, Nichols and Elliott. With the resignation of Commissioners Karr and Goldman, we will need to decide how to fill the California Senior Legislator (CSL) representation (see note above).  Distributed Committee Sign-Up lists for Commissioners to review and return with any corrections at the end of the meeting. 6.  STAFF REPORT:  Lisa Mancini, Director of Aging and Adult Services, reported on the following: ·       By next month, a new Program Manager for the Commissions and Provider Services Unit should be announced. Interviews being held this afternoon. Thank you to Commissioners Martin and Elliott for their participation on the interview panel. ·       Adopting a new Older Adult System of Care. Looking ahead to the year 2020 to project what the County’s needs will be for housing options for seniors, transportation, medical care and health services that are available.  We are taking an inventory of what services are available now and where the gaps are. Then knowing that our population is going to double for the 65 years and older population, what we are going to need in the year 2020 to support this growing population.  With the closing of several skilled living facilities in the County, it presents a real problem for seniors on Medi-Cal.  There will be focus groups coordinating with the CoA & the CoD to collect information.    Lori Sweeney, Community Program Specialist, reported on the following: The March Executive Committee meeting date is changed to March 7, 2005 from 1-3:00 p.m. due to the RFP timeline. The RFP submission deadline was February 11, 2005. The evaluation team will meet on February 22, 23, 24 and 25 to review the documents and make their funding recommendations. These recommendations will be presented at the March CoA meeting. The mileage reimbursement rate has been increased to $0.405 per mile effective January 1, 2005.    Please ask staff to email a form to you. 7. PROCEDURAL RULES: Penny Bennett, San Mateo County Counsel, reviewed the Commission’s Procedural Rules, the changes she requested related to the Brown Act and how they relate to the Commission. 7a. DISCUSSION/ACTION:  Adopt a resolution delegating the authority to the Commission on Aging Executive Committee to act on behalf of the full Commission solely for the purpose of signing letters of support for grant applications or other project support requests when application deadlines prohibit waiting for the regular meeting schedule. M/S/C – Pappas/Straus 8. PRESENTATION: Youth Commissioner Wainwright outlined to the Commission her proposed computer-mentoring project.  This program will match youth volunteers with seniors to teach the basics of using a computer.  At this time, she is still looking for a location and a teacher to help with this project.  This program is modeled after a similar program at Burlingame High School. She is hoping to start this program in the fall of 2005 at the Martin Luther King Center.  9. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A.    Community-Based Continuum of Care – Report Submitted ·       Reviewed Work Plan ·       Discussed topics to be addressed at future meetings (Discharge Planning Chosen) ·       Discussed recruitment for more members to the Committee B.  Legislative/Advocacy – ·       Work Plan is complete and submitted to Shea Muller for review. ·       Commissioner Smyth spoke about a medical program started in Seattle, WA. CPR will be available without mouth-to-mouth contact.  This type of CPR evolved from an article in ·       The New England Journal of Medicine stating that you do not have to involve the lungs when doing CPR, you just need to provide lateral compression.  Commissioner Smyth wrote the SMC Medical Association to suggest this program for San Mateo County to get everyone involved and to know the fundamentals of CPR.  D.    Minority Elders – Report Submitted D.    Nutrition Committee – Report Submitted ·       Determining if committee needs to recruit any new members. ·       Visiting senior center congregate programs and exploring ways to help seniors achieve adequate nutrition. E.  Housing ·       Finishing up Work Plan submitted to Shea Muller for review. ·       Received quote for the cost of printing the Housing Brochures.  Hoping to have brochures printed for March CoA meeting. ·       Frank Salmeron from the Housing Authority will be the guest speaker at the next meeting on February 17, at 1:30 in Room 100. ·       The new name for this committee meeting will be the CoA/CoD Joint Housing Meeting. Always looking for new members for the Committee. F.  Sunshine – No Report ·       Commissioner Roddy and Commissioner Furber thanked the Commission for the cards they received. ·       Request by Commissioner Leong to send card to M. Paul Baluc. 10.  LIAISON AND AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS: Ad Hoc Arts – Report Submitted ·       Will schedule a meeting to discuss plans for Poetry Contest in May. ·       Art Showcase- plans are underway.  Commissioner Leong has three judges in mind and will hold a lunch meeting tomorrow to discuss further. Commission on Disabilities ·       Hearing Access Project is underway.  Plans to visit senior centers and adult day centers to evaluate hearing equipment, make sure sites are accessible and to provide training to employees on the proper use/maintenance of the equipment will be done.  One Time Only (OTO) funds will be used to fund this project. ·       CoA Commissioner Black has volunteered to keep the CoD website up-to-date until June.  CoA is looking for another commissioner to take over after June. ·       The Benefits 101 Training for people with disabilities still has slots available. Commissioner Sadler has signed up to attend on February 22. Implementation Coordination Committee – Report Submitted ·       Aging and Adult Services has awarded One Time Only funds to Second Harvest Food Bank for a pilot project for the inclusion of ethnic food in the Brown Bag program.  The Food Bank will conduct a survey and report back to the Commission. It will also identify appropriate vendors. ·       Second Harvest Food Bank is participating in a national hunger survey.  It needs volunteers to interview patrons of soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries throughout San ·       Mateo and Santa Clara counties.  Contact Susan Takalo at Second Harvest for more information at 650-610-0800 ext.212. In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority – Report Submitted Legal Aid – Report Submitted. ·       Meeting held on February 8.  Minutes will be distributed at March CoA meeting. Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center – ·       Trying to recruit more probono attorneys and hiring a new senior advocate ·       Meeting focused on healthy children and families. ·       New Tongan group contact.  They do translation for Health Services. ·       Next meeting will be held in a couple of months. Meals on Wheels – No Report Adult Abuse Prevention Collaborative – Report Submitted ·       Tippy Irwin from Ombudsman is trying to get a grant to sponsor two pilot projects to do dental evaluations.  She already has two facilities that are interested in sponsoring these evaluations. New Beginning Coalition  – No Report Paratransit Coordinating Council – Evaluations for Redi-Wheels clients on the Coast will be done at Senior Coastsiders and possibly another location if needed.  Redi-Wheels will provide transportation to evaluation sites if needed California Senior Legislature – No Report Triple-A Council of California (TACC) ·       One county has a financial management team with AARP and Ombudsman who work together to prevent financial fraud using Title VII monies. ·       Several counties have held or are holding social security forums with AARP. ·       The TASK teleconferencing teams are working on their reports now. ·       Mobility Conference on March 7. ·       White House Conference on March 8. ·       TACC meeting on March 9. ·       TACC is supporting six bills. A list of these bills will be given to Commissioner Straus for the Legislative Advocacy Committee to discuss. Community Block Development Block Grant – No Report Intergenerational Collaborative – Previously discussed under Item 8 Presentation. 11. OTHER:  Commissioner Pappas expressed her concern about the confusion over Jackie Speier’s Bill SB393 for prescription drugs. She stressed the importance for seniors to talk to their pharmacist, and insist they receive the Medi-Cal discount of 10-40% off the cost.  Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) has a flyer which explains this discount.  Commissioner Pappas will bring flyers to distribute at next Commission meeting. Commissioner Furber informed the Commission that when she called Social Security and was put on hold, there was a message playing that talked about the need to fix social security. 12. ANNOUNCEMENTS:  None 13.  ADJOURN:   10:59 a.m. Next Meeting March 14, 2005 9 –11 am, Room 100