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SAN MATEO COUNTY COMMISSION ON AGING
Health Department, 225 37th Avenue, Room 100, San Mateo
MINUTES
January 9, 2006
PRESENT: Andre Belarmino, Suzanne Black, Dorothy Borbidge, Bob Collins, Arline Elliott, Janet Galeno, Janet Hofmann, Rubelia Horton, Cheri Jackson, Ming Tak Leong, Treva Ludy, Jerry McCarthy, Sylvia Merkadeau, May Nichols, Mary Pappas, Annie Sadler, Aaron Straus, Leslie Wong, Kevin Worth, Fiona Wainwright and Claire Jun, Youth Commissioners
EXCUSED: Rachel Sanchez-Parodi
ABSENT: None
GUESTS: Elizabeth Furber, CoD Liaison; Michele Knapik, Peninsula Volunteers; Marshall Loring, MTC/EDAC; Deborah Owdom, RSVP; Lorraine Simmons, Supervisor Tissier’s office
STAFF: Lori Sweeney, Program Services Manager; Mary Robblee, Administrative Secretary
1. CALL TO ORDER: 9:00 a.m. by Chair Elliott
2. CORRESPONDENCE: None
3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
Marshall Loring, San Mateo County elderly representative on the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s (MTC) Elderly and Disabled Advisory Committee (EDAC), spoke on related matters as follows:
o EDAC’s mission is to advise the MTC on matters that affect older adults and persons with disabilities in the Bay Area.
o Copies of the Preliminary Agenda for the 1-18-06 Senior Mobility Summit were distributed and commissioners were encouraged to attend.
o EDAC wants to collect information/comments/suggestions from ADA paratransit users. Comments can be emailed to marsh.l@rcn.com or mailed to Marshall Loring, 1741 Celeste Dr., San Mateo, CA 94402-2603
o The EDAC Transportation and Land Use Working Group is developing suggested guidelines for Transit-Oriented Development projects (door width, bathing facilities, counter heights). Any information or feedback the Commission can provide would be greatly appreciated. Please send your comments to the Mr. Loring’s email address or his home address listed above.
4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: M/S/C - Pappas/Sadler
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Approval of minutes from 11-14-05 with one correction. Elizabeth Furber attended meeting. M/S/C – Nichols/Galeno with 3 abstentions
6. CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT:
Chair Elliott reported on the following:
**Thanked the Commission for their vote of confidence and for the get-well card.
**Commissioner Smyth passed away. He has been very ill for the last couple of months. Commissioner McCarthy suggested that we do some kind of yearly award in his honor. We will take suggestions today and discuss more at Executive meeting in February and report back to the general commission.
**Commissioner Sadler and I attended the conference “Building Trust in a Diverse Community”.
**Commissioners Nichols, Sadler, Pappas and I, along with CoD Commissioners, staffed the Aging and Adult Services table at the County’s Disaster Preparedness Day.
**Attended “Seniors on the Move” conference sponsored by Senator Jackie Speier.
**The current AARP magazine has a good explanation of Medicare Part D – copies distributed.
**Committee sign-up list has been updated. I would like to ask the chairs of the committees to talk to anyone who is signed-up but not attending regularly. If a Commissioner is unable to attend, please notify the chair.
**White House Conference on Aging –
o There was quite a bit of consternation among the delegates. The policies were dictated by the administration and not by the delegates and there was no opportunity to submit a resolution and have it discussed on the floor.
o President Bush did not attend the conference – the first president not to attend. One editorial suggested that he opted to go to a wealthy gated community of seniors in VA instead of showing up at the conference because the atmosphere was perceived as being hostile.
o The delegates rejected the Medicare Part D Plan and asked for a single drug plan under Medicare. They also objected to the idea of private social security accounts.
o One of the most vocal of groups was the Gay and Lesbian contingent who was asking for more inclusion-they were included in 1995. The group wants legal recognition of their relationships, hospital visitation rights, medical care decisions and a climate of acceptance among senior service providers. One of the people quoted was Bill Hollibaugh from San Francisco who has been the recent president of TACC.
o There were 1200 delegates to represent about 78 million Americans over the age of 60.
7. STAFF REPORT:
Lori Sweeney, Program Services Manager reported on the following:
**Shea Muller will attend each committee meeting to lead a discussion on updates for the Strategic Plan. Each committee will need to propose two-three goals to her to include in the Plan.
**City of Pacifica is sponsoring a Disaster Preparedness Day on January 21. Volunteers from both the CoA and CoD are needed to staff a table -signup list circulated.
**Edgewood Center for Children and Families is sponsoring a California Kinship Rally at the State Capitol on Monday, February 6 – flyers distributed.
**Medicare Part D – People have had trouble getting their medication. Commissioner Pappas reported there are a lot of problems with the Medi-Medi’s (people what have both Medicare & Medi-Cal). She will keep us informed as the process continues.
