TOWN OF SOMERS
THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO
THE ELDERLY
MINUTES OF JANUARY 9, 2007
MEETING
CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 11:00 P.M. by Jim Burgess.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Bachetti, Elaine Bemont, Jim Burgess, Donna Doyker, Tony Pellegrino, Joan Sizer, Arlene Yarnes and First Selectman David Pinney.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Barbara Flebotte, Dorothy Hillman and Myrtle Pixley
VISITOR(S): Lisa Shelanskas Fire Department Representative
Lisa spoke to the Advisory Board regarding billing procedures for paramedics responding to emergency calls for medicare patients. Medicare covers the cost of transporting by ambulance to the nearest hospital only. If a paramedic is needed, there is an additional cost incurred. State law states that where the ambulance service is manned by volunteers, paramedic charges are not covered. The town of Somers recently signed a contract, effective 2/1/07, with the Ambulance Service of Manchester. Agreement has been reached that a paramedic fee of $250 will be charged when used - $70 will be paid by Medicare and the town of Somers will subsidize $180 making a total fee of $250. This new agreement will cost the town approximately $27,000 per year. Somers is not a big enough town to support its own paramedics. Lisa is going to put together an article which will be put into our senior newsletter informing more of us as to how this system works both for Medicare patients and those not on Medicare. Her talk was very informative and professionally presented. Thank you, Lisa.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of December 12, 2006 meeting accepted by Pat Bachetti and seconded by Joan Sizer with one change Marge DeLoach is the correct spelling of the name on correspondence received the previous month..
CORRESPONDENCE: Memo received from Linda Patrella asking if there was an interest in hairdressing/facial services to be done at the Senior Center. Because there would be a fee involved and there are space limitations at the Center, the Board agreed that we should not proceed on this issue.
Letter received by Jim Burgess showing the appointment of Tony Pellegrino to the Senior Advisory Board. Welcome, Tony.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Meals on Wheels David Pinney announced that its recently appointed coordinator, Ann Houston, has taken very ill and cannot continue in this capacity. Jim Burgess has another prospect in mind. MOW is now down to twelve clients and three routes have been whittled down to two. Drivers may have to drive twice a month. $1.00 subsidy is given by the town for the hot meals. A contribution was recently received from the Jahn Foundation which will help MOW stay solvent for the near future. $1,053 was paid to the Plaza Restaurant for the cost of meals, $849 was billed to clients, and $204 was the amount subsidized by the town. Ending balance as of 12/31/06 was $7,029.75.
Senior Lunches Arlene Yarnes stated the next luncheon would be held in February..
Senior Citizens Club Joan Sizer stated the holiday party was a huge success with 97 seniors in attendance. Everyone went home happy. The VNA gave a talk at a recent monthly meeting on heart disease. Next VNA speaker will be in March.
Communications/Senior Newsletter Barbara Flebotte was absent but let Jim know that things are going well with the newsletter. Deadline for the March letter is 2/12/07. Board agreed that Barbara should be commended for doing an excellent job with the newsletter.
Senior Center Sign Lifeline Screening data will be posted on the outdoor sign by Donna Doyker.
School Liaison Donna Doyker stated she recently spoke with Nancy Barry and this would be a good time for anyone to come in and speak on job/careers. The eighth graders are going through a Life Skills session and would be interested in listening to speakers of different skills.
Senior Support Services Pat Bachetti reported that
she is in touch with six people. Pat
will be going south for a couple of months but will keep in touch with her
people via post cards, etc.
OLD BUSINESS:
Municipal Agents Budget Budget is due to the town by 2/26/07. If the Board wishes to assist with this project, we may need to hold a special meeting to go through the data. Dave Pinney is going to get us a further breakdown of actual expenses to make it easier to determine future needs. M/A budget includes such things as utilities (electricity and heat), newsletter mailing expenses, $1.00 subsidy for Wednesday lunches, maintenance, repairs, general supplies, etc.
Resource Guide Jim Burgess has taken apart the current resource guide for review and updating. Connie Carenza should have all this data in electronic form but information cannot currently be found. Dave Pinney is going to try to help locate this data.
Current List of Seniors Letter was sent to David Pinney/Registrar of Voters, seeking file showing those seniors over the age of 55. A disc has been produced in compressed, zip file mode, showing raw data for those people in town 55-65 years of age, 65-75 and 75 plus. Data needs to be downloaded to other programs for sorting purposes, etc. Joan Sizer now has the disc and will be challenged to seek out the information.
NEW BUSINESS:
Senior Center Expenses David Pinney will get a breakdown of the centers expenses to help make it easier to prepare a budget for the next fiscal year.
Building Use Policy This item is being discussed by the selectmen. A formal written policy needs to be adopted for use of town buildings. Categories of potential users include (1) Town entities and commissions (2) Private organizations based in the town and (3) Townspeople (not-for-profit) use for anniversary parties, etc. A process needs to be in place for scheduling/coordinating use of the building, fees to be charged, if any, custodial costs, etc. Liability coverage is also another important issue.
Donations to Senior Center From time to time, donations are given to Jim Burgess for use at the senior center. Clarification needs to be made as to how this money should be used is it for use by the Club or for something in the senior center itself? Recently a check was received for $250 in memory of a senior. Jim will check to see how the family hoped for this money to be used for clarification purposes. Tony Pellegrino said the Board should vote before turning money over to the Club in the future.
ADJOURNMENT: Adjournment at 12:40 by motion of Tony Pellegrino and seconded by Pat Bachetti.
Respectfully submitted,
Elaine L. Bemont, Secretary