OFFICE ON AGING ADVISORY COUNCIL

August 11, 2005

Minutes

Held at 1501 Blue Spruce Drive

Fort Collins, Colorado  80524

OFFICE ON AGING ADVISORY COUNCIL

August 11, 2005

1:30-3:30 PM

Held at 1501 Blue Spruce Drive

Fort Collins, Colorado  80524

 

Members Present:	Nancy Arthur	Bill Benton	Steve Budner
	Carolyn Funk	Reggie Kemp	Elnora McCloughan
	Barbara Nuss	Ellen Pihlstrom	Karen Reinhardt
	Mary Shultz	Lloyd Spawn	Earl Stevens
	Janet Tosch	Hal Wilson	Sharon Zamora
Members Absent	Paul Bell	Gerry Hinks	Olivia Larry
	Ray Martinez	Carol Rehme	Stan Ulrich
Staff Present:	Tina Barker	Ruth Coberly	Tina Hugo
	Katy Mason	Margaret Long	Lynette McGowan
	Linda Rumney	Karen Wagner
Guests Present:

CALL TO ORDER

Lloyd Spawn called the meeting to order.

INTRODUCTIONS

Lloyd Spawn asked the new members to introduce themselves.  Nancy Arthur, Ellen Pihlstrom, Janet Tosch and Sharon Zamora gave a brief introduction of themselves. 

OPEN DISCUSSION/COMMUNITY INPUT

There was no open discussion or community input.

CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES OF July 14, 2005

Without objection, Lloyd Spawn ruled that the minutes of the July 14^th meeting be approved, with the following two changes. 

 

:  Earl Earl Stevens requested  changa change on the bottom of page 2; e to page 2, change 50 computers available at Thompson Valley High School has offered up to  to maybe 25 Windows based computers, instead of 75 computers. 

 

Reggie Kemp recommended changechanging to page 4, change the spelling of Ridden to Rigden under the housing committee report on page 4 of the July minutes.

CHAIR REPORT

Lloyd Spawn thanked Mary Shultz for stepping in to chair the July 14^th meeting.  Lloyd reminded the council that September 9^th is the Legislative Breakfast.  There is no cost and the members are to RSVP to Steve Budner.  He also reminded the council that September 30^th is the Bridging the Gap Networking Luncheon.  Katy Mason announced that the Office on Aging would like to subsidize half of the cost of the registration.  It was determined that in order for the Office on Aging to pay for half, each council member will need to pay $9 with their registration.  Mary Shultz asked the members who want to volunteer to be aas table hosts to contact her.  Bill Benton made a motion to charge the entire fee for members that sign-up to attend the luncheon and don’t show up.  Motion was seconded by Earl Stevens.

 

Lloyd shared an article about new technology that will help with falling and use of walkersto prevent falls and possibly eliminate the need to use canes and walkers.

 

Lloyd announced that there is a Centenarian presentation schedule for Sunday, August 14^th at 2:00 p.m. at Spring Creek.

 

Lloyd announced that there is a Moonlight Serenade Dinner & Dance scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on September 10^th at McKee Medical Center.  Proceeds go to fund the Office on Aging Senior Yellow Pages.

UPDATE OF OFFICE ON AGING

Margaret Long shared that Glen Rathgeber’s daughter lost her battle with cancer.  She distributed a sympathy card for members to sign.

 

Margaret stated that the Office on Aging is gearing up for a very busy September.  During the month of August, Tina Hugo and Stacie Hougard are completing the provider fiscal on-site visits.  Margaret reminded the council that the programmatic portion of the on-site visits will be scheduled during September.  Margaret stated that the office is working on one of their biggest agenda items;, Medicare Part D Prescription Plan.  Margaret stated that in October, the Executive Committee will need to meet to discuss funding for the next year, looking at reducing funds which will include reviewing ways of reducing funds by approximately $30,000 again this year.

 

 

SENIOR ADVISORY REPORTS

Fort Collins Senior Advisory Board Report

No report was given.

 

Loveland Senior Advisory Board

Earl Stevens reported that the computer class has just been completed.  Earl stated that the Retirement Housing Foundation grant from HUD for an $8 Million dollar complex at to be built on Wilson and 43^rd Street will be back at the on the planning review board’s agenda.  There were improvements made to the design, such as open space.  The fee is 1/3^rd of one’s income.  Earl reminded the council that Loveland will be hosting the largest outdoor sculpture shows in the world this weekend.

 

Foundation on Aging

Mary Shultz gave a brief explanation on what the Foundation on Aging does.

