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Home My WebLink About1983-10-18-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the Meeting of October 18, 1983 Present Ed Foley, Steve Baran, Roberta Black Judy Zabin, Thea Sheveloff Bea Phear Minutes The minutes of the meeting of October 4 were approved with one change It was Judy Zabin who asked about the inclusion of the Police in the Adolescent collaborative group, not Steve Baran Special Needs Arts Fund Roberta attended the fund raising concert on October 16 and thought it was very moving She said the performance was magnificent and appropriate, with songs of love and courtship The Sing-Along chorus performed at the end, and brought tears to the eyes of the audience The concert was well attended and raised over $1,000 They would like to start a second group either Eor older or younger special needs clients The Human Services Committee would like to be supportive of this effort, and asked Bea to find out what the plans were for funding, so the committee could have input, perhaps by writing a letter to the Recreation committee, or by requesting funding within the humanservices budget Roberta reported that the Special Needs Art Fund is considering becoming a non-profit corporation, in order to solicit tax deductable contributions and grants Share-A-Ride Steve asked Bea to report on the problems with the Amigo chair This type of wheel chair (somewhat like a scooter/golf cart/tricycle) cannot be tied-down in the vans that arecontracledErom Them, Inc The problem seems to be avoidance of liability as Then, Inc and the manufacturer of Amigo both do not want to modify their products, for fear of having liability responsibility Bea and Elaine Dratch, the director of Share-A-Ride, are working to find a solution John Paul Marosy, the Director of Minuteman Home Care Corporation, has also offered to write a letter of support for any initiative that Bea asks Bea will talk to Elaine, and then write to Them, Inc copying the State Legislative Transportation Committee and the Secretary Youth Subcommittee Roberta and Ed visited RePlace They reported that Stephanie will be on maternity leave, and Replace is looking for a part-time staff person Bill Blout reported that Replace is noticing a trend towards more short-term counseling, more screening and referral, and an increase in pregnancy and housing issues Counseling has gone down steadily since 1981 They talked about ways to do more outreach possibly using time for revitalizing the volunteer program There is still the chronic cash-flow problem, and fund raising efforts are underway Replace will be hit this year with their (unbudgeted) inclusion in the new Social Security regulations, approximately $2,222 January-June 1984 Roberta reported that Mystic Valley is included in the adolescent collaboration group Mental Health/Retardation Subcommittee Judy reported that Howard Reynold's wife has been sick, so Howard has not been able to be active as yet Judy is concerned as to how to procede with Mystic Valley, as the Town has not yet received the Statement of Goals that was due on September 30, nor the first quarter report She telephoned Richard Weiss and offered several dates for them to meet, but he has not yet selected one and called her back If she does not hear from him by the end of this week, whe will call him again It is of concern, because we had hoped that the relationship would get off to a good start Steve suggested that we could go to the Lexington Board members, if we were unable to communicate with the director, but it was decided to wait Bea had also talked to Dr Weiss on the telephone to warn him that the funding cycle was beginning for FY85 and to tell him that the reports had not been received Judy feels that the charge to the subcommittee is too large, and she hopes for a new committee member to be appointed to join the subcommittee and address retardation issues Steve will explore the possible appointment of Marion Shepp Bea reported that she had invited a number of retardation specialists to a small meeting on November 17 at 3 00 pm to help the Town understand the range of services and needs All members of the Human Services Committee are invited It is expected that representatives from the School department Special Needs Office, DMH Area Office, Mystic Valley Mental Health, Mass ReHab, and the LABB program will attend Elderly Subcommittee Thea reported that she had visited the Council on Aging, with the message that we were interested in learning of their needs, and were willing to collaborate with them. Thea was very impressed with the range of activities and outside funding used to support the programs Joan Melcher CoA Coordinator said her needs included publicity/awareness workable schedules for staff who are over-extended; staff status (related to a spring request for classification) frail elderly social group a new leader for the adult Friendly Visitor program and Board training Steve suggested that Thea could recommend asking for technical assistance from the State for Board training Most of the Council members are inexperienced at serving of boards Additionally, the committee can support the Council by urging the Town Manager to make his appointments to fill vacancies Steve will telephone the Manager In discussing other ways we could help the CoA, it was suggested that the committee could support the variety of programs at Town Meeting, and act as a consultant to them on specific issues, such as Board training Cable TV Steve reported that things are percolating slowly The divorce mediation tape is being edited, the League of Women Voters taped their day care conference and asked to have it be part of our series adolescence in brainstorming; and Enablement will be brainstorming Steve also spoke with Sandy Eaton and Vickie Schwartz on a possible preschool program He asked the committee for ideas for a preventative focus for preschool issues *Steve also suggested that retardation issues might appropriately be a focus for the Enablement subcommittee He will bring that up at the Enablement meeting next week Providers Council Bea distributed a draft invitation, listing four programs, and a supplement with another two possible programs The committee thought it looked interesting There was support for the Self-Help workshop, and Roberta suggested adding groups that deal with eating disorders such as Overeaters Anonymous Judy felt and the committee agreed, that the workshop on Income Support did not further the committee s goal of providers interacting, and it was not the committee's responsibility to educated providers on state and federal regulations Steve suggested altering it to focus on the needs of low income residents Steve also suggested asking Richard Weiss to discuss methods for assessing the needs of the �. mentally ill and retarded. After much discussion, it was decided to substitute a workshop on 'Trends in Lexington" for the Income Support date Bea will write it up and submit it to NASW for accreditation for Social Work CEUs The Trends workshop might focus on such issues as what Bill Blout sees as the changes in RePlace cleints, input from the School department, recreation issues and mental health trends Bea will also provide better organized census data at that meeting The Committee thought three hours was too long The workshops will be 2 00-4 00 pm It was also suggested to incorporate the issue of coordination into the Needs In Lexington workshop The concept of coordination ought to arise naturally in the small groups Next Meeting `I November 1, 1983, room G-15, 7 30 pm Respectfully submitted, Beatrice Phear