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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-07 Regular Meeting GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING AGENDA Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - 3:30 PM Grapevine Senior Activities Center 421 Church Street Grapevine, TX 76051 817-410-8130 1. Call to Order 2. Welcome Guests 3. Consideration of minutes for October 5, 2010 meeting 4. Citizen Requests 5. New Business a. Housing Authority update — Joetta King b. GRACE update — Francia Arrigan and ldell Bowker Cr c. Senior Activities Center update 1. Saturday night dance d. Carrie Miller— Senior Empowerment e. Tena Burrell — Senior Service Alliance "Resource Directory" 6. Adjourn IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS PUBLIC MEETING AND YOU HAVE A DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENIOR ACTIVITIES CENTER AT 817-410-8130, AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE MADE TO ASSIST YOUR NEEDS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 551.001 et seq, ACTS OF THE 1993 TEXAS LEGISLATURE, THE BOARD MEETING AGENDA, WAS PREPARED AND POSTED ON THIS, THE 1st OF December 2010 AT 5:00 PM. (1) I (11' Chris Smith, Recreation Superintendent Grapevine Senior Activities Center GRAPEVINE SENIOR CITIZENS ADVISORY BOARD Minutes of Tuesday, December 7, 2010 MEETING Grapevine Senior Activities Center 421 Church Street Grapevine, TX 76051 817-410-8130 1. Call to Order The Grapevine Senior Citizens Advisory Board met at 3:35 PM on December 7, 2010 at the Grapevine Senior Activities Center. The following members were present: Dick Guckel, Chairperson Tena Burrell, Co-Chairperson Pam Price, Secretary Kay Blanding, new member to the board Paul Ernst Francia Arrigan, Ex-offico, GRACE (dell Bowker, Ex-offico, GRACE Joetta King, Ex-offico, Housing Authority Dorothy Kritz, Ex-offico, Grapevine Senior Activities Center (11, Others present: Eileen Hinson, SAC Interim Director Chris Smith, Recreation Superintendent, Parks & Recreation Roy Stewart, City Council Member Liaison Those not present: Carey Miller 2. Welcome Guests Rebecca Barksdale, Outreach Coordinator from County Commissioner Gary Fickes' office updated the Board on the Senior Empowerment project which is in its second year (started in March 2009). Rebecca has asked for the Grapevine SAC to be involved with input and to give feedback if there is any way in which the State Funds that have been set aside for seniors can help our seniors in Grapevine. She was invited to attend our next meeting to better explain the program. Carey Miller, a member of the Grapevine Senior Citizens Advisory Board, will be the Center's representative. The task force meets on a quarterly basis. The task force has been created to look into senior citizens' concerns. The transportation assistance for seniors was established to provide services. Tarrant County gave $80,000 to improve transportation services; this funding will help Cr 101207 Minutes Final.doc 1/5 them expand their services. These services include nonprofit and volunteer organizations including HEB Transit, NETS (American Red Cross) and more. Websites, communications, matching grants, more vouchers for services are all seen as real issues that can benefit seniors. Chris Smith and Eileen Hinson will work with Carey Miller on reporting needs of the Grapevine seniors. Commission Fickes' newsletter was passed out to the board members and members were asked to sign a list if they want the email version to be sent to them. Programs such as Meals on Wheels and United Way are involved with this project. Important concerns about senior isolation are being handled by offering transportation to them. The newsletter summarizes the second Senior Empowerment Exposition held in October 2010 at the North Richland Hills Church of Christ. Vendors and topics relating to seniors were available at the exposition. The SAC took a busload of seniors to the event which is offered to them at no cost. Since the county cannot take on money, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine funded the production of a Senior Resource Guide given to all who participated and provided a keynote speaker on healthcare. This year there was a sit-down luncheon. Next year the hospital will help to expand it, providing box lunches to attendees rather than a sit-down lunch which limits the number who can attend. In 2009 (the first year) there were 300 seniors who attended; this year there were 700. Tena Burrell set up a display table for the SAC. Everyone who attended was very pleased with the event. The third Empowering Seniors Exposition has been scheduled for October 7, 2011 at Cr Campus West which is across from Trinity High School at the corner of Highway 183 and Highway 157. 3. Consideration of minutes for October 5, 2010 meeting The minutes were approved as read. 4. Citizen Requests There were no requests to be brought before the Board. 5. New Business a. Housing Authority update—Joetta King The residents' holiday Christmas Party will be held on Dec. 10 at the Bessie Mitchell House with entertainment provided by Rev. Rick Mang and friends. Joetta reported that for the October HUD inspection the GV Housing Authority received an 'Exceptional' rating. There was a question as to how often a HUD inspection occurs. With an Authority receiving an exceptional rating, the inspection is every other year instead of every year for a lower rating. The only issue that HUD had with the GV Housing Authority units was the vegetation touching the buildings and growth on fence lines. To alleviate the problem, the property has initiated a preventative maintenance schedule to trim the shrubs and maintain the fence line four times a year. C 101207 Minutes_Final.doc 2/5 i There are no vacancies in the Housing Authority units. Currently there are 34 Grapevine residents are on the waiting list with 235 