HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-07-26-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of July 26, 1982
Present Ilene White, Steve Baran, Howard Reynolds, Tom Zarle, Nancy Zarle,
Judy Zabin, Stan Finkelstein, Bea Phear
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of July 12 were approved as mailed
4
Hanidcapped Affairs •
Bea reported to the committee her conversation with David Enman, who is very eager
to be formally constituted and get started Bea emphsized that the committee indeed
does support having a sub-committee, and that it will happen, and that David should
start meeting with people and refining his plans Bea also wrote him some suggestions
regarding defining handicapped, articulating what they want from a needs assessment,
from an accessibility study, and what advocacy they may be interested in
Steve reported that he had discussed the structure issue with Jim Crain, who is
supportive of the sub-committee concept The Planning Board also has a new "Advisory
Committee on housing issues, .which is appointed by the Planning Board and will receive •
a written charge from the PLanning Board Bea spoke with Jackie Smith about this
David is holding an initial meeting on Tuesday, August 3 in the evening Members
of the Human Services Committee are invited (David's number is 861-9669) It was
also suggested that the committee might advertise for interested people when the
structure is settled The next meeting will discuss sub-committees in general
Muzzey
The committee decided not to address site considerations, building considerations, or
the ownership issue and will concentrate on use questions
Bea reported that the elderly day care, Minuteman Home Care, North-Metro Homemaker,
and the Lexington Arts Council are all interested in renting space There was a sense
of the committee that they did not want to be realestate brokers for agencies seeking
space unless there was a clear benefit to Lexington that they be located here Also
it was felt that it was a mistake to have the process based on who had come forward
rather than on need, and then find or develop a provider to address that need (eg
child care)
Judy felt there was not enough history of review of needs assessment on the part of the
committee, and we didn't have the data
Tom suggested we say that we don't yet have the exact configuration; however there is
a need for some human service agencies to be located there, and the exact selection
of agencies can be done over the next months He felt that the alternates of razing the
building or high priced condos were a dead end, and we shouldn't lose the opportunity
of using the building for social purpose
In discussing the support for a senior center, Ilene felt that she didn't really have
a sense that it was needed When she has visited the CoA, they are not bursting at the
seams She is more partial to elderly housing, for those who want to remain in town
as they get older when their income drops and they become more frail
Nancy reported that she had spoken at length with a friend in geriatrics, and they had
come up with a day dream' , building on both senior center need and housing need The
target population would be our generation and the current well elderly who will become
frail These numbers are growing Her suggestions include an elderly complex with
housing plus other services health clinics (general, podietry, & dental) , Senior Center,
cafeteria, Minuteman Home Care Corporation, Adult day care center, pool, whirlpool, gym,
physical therapy, private rooms for counseling, library with large print books, beauty
and barber shop, stores for convenience and maybe clothing, print shop for newsletter
and stattionary, chapel She recommends visiting Carleton Village in Bedford She
also suggested the possibility of having a contractual arrangement with local nursing
homes for short term respite or recuperative care
Steve felt there was considerable symetry in a discussion that addressed elderly, with
housing, senior centern, and agencies y
Judy asked What about single families, working parents and child care?
Nancy suggested having a day care center with "grandparents" helping The elderly are
not afraid of young children as they are of teens
Steve felt that the most valuable comment we could make would be to emphasize the needs,
from empirical data and from our own experience, and also the policy of prevention
Stan wondered if the building were elderly, and in ten years time it was meeting only
10% of the need? What will the demand be in the future? Who would be interested? Who
could afford it? Couldn't we do some projections?
•
Bea mentioned the Larry Branch study in Massachusetts, which estimates that 5 - 7% of
the non-institutionalized elderly need major support services Stan felt that even with
the dearth of data, trying to estimate forces you to look systematically
Judy pointed out that the BC study mentioned information and referral, elderly services,
affordable housing
Howard wondered if it would be possible to get a developer to do a complicated multi-use,
which leads to the question of the charge to the conversion committee Bea felt that it
was hard work to put a complex package together, but not impossible, 4nd there are non-
profit development outfits that specialize in helping communities do that Her experience
at conferences on school re-use is that the developers want to be told what to do
Steve pointed out that the Comeau proposal had done that last time
Steve suggested that he meet with Howard, Nancy and Ilene to flesh out Nancy's suggestions,
saying that the concepts in the Comeau proposal were good
Judy expressed concern that people were eager to pounce on a concrete idea, and that she
felt other need and issues might be forgotten Steve also said they could add Tom's idea
of other, yet unspecified need for space Perhaps child care groups woudl come forward
Howard felt that the elderly issues kept coming up, and there must be some validity to it
Howard and Steve will meet on Thursday, July 29 to write a draft for discussion at the
next meeting
Next Meeting August 2 Muzzey and sub-committee structure
August 23 Providers council (Bea will send returned forms to date)
Respectfully submitted,
Bea Phear