 

 

 

Larimer County Commissioner

Karen Wagner reported that she, Margaret, Ruth Coberly and a VOA representative created an effort to get meals to North Countymet to discuss the need for home delivered meals in the northern rural area of the county.  She said that a plan was agreed upon to address this need. 

 

Karen reported that at a City of Fort Collins meeting it was announced an announcement was made that Dial-a-Ride will see funding cuts.

 

Karen discussed her findings regarding the Office on Aging Advisory Council’s ability to advocate on particular issues.  It was found that it is the option of the council to take a position on issues that the Commissioners support.

 

Karen asked the council to forward any suggestions for legislation to her to so she can bring them to the Colorado County Inc. (CCI) sessions. 

 

LCOOAAC Meeting Format

Due to lack of interest, motion A decision was carried made to keep the existing meeting format.

COMMITTEE & STAFF REPORTS

Education Committee

No report given.

 

Executive Committee

No report given.

 

Health Committee

Carolyn Funk announced that Nancy Arthur is the new chair of the Health Committee.  Carolyn reported that at the last meeting there was a discussion on Medicare Part D and scheduling of provider site visits.  The next meeting will be at 8:00 a.m. on October 25th at the Alzheimer’s Association office.

 

Membership Committee

Carolyn Funk reported that there are four new members.

 

Nutrition Committee

Hal Wilson reported that the Office on Aging held a meeting for all nutrition providers on July 29th.  The discussion during During that the meeting was in regards to how things are going between the collaboration between there was a discussion regarding the collaboration between Fort Collins Meals on Wheels and VOA.  There was also a discussion around Loveland Meals on Wheels ability to collaborate with VOA regarding blizzard boxesfrozen meals.

 

Senior Attainable Housing Committee

No report given.

 

Transportation Committee

Elnora McCloughan reported that the discussion during the Transportation committee meeting was regarding the need for transportation in Wellington.  Elnora stated that they discussed the provider on-site visits.  Elnora will be excused from participating due to conflict of interest.  Bill Benton and Earl Stevens will not be available during September.  Karen Wagner commented that the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization is looking to have Richard Guest at the county take over the various county funds for transit including the Office on Aging contract.  There will be a meeting to discuss this further sometime after the first week in September to discuss this further. 

 

Staff Reports

Margaret Long distributed a summary of the Strengths & Needs Assessment for Larimer County, an Advocacy Alert regarding Medicaid cuts that are at the congressional level, and an Informational piece on Referendum C & D from the Bell Foundation.

 

Katy Mason stated that there has not been any site visits scheduled, but will start schedulinge them next week.  Katy reported that the committee chairs will lead the on-site visit meetings.  Katy will send out pre-questionnaires to providers and the council members soon. 

 

Katy clarified that the Medicare Part D name is called the Medicare Drug Prescription Program.  Katy stated that it is an Insurance plan, there will be no cards issued for this permanent plan.  Katy stated that Medicare Part D –is a confusing term – trying to stay awaythat she is encouraging people not to use.  Katy is part of a committee that is developing a communication plan.  Katy stated that this program is very confusing because there are a lot of different scenarios that depend on ones a person’s income.  Katy reported that the Aspen Club has printed brochures that list local places to go for information.  The committee has developed a Speakers Bureau that will educate the community.  Katy informed that the council that there are a number of locations that will do one-on-one counseling.  The committee is looking to at developing the one-on-one counseling to that will look similar to VITA.  This committee has also developed an Outreach committee, to focus specifically on low income seniors in order to sign up for and assist them in signing up for the extra help.  Katy reported that the Office on Aging will be involved in trying to reach all the Medicaid/Medicare (dual-eligible) participants. 

 

Earl Stevens commented that the Loveland Senior Advisory Council is sponsoring an hour and a half presentation about Medicare.  This meeting has space for , which their capacity is for 200 people.  The attendees will be allowed to sign up for the following Saturday in the for the lab at Valley Thompson High School. 

 

Katy stated reminded the council that First Call is being trained to take calls from seniors .  They have distributed and we would like to have more calls go to 211 since they have more staff and are available more hours than the Office on Aging is.  New new bookmarks to promote 211 have been printed and distributed.  If 211 is not able to help the senior callers, then they can transfer the calls to the Office on Aging staff to handle. 

 

Lynette McGowan reported that she attended a Caregiver Summit last month.  Lynette explained that this was the first time that all the Caregiver Coordinators got together.  Lynette discovered that each program looks different. 

 

 

Announcements

No announcements were made.

 

Adjournment

Lloyd Spawn adjourned the meeting.