Colchester Commission on Aging
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday, June 14, 2010 – Colchester Senior Center
Members Present: Chairperson Jean Stawicki, Vice-Chair Clara Erickson, Bernie Erickson, Barbara Warden, Sue Maikshilo
Members Absent: Bill Wagner, Rose Levine, Betty Ann Oppelt, Theresa Hendricksen
Others Present: Patti White, Rosemary Coyle, First Selectman Greg Schuster
1. Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chair Jean Stawicki at 1:03 p.m.
2. Minutes: Clara Erickson motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of 5/10/10. Sue Maikshilo seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
3. Financial Report: Bernie Erickson reported that dial-a-ride collected $419.00 in May from bus transportation. Of that, $161.00 was for out of town trips. Sue Maikshilo motioned to approve the Financial Report. Clara Erickson seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
4. Chairman’s Report: No items were reported.
5. Senior Center Director’s Report: Patti White reported that the senior center held their tag sale and raised over $1,000.
The Senior Center Study Group met last Thursday. A representative from the
State DECD talked about how to apply for federal funding which is passed through the state to use to build senior centers. Maggie Cosgrove, the Chief Financial Officer for the town spoke about bonding. Both presentations were very encouraging and helpful to the committee.
There are 16 participants in the Making Memories program. Patti and Steven presented application for continuation of funding for the next year.
The new bus will be here by the end of the month. There will be changes to the transportation program at the end of July.
Sue Maikshilo motioned to approve the Senior Center Director’s Report. Bernie Erickson seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
6. Vote on nominations for Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson:
Clara Erickson motioned to vote Jean Stawicki in as chairperson for a 1 year term. Sue Maikshilo seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED. Clara Erickson motioned to vote Theresa Hendricksen in as vice-chairperson. Sue Maikshilo seconded. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
7. Old Business:
A. Visitation Program: No items were reported.
8. New Business:
A. Bylaw Review: Item pushed to July meeting.
9. State of CT Commission on Aging Discussion on Long-Term Care Need: Jean Stawicki explained that there was a presentation before the State Legislature in February regarding seniors and the disabled and the long-term care need. Not much came of it because it didn’t show a large cost savings. The Colchester Commission on Aging felt they wanted to hear how they could help to further the cause. She then introduced Deb Migneault from the Connecticut Commission on Aging. Deb explained that the COA works on public policy for older adults in CT. Their main priority is long-term care and rebalancing the umbrella that covers all of the services that are offered. There are 600,000 people over 60 and 1 million baby boomers. This is a third of the population in the
state. By 2030, the population of people over 65 will increase by 64%. 13-14% of the state budget is spent on long-term care, 2nd only to education. They did a long-term
care needs assessment that provided hard data as to what the aging population of the state wants or needs. Among other things, they found that 80% of seniors want to stay in their homes and communities. Currently, 65% of these funds are spent on nursing facilities, serving only 47% of the population. Conversely, 35% of the funds are spent on home and community services, serving 53% of the population. If, for example, the balance could be 25% in nursing homes and 75% at home, the state would save 600 million dollars per year. The Olmstead Decision from the US Supreme Court and Ct Law (05-14) states that people have the right to choose and receive care in the least restrictive environment. The problem with this switch comes with the building of the infrastructure. This includes issues such as
transportation, housing and nutrition. There is a multi-million dollar demonstration grant from the federal government called Money Follows the
Person. It has successfully transitioned 250 people out of nursing homes back into their communities. There are services available to keep people in their homes, rather than institutionalizing them. The state COA is trying to make it easier to learn about and access those services. It can be difficult, especially in CT, to work around all the regulations in place governing the hospitals, unions, employees etc.
However, there are things that the Commission on Aging can do to help with these efforts. They can let their legislators know that these are important issues that need action. They can provide information and education to seniors and their families regarding these issues. They can talk to discharge planners at hospitals to inform them about services offered in town. They can begin to look at the town’s infrastructure and how it can be changed to support seniors who choose to remain in their homes and communities. For example, there are some towns in the state that have setup a central location for volunteer services. Other towns have begun an independent transportation program where volunteers offer driving services for quality of life reasons, such as shopping or church.
10. Adjournment: Clara Erickson motioned to adjourn the meeting at 2:17 pm. Sue Maikshilo seconded the motion. All other members present voted in favor. MOTION CARRIED.
Respectfully submitted,
Michelle Komoroski
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