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December 2009
Salem Council on Aging
Board of Directors

Minutes from meeting of Dec. 16, 2009

Annual meeting was called to order by Chair Pat Donahue, at 6:40 p.m.

Roll call
Present: Pat Donahue (chair, PD), Elaine Heredeen (treasurer; EH), Dolores Nangle (DN), Domingo Alvarez (DA), James Willis (JW), Alice Williams (AW), Pam Greaves (PG), Donna Clifford (DC).
Absent: Jane Sarnowski, Joan Lovely (City Council liaison to the COA).

PD: Asks for nominations of officers for the board. Nominates EH as vice chair

JW: Seconded.

EH: Nominates Dolores Nangle as treasurer.

PD: Seconded.

EH: Nominates Donna Clifford as secretary.

PD: Seconded. Adjourns annual meeting; opens regular meeting. Welcomes AW and PG as new members of the board. Requests a copy of the board bylaws for PG. Notes she has reviewed the bylaws and had asked board members to do the same.

EH: Makes motion to accept bylaws, as presented.

PG: Seconded.

PD:
  • Asks for names and contact information of board members to be updated. COA Director Bill Woolley passes a sheet of paper on which members are asked to write information requested.
  • Asks COA Director Doug Bollen to present his monthly report.
Doug Bollen:
  • Reads a letter from JL, expressing regrets about being unable to attend the meeting, due to a scheduling conflict. Notes that he assumes the new City Council president, Bob McCarthy, will reappoint JL to serve as City Council Liaison to the COA board.
  • Asks COA staff member Sandy George to talk about new Life Saver program.
Sandy George: The program is available for anyone who is elderly or autistic and is at risk of wandering and becoming disoriented. The Life Saver program is owned by LoJack and involves wearing a bracelet that can be tracked to locate a wearer in an average time of 30 minutes. The program is being administered through the Salem Police department, under the direction of Capt. John Jodoin. The cost is $99 for registration and $30 a month. Normal applications will be processed by LoJack. Applications from those who can’t afford the fees will be processed locally, by people who can access funds that will be made available to subsidize participation. Police will be trained in use of Life Saver equipment on December 22 and 23. The program was prompted by Friends of the Salem COA President Andy LaPointe and the Salem TRIAD committee.

Andy LaPointe: Of the $30 per month fee, $8 goes into an account handled by the Police Department.

Sandy George: Those funds will be used, primarily, to purchase batteries to power Life Saver equipment.

Doug Bollen:
  • Ann Hartstein is the new secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs. She expressed an interest in visiting the Salem Senior Center and is tentatively scheduled to do so on Thursday, Jan. 14, at 12:45 p.m.
  • We have tracked down an estimated $70,000, earmarked by the office of U.S. Cong. John F. Tierney, for the purchase of a new passenger van. The money will be available through the U.S. Department of Transportation, with the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MVRTA) as the grantee. The Salem COA is a sub-grantee. An administrator at the MVRTA said it would be likely to take at least a year for the grant paperwork to be processed and a van to be delivered. In the meantime, the COA has been promised to receive two new passengers vans through North Shore Elder Services. Currently, five vans are functional in the COA fleet, and the two new vans should be delivered as early as February.
  • The COA received an unanticipated donation of $500 from the Ladies Auxiliary of the Salem Knights of Columbus.
  • COA staff members Amy Walsh and Sandy George have been successfully handling administration of the nutrition program since the retirement of former Nutrition Coordinator Ellen Kennedy in early October. Amy and Sandy are both certified in Safe Serve food handling.
  • The COA recently registered its 2,000th senior citizen in the “My Senior Center” program, which was implemented July 1, 2008. The Friends of the Salem COA contributed to the purchase of that data-management program.
  • Twenty-three people have participated, this year, in the Senior Citizen Volunteer Property Tax Work-Off Program. The maximum allowable participants is 25. The program has been more successful in recruiting volunteers than in past years.
  • Asks Bill Woolley to talk about U.S Census Bureau information.
Bill Woolley: A representative from the U.S. Census Bureau has contacted the COA to request the use of a room in the Senior Center for Census 2010 assistance site. They should be able to use an empty office, to help people complete Census forms, between the end of March and the end of April, 2010.

PG: Asks if bilingual assistance will be available.

Bill Woolley: The fact that an estimated 20 percent of Salem’s population is of Latino/Hispanic heritage was discussed, but there is uncertainty about whether bilingual assistance will be available from Census Bureau personnel. The COA has two staff members and access to volunteers, however, who are bilingual (Spanish and English) and can be asked to provide translation and interpretation, as the need arises.

Doug Bollen:
  • Transportation statistics have increased, year over year. In October 2008, COA transportation provided 1,230 point-to-point rides; 1,318 in October 2009. In November 2008, COA transportation provided 1,260 point-to-point rides; 1,272 in November 2009 .
  • The demand for meals has increased, overall, in the past couple of months, largely due to the shift to a new vendor. In October 2008, 302 congregate meals were served; 325 in October 2009. In November 2008, 258 congregate meals were served; 313 in November 2009. In October 2008, 2,455 home-delivered meals were served; 1,923 in October 2009. In November 2008, 1,827 home-delivered meals were served; 1,862 in November 2009.
  • Volunteer tax aides will be helping senior citizens with tax returns again, this spring, and have expressed a need for two desktop computers with suitable software. Friends of the Salem COA have been apprised of the need. Volunteer Peter Porcella has been in touch with AL about the possibility of funding the purchase of computers through the Friends group. A formal request for about $400 will be made through the COA board.
  • The annual Carmen Thompson Variety Show was successful, and will be aired by Salem Access TV.
  • Senior citizens are being transported to the Black Cat Café, run by culinary arts students at Salem High School, for lunch on the third Tuesday of each month.
  • The Tanner City Idols will be performing Thursday, Dec. 17, 5-8 p.m., at the Senior Center.
  • The Annual Wild Turkey 5-Mile Road Race attracted nearly 1,300 runners; 50 were 60 years old or older; the oldest was 77 years of age. The department’s programs serve people of all ages.
  • Upcoming activities include: a pizza party, shopping trip, a New Years party, a pen pal program with students at the Bowditch School, lunch at North Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School’s Log Bridge Inn, and a trivia quiz contest.
DN: Two new programs we held at the Senior Center today (Wednesday, Dec. 16): assertiveness training for senior citizens and a presentation about changes in the local community since World War II, which included musical selections. Both programs were free for senior citizens.

Doug Bollen: Asks Bill Woolley to talk about the recent remembrance service.

Bill Woolley: A remembrance service was held, last week, in the third-floor meeting room of the Senior Center. Names of Salem resident, 60 and older, who died in the past 12 month were read aloud and attendees at the service were encouraged to mention the names of loved ones they wished to honor. Kelly Russell, a bereavement counselor from Hospice of the North Shore’s Center for Grief and Healing, participated in the service.

DN: Notes that she tries to attend all activities and events, if only out of respect for the people who work hard to plan and present them.

PD: Asks for a motion to adjourn the meeting.

EH: Makes motion to adjourn meeting.

DN: Seconded.

PD: Adjourns meeting at 7:10 p.m.
        
Respectfully submitted by Bill Woolley, having taken minutes at the request of COA board.