8. PRESENTATION: Fiona Wainwright and Claire Jun, Youth Commissioners, provided a presentation on the San Mateo Youth Commission. The Youth Commission is comprised of 30 adolescents who work together with adult members of other county committees to try and better the communities in which they live. The Youth Commissioners serve on various committees throughout the County. The Commission meets on the 2nd Thursday of the month at Youth and Enrichment Services, 700 So. Claremont, San Mateo.
9. DISCUSSION ITEMS: Recommendation from the Executive Committee for approval of:
Proposed One-Time Only Expenditures for 2004-05 Carry-Over Funds
o Letters were sent to the providers asking them for suggestions on how they would spend the One Time Only (OTO) money. Due to the holidays, the due date was extended because so many providers were on vacation. Since the OTO money needs to be spent by 6/30, we are planning on a contract start date in March. Some suggestions include additional equipment/supplies, SamTrans video or brochure, and additional money for the assistive listening project.
Photography Contest
o Commission agreed to include the Photography Contest with the Intergenerational Poetry Contest as part of the celebration in honor of Older Americans Month in May. An Ad-Hoc Committee formed to organize the contest. Committee consists of Commissioners Leong (Chair), McCarthy, Merkadeau and Borbidge. Committee will meet briefly following today’s Commission meeting.
10. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Community-Based Continuum of Care – Report will be included in the February agenda packet. Brief report as follows:
Subcommittees were setup to work on consumer, family caregiver and institutional pieces of a brochure or guide regarding discharge planning and effects. Reviewed a report from the Wellness Research Project at UC Berkeley on their preliminary findings on discharge planning. The speaker provided an informative handout on the results "From Hospital to Home: A Strategic Assessment of Eldercare in the Bay Area". "
B. Legislative/Advocacy – No Report
C. Minority Elders – The committee continues to plan for the conference in June.
D. Nutrition Committee – Meeting was held at the Menlo Park Senior Center. We enjoyed lunch with the staff. There is a date change for this month’s meeting to 1/23 in Room 132 from 11-1:00 p.m. Committee will work on goals for Strategic Plan.
E. Housing – Housing Brochure is updated, printed and ready for distribution. Commissioner
Sadler has volunteered to bundle the brochures in stacks of 25 for easier tracking.
E. Sunshine Committee – Greeting cards were sent to:
Dorothy Chow, Hon. Jerry Hill and to family members of Commissioners Belarmino, Leong and Smyth. A sympathy card will be sent to the family of Commissioner Smyth.
11. LIAISON AND AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Ad Hoc Arts – Committee will begin to make plans for the Poetry Contest in May.
Commission on Disabilities-
Youth Commissioners presented to the Commission.
Hearing Loss of America bookmarks that list tips for communicating to a hard of hearing person were distributed.
Implementation Coordination Committee – Committee now meets quarterly with next meeting taking place on 1/24.
In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority – Caregiver Conference will be held in September. The theme of the conference may be a Laui.
Legal Aid – Report Submitted – next meeting on 1/11
Legal Aid’s Health Consumer Center – No Report – meeting postponed until end of January
Meals on Wheels - No Report
Adult Abuse Prevention Collaborative – Report Submitted – next meeting 1/31
New Beginning Coalition – No Report
Paratransit Coordinating Council (PCC) – Report Submitted
California Senior Legislature (CSL) – No Report
Triple-A Council of California (TACC) -
**Seventeen out of thirty-three members met in Southern California in November. A lot of reporting was done by the PSA representatives on what is going on in their area. For instance; Napa County is including ethnic foods in their MOW program, Monterey has decided to concentrate on health care and transportation and Santa Clara is developing an emergency plan for when the IHSS worker does not show up.
**The Governor has appointed three doctors to the CCOA, two of whom have geriatric experience. There will be three openings as soon as commissioners are termed-out.
Housing and Community Development Committee – No Report
**Commissioner McCarthy has been appointed to the County Housing and Community Development Committee. He will have more to report once meetings begin.
Youth Commission – reported under Presentation
Ombudsman – Hired an adult abuse specialist and a dementia specialist.
Website – There is a lot of information to update. This will be done within the next few weeks.
12. OTHER: Lorraine Simmons from Supervisor Tissier’s office announced that additional Older Driver’s Traffic Safety seminars will be held as follows:
February 16 – Millbrae Senior Center
March 29 – Foster City Recreation Department
May 14 – Burlingame Recreation Department
In addition, Sam Trans will participate in planning a seminar in San Mateo in April. In addition, Seton Hospital has offered to sponsor a second seminar -no date yet. We are also looking into holding a seminar in Pacifica due to a large group of interested participants. More information can be obtained by contacting Lorraine Simmons at 363-4572.
13. ANNOUNCEMENTS: None
14. ADJOURN: 10:45 a.m.
Next Meeting
February 13, 2006
9-11:00 a.m.
Room 100
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