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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesCity of Oshkosh Community Development Department Senior Services Division Oshkosh Seniors Center 200 N. Campbell Rd. Oshkosh, WI 54902 (920) 232 -5300 (920) 232 -5307 FAX OSHKOSH COMMITTEE ON AGING MINUTES November 4, 2009 Mark Ziemer Director, Senior Services PRESENT: Corky Abraham, Kimberly Bauer, Claude Benedict, Lurton Blassingame, Harold Singstock, Glenn Steinbrecher, Xandy Kloeckl, Jesse Fillmore STAFF Mark Ziemer, Director of Senior Services, Gerry Haverty, Office Assistant, Jason Hubbard, UWO Meeting called to order by Chairman Corky Abraham at 8 Chairman Corky Abraham called for approval of the October 7, 2009 meeting minutes. Correction made that Kim was to contact Wellness Village Coordinator not Xandy. Passed unanimously. CORRESPONDENCE OLD BUSINESS: None at this time Mark reported on the sub committee, there are 2 dates for the Living in 2010. The date is going to be either September 28, 2010 or October 25, 2010. Mark is meeting with the Convention Center to set one of those 2 dates. He should have a date set by the end of the week. Mark is going to walk over to the hotel and have a conversation with them to understand their rates and find out if they are working with the convention center. Corky said we could use the hotel for more rooms if available. We may have to scale down to fit in the convention center alone. Mark said if we have at least 500 people we will need the 2 full banquet halls for meals and key note speakers. The main hallway may only have room for 12 exhibitors. The half day conference had 50 exhibitors and about 40 wish to come to this convention. That is not to mention others exhibitors that may want to be at the convention. Exhibitors are a good way of raising funds. This helps keep the costs down. Using the ballroom in the hotel would be good for having the maximum amount of exhibitors and screenings could be held in other hotel rooms. Mark said that there was some concern about using the elevator up and down and walking across to the hotel for some seniors. This is not a hardship for most seniors. Mark suggested we could have some volunteers to take people across in wheelchairs. Claude questioned who was in charge of these committees. The Committee on Aging is the sponsoring organization that is behind Living in 2010. Reguarding to sponsors, marketing, breakouts, speakers, food, set -up and clean up, etc. There would be separate committees. Mark said there would be more than one chairperson per committee. If a COA member has expertise or interest in one of these areas it would be nice if they would come forward. Mark said that we have the Housing Authority, Sheriffs Department, UWO, Oshkosh Family, FVTC, Police Department as just a few examples of organizations that we have on the steering committee. There is a steering meeting being held November 13, 2009 here at the OSC. Mark said we need to get large dollar sponsors from banks, funeral homes, businesses that would give $500.00 or more. Corky said we should have save the date post cards sent out to potential exhibitors and event letter to entice potential sponsors. Mark suggested we try and go after dynamic speakers for the convention. Ex: Art Linkletter, Bart Starr, these are high dollar speakers. We could try to get a group of sponsors to finance some speakers. Kim Bauer said she would like to work on the project. Xandy had contact with Winnebago County on seniors who needed help. The county does not keep statistics. They have a waiting list. The response she received was they had sufficient services; what are lacking are financial resources. Attached with the minutes is a copy of Xandy `s report. The only shortage is volunteers in all areas. Mark added to this report about the ADRC (Aging Disabilities Resource Center) that Winnebago County is starting up in February. They will be keeping statistics and they will be serving all seniors no matter what income level. This will be an information and assistance office. This will not replace Mary Kay that is here at our center. Kim gave her report on the contact she had with Jean Nofke, Wellness Nurse for Carmel and Simmeana Apts. Her report had the top ten needs of Seniors in Housing. Attached is her report listing what was needed. Corky said this program was done so seniors could live longer in their residences. Mark reported that the Health Department does not serve older adults. Senior needs are sent here to Paula, our nurse. Mark spoke to Rosemary Smith (UWO Dean of Student Nurses) about them doing foot care with us. Our foot care is done on a donation basis by Paula our center nurse. County has three nurses that take care of senior visit contacts. CHIP (Community Health Improvement Plan) is a process to identify priorities. In the city and county. Mark was questioned about what services are being done by other health departments that are comparable to the size of Oshkosh for seniors. Mark said after all the meetings with H1 N1 are finished, he would check and see if he could get an answer. There are not any grants for hiring new nurses that are related to senior's center. There is no new money to hire more staff. NEW BUSINESS The