HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-07-21-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE A
7-21-1980
Present Ruth Butler, Steve Baran, John Mackey
also Elizabeth Pressman
Absent Carol Perez, Howard Levingston, Ruth Nablo, Nicky Osborne
The meeting was called to order by Ruth Butler at 7 40 P.M. Minutes
of July 7, 1980 were read by Ms Pressman Lacking a quorum, no action was
taken on them '
The new appointee to the H S committee, John Mackey, introduced himself
He is a CPA who has lived in Lexington since 1974 Last year he served as
chairman of the Town's Insurance Committee Ruth Butler related the background
of the committee in terms of what it had done this year, and where it plans to
go in the coming year Mr Mackey explained that from Jan 15 to April 15 he
would not be able to devote more than a total of 4 or 5 hours to the committee
because of his work commitments Before being accepted as a member of the H S
committee he wished other members to understand that
Ms Pressman told the committee of a letter from the Appropriation
Counittee to the Town Manager relating to the position of Town Social Worker
During the budget review process of the H S committee, this position should be
looked at, especially as it related to REPLACE
In connection with the budget review process, Ms Butler indicated to
Mr Mackey that the committee raises questions rather than giving answers when
asked to look at a particular agency
Some discussion of Bea Phear's elderly needs assessment questionnaire ensued
Ms Pressman will invite her to the next meeting for further discussion Mr Mackey
suggested questionnaires could be sent to all elderly, but only a statistically
chosen random sample might be used
A discussion of Steve Baran's draft proposal for a workshop followed
Ruth Butler asked that committee members think about what they hope to accomplish
by a workshop that wouldn't be done just as well in written form? Steve Baran
suggested that agencies might decide in common to write a particular grant proposal
Ruth Butler feels that the committee should act as resource people and involve the
providers in planning the workshop The latter group should do the leading at the
workshop The providers need to know at the planning stage, Ms Butler went on,
why the committee is putting so much emphasis on prevention The committee must be
very clear on what is to be prevented, that is, what needs to be prevented and what
is actually preventable
Steve Baran asked whether alienation is a common experience to all teen-
agers, and is it so common that it represents normal behavior at that stage of
development? Ms Butler indicated that at that period what needs to be prevented
is early disengagement from educational programs
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7-21-1980 e
Problems of community conflicts over normalization and integration of
handicapped groups into the mainstream were mentioned
It was stated that functional discorders in senior citizens are pre-
ventable where they are not disease related Resources probably exist in Lexington
to prevent the above mentioned problems It is a matter of reorganizing existing
resources
Family resources are needed, such as supplementary care at vacation time
for children of working mothers and after-school care Family support systems may
exist and be underutilized by high school groups Teen-agers tend to use each
other as a support system and to underutilize civic groups Such groups are likely
to stay involved over the long-term They are more like the normative system.
A workshop might be planned to demonstrate different ways of using
resources Ms Butler suggested that the committee could act as discussants
They could suggest the framework, added Steve Baran Ms Butler feels that the
focus must be on something very solid, not abstract or philosophical Steve Baran
asked whether the idea is to foster communication? The reply from Ms Butler was
that a person entering the human service system must be viewed in relation to the
full repertoire of services in the community, rather than just in relation to ser-
vices offered by the particular agency she/he has approached The intention of this
method ought to be to reduce fragmentation and duplication The objective of the .1
workshop is to begin to think and plan differently
An attempt should be made to bring to the foreground types of interventions
that already exist and implications of system changes The committee responsibility
is to make explicit its implications for system change and community support
Some discussion of how the committee will evaluate agencies in the coming
year followed
The meeting was adjourned at 9 45 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
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Elizabeth H Pressman
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