total applications on the waiting list. With the Section 8 program there are 79 leased up vouchers with an average cost per unit of$529. There are 69 GV residents on the waiting list and 770 total applications on the waiting list. b. GRACE update— Francia Arrigan Francia Arrigan presented an update on the Senior Pilot Program. In September, GRACE trained 18 volunteers; 5 new volunteers will be trained in October. Today, December 7, and Thursday, December 9, volunteers are being trained on resources that are available to seniors. Currently GRACE is working on assessing the 25 seniors participating within the pilot to identify areas of interest. Follow ups have been to match trained volunteers with seniors. In her commodities report, Francia stated that groceries have been delivered to 85-90 seniors. The Christmas gifts gathered by the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce will be delivered Saturday, December 11. The Christmas Cottage at GRACE will have an Open House and will serve families in the Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake areas. Other activities that GRACE has participated in include being at the Senior Empowerment Fair Friday, October 1, and going to the Colleyville Annual Senior Health Fair Friday, October 8 from 9 AM to Noon. Grapevine Women's Division will start their Christmas for senior's sign-ups on October 20th (during regular Commodities delivery). c. Senior Activities Center update-Chris Smith, Eileen Hinson and Dorothy Kritz Chris Smith reported that a new stove was installed in the Center's kitchen. The previous stove was to a point where it began shutting itself off during cooking or warming. Chad Hester, Interim Facility Services Manager came over to discuss purchasing a new stove. Larry Williams of Facility Services had a brand new stove/oven delivered to the Center that day and by 2:00 that afternoon, Lee Speer of Facility Services had the product installed and ready to use. We are so fortunate to have a City that is able and willing to act immediately to address this type of need. A big thanks needs to go out to the Facility Services Division for all they do to keep this building as well as all city buildings functioning properly. Chris updated the Board regarding the monthly SAC dances. Surveying past dances, it is noted that the majority of participants are from other areas than Grapevine and Grapevine attendance is very low. After the December monthly dance these dances will be discontinued; the money spent toward providing the dances will be redirected to focus more attention on those seniors at the SAC. The Rotary Club sponsors a Valentine Dance in February. (wr 101207 Minutes_Final.doc 3/5 $ Eileen Hinson, Interim Director at the SAC reported on the Medication Management Improvement System. Julie Langeberg is working for Senior Citizen Services through a grant for this program. An analysis of a senior's medicines is done through a computer program. If an alert is generated, the pharmacist is notified. Julie has been here one time in November and is scheduled to come once in December and twice in January 2011. The dates will be listed in the SAC newsletter as a reminder. Previously Julie has worked with the center on a grant for nutrition. This new grant focuses on medical safety of senior medications. The Computer Lab has been updated with Windows 7. Volunteer instructors have been revising the courses and will be offering training sessions for assistants and other instructors. Registration for the winter session will be Monday, January 10. The first day of classes will be Monday, January 17. The city's technology department has been working with the lab to get everything up and running. Heritage Elementary School, Heritage Middle School, and Cross Timbers Middle School choirs have scheduled performances at the SAC during the month of December. The annual SAC Holiday party will be December 16 at the DFW Hilton Hotel. One hundred reservations have been taken; there is a waiting list. Doors will be opened at 4:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m. Dorothy Kritz noted that there were several new couples coming to the SAC. The SAC choir has a visit/concert scheduled at Woodridge here in Grapevine this week. d. Carey Miller— Senior Empowerment No Report e. Tena Burrell — Senior Service (SSA) Tena invited Rebecca Barksdale to attend today's board meeting regarding County Commissioner Gary Fickes' project titled "Senior Empowerment", which is in its second year. His Outreach Coordinator Rebecca Barksdale has asked for the Grapevine SAC to be involved with input and if there is any way in which the State Funds that have been set aside for seniors can help us in Grapevine. See board notes in the segment designated for Rebecca's visit as our guest regarding more information about this project. Dick Guckel suggested that this presentation should be made to the seniors at the SAC. Tena told the board about the "Resource Directory" given out to the seniors. In the back of the directory are legal forms that seniors would be encouraged to fill out for their own benefit (Texas Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates/Living Will), Medical Power of Attorney, and Texas State Out-of- hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Order). 101207 Minutes_Finaidoc 4/5 s C Regarding the SSA group, Tena stated that the "Vial of Life project" will change to a bi-monthly schedule starting in 2011, meeting on the same Tuesdays as our board meeting (Even number months) February, April, June, August, October, and December due to the fact that most of the regular Grapevine SAC attendees have been taken care of and only need periodical updates. 6. The meeting adjourned at 4:36 p.m. Res ectfully submitted, 611/ lUe.—(L)-- Pam Price, Secretary Minutes approved by the Board on �V day of reb--rl4 4 7 , 201i. tor (he 101207 Minutes_Final.doc 5/5