meeting in December is a breakfast meeting. The meeting will be held in the Willow North. A sheet was passed around for everyone to sign up for what they will contribute to the breakfast. COMMITTEE REPORTS EDUCATION: Glenn Steinbrecher reported on the speakers we had from United Way that spoke about the 211 system. They were very informative and now the 211 is state -wide, not just regional. Glenn has tried the number about 5 -6 times now and always got a person to answer. Glenn mentioned that some people were having a hard time getting through when they called. Glenn said he has Mary Kay, Senior Connections, coming to the December meeting to speak about her services for the Seniors Center. January will be a regular meeting, but in February Glenn has Mark Weisensel coming from Winnebago County with information on senior services on ADRC that is beginning in February. CWAG: Ann Jungwirth gave a report on CWAG (Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Group). She will be attending the Governing Board Meeting in Madison. At the meeting they will be discussing the approval of the new director and changes that will take place in Madison and at the local levels. Mark added that we hosted the district CWAG meeting here and was catered by Bella Vista. Mark wanted to thank them again for furnishing the food. The meeting was not well attended. Many elected officials; representatives from national offices were here to discuss issues. WINNEBAGO COUNTY COMMISSION ON AGING: Dr Jean Caudle reported for the Winnebago County Commission on Aging. She mentioned they had given out fall clean -up request forms. The form was for persons to fill out to have someone rake leaves, clean windows and other areas that needed to be done before winter. Jean also said they talked about nutrition and meals that are furnished by Advocap. The contribution for the meals has gone down. OSC BOARD: Claude Benedict mentioned that Mark took the Ombudsman training. Claude mentioned the CHIP (Community Health Improvement Program). This is a new program joining the city and county health departments. The flu clinic was held here in October. Glenn Steinbrecher said that the clinic went very smoothly. Mark said the staff thought if went very well compared to past years. Claude mentioned that there was a problem with copying the music for the choir. We have to get a permit to copy the music and that was handled by the Friends of the Seniors Center. People who take the tours now have to pay the sales tax on the meals that they have. The Friends are taking care of this. Claude went on to say the Friends earned over $7,000.00 from the Fall Family Fun Fest after all the bills were paid. DIRECTORS REPORT: Mark said the master plan should be out soon. There will be an announcement of a meeting sometime in December. Accompaning this report will have a statistical attachment to the Master Plan. There will be a neutral party asked to help us identfy our goals of the Stragic Plan. This should be competed no later than January or Febuary. Mark is trying to understand the history of the Friends of Seniors Center and the OSC Board. We need to get interaction with the Friends, Fund Development and the OSC boards together. Mark thinks we need to educate the public on what really happens here at the center (as far as programs, activities, special events, etc.) Educating people on a being acitve and more healthy while growing older. Mark mentioned that he has been with Leadership Oshkosh for one month now and finds it to be very positive experience. By 2030, there will be 110% more older adults (age 60 -70) in the state of Wisconsin. People 85 you and older there will be 280% increase. People are living longer. There will be signicicant number of people who will need services and we need to start planning out what we can do to prepare. Corky said people are staying in their homes longer. This creates more problems. There will be more need for care in their homes. Kathy Glander sent Mark an email saying she could not reach anyone for the Gatekeeper information. Gatekeeper is a program to educate people on how to keep watch on the elderly to see if they need help. This program is design for professional people, like mail carriers, UPS deliveries, paper delivery person and neighbors to keep an watch for the elderly. Having a good neighborhood watch program can help a lot of seniors who normally would be overlooked. Corky said that in the larger complexes for the elderly, workers check on each person every day. Jesse Fillmore said for years he has helped with with Senior Friends through the Red Cross. There are many seniors waiting for a volunteer to help them. Glen Steinbrecher said we have all mentioned Advocap, Red Cross and many other groups. He questioned "how can we get them all together and not have all this be so fragmented". Mark said the Committee on Aging should be the group that ties this all together. Mark said there should be a summitt for all these groups to get all the leaders together to develop a plan to work together. Corky challenged the whole board to become a friend of the Seniors Center. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS /CONCERNS: None Respectively Submitted Gerry Haverty Office Assistant