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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-05-20-HSC-min.pdf 1 1 5-20-80 i HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE present. Howard Levingston, Stephen Saran, Nicky Osborne, Ruth Butler, Barry Marshall, Ruth Nablo -- also Elizabeth Pressman Absent Carol Perez The meeting was called to order at 7 40 P M by Nicky Osborne, chairperson pro-tem. Minutes of April 29, 1980 were accepted as written, and those of May 13, 1980 accepted as corrected The correction was made following a discussion of Department of Mental Health long term planning for community residences Ms Osborne informed the committee of some letters received by Carol Perez as chairperson of the HS Committee First, Mr William Page, chairman of the Community Health Committee recommended that his committee become a fifteen member subcommittee of the HS committee After some discussion the HS committee decided that for now, such an arrangement does not seem feasible The two groups should use each other as resources, and work together on issues of mutual interest Also, it is a matter decided by the Board of Selectmen, not the HS committee Nicky Osnorne will draft a response A memo from the Executive Clerk of the Board of Selectmen informed the committee that Mary Miley had been unanimously reelected as chairperson of the Board A memo from the Town Counsel reminded the committee of the procedure for resignations from committees Finally, Ms Osborne passed around a proposal submitted to the MAPC for "Share-a-Van" by Minute Man Home Care Corporation Ms Pressman will find out what was expected of the HS committee in terms of the proposal Nominations for chairperson were opened Howard Levingston nominated Ruth Butler She stated that she is willing to serve, hewever she feels that she does not know Lexington well, and that she has a well defined point of view about human services Though she viewed these as disadvantages, the committee did not She accepted the nomination Mr. Levingston moved that one ballot be cast for the commit- tee to elect Ms Butler It was so voted Steve Baran was nominated as vice-chair- man He accepted Again, one ballot ias cast and be was unanimously elected Discussion of the draft goals and objectives followed Ruth Butler felt that the goal could actually be divided into several goals 1 Develop a HS system 2 Implement the system developed 3 Respond to identified needs 4 Promote well being 5 Promote quality of life for all segments of the Lexington population. .�� 4 3/n c-R .s I C U J ICY iti t ( V\ Ll L T J le ��,�k Osborn, s N; 1.V,rvb sfH� woo 11 Y 1 5-20-SD - 2 - The question of whether needs have already been identified arose Ms Osborne felt that the BC study can serve as a basis for needs, but should be updated and revised Ms Butler stated that she would like to see a list of specific needs One area Ruth Nablo feels should be looked at further is child care needs On the draft proposal, it was suggested that under the first objective, task number 2, "to update information" should be inserted and "conduct interviews" be deleted Someone should begin to summarize the needs stated in the BC study Ruth Butler indicated that the needs should be spelled out, that a great deal of clarity is necessary on this question Perhaps some non-committee members, who had volunteered to serve on the HS committee, would be willing to help out with such a task In objective number 2, after "provided by the Town , add "or those ser- vices .i for which the Town provides funding " Steve Baran suggested as an objective 'to develop a philosophy or model of HS for Lexington and to develop community involvement around long range planning " Ruth Butler added that the Committee needs to help people make informed decisions about community involvement with HS Civic resources, such as clergy, scout leaders and PTA officers need to be tapped Nicky Osborne expressed the thought that one role of the HS committee should be to provide a forum for community discussion on HS issues The committee needs an overriding theme, Ms Butler said She asked where the Committee would like to be in one year? How can one best make use of the community spirit in Lexington? How do human services relate to thedevelopmentof the community? These services should not be viewed as "charity " An additional objective offered by Howard Levingston was "To do all of this within a budget that would be appropriate for a Town the size of Lexington " Mr Levingston went on, however, to say that he is not sure what that means Ruth Butler suggested focussing on a school age population, S to 12 year olds Needs would be anticipated and preventive programs could be developed. Children predisposed to risk could be identified before they have a problem Along these lines, Steve Baran proposed as an objective "to test the feasability of adopting a preventive orientation to meeting human needs " Discussion followed, including the problem of how the committee could work with the schools Since they are open only nine months a year, Ruth Nablo felt that the private sector, such as Hayden Recreation Center, must also become involved Ruth Butler thought that the pre-teen, teen, and elderly populations could ` constitute "themes" for the committee She added that someone needs to get a comfortable dialogue with the school system Nicky Osborne asked whether this approach would be too limiting? Ruth Butler replied that many related family problems would be touched as well It is true, however, that all segments of the population would not be given the same weighting Once a mechanism was developed to deal with a 5-20-80 - 3 - specific population, it could be utilized for any population Resources would be shifted, reorganized, redistributed and resystematized Nicky asked what role the committee would have after making recommendations? She feels that the committee should play some part in implementation All groups that deal with kids year round should be zeroed in on , stated Steve 'Baran Ruth Nablo sees the Council of Congregations as one such resource Ruth Butler sees a continuum of prevention More can be done at certain levels than at others As new needs come up, they should be identified before rather than after the fact, using the model to be developed by the Committee She foresees less traditional ways of using resources Ms Butler asked Steve Baran to write down his thoughts on a plan for prevention model feasability Ms Pressman suggested that, in terms of the schools, the positive should be accentuated The committee could ask to meet and talk with teachers who have done something along the lines of committee thinking ti Each agency could be asked to provide the committee with a description of any preventive component in their programs They could also be asked to submit proposals around prevention Some discussion about the costs of deinstitutionalization ensued The meeting was adjourned at 10 P.M Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth H Pressman EHP/jt.