HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-02-11-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of February 11, 1985
Present Ed Foley, Marion Shepp, Judy Zabin, Stan Finkelstein, C. C. Chao,
Sheila Martin, Leonora Zola, Bea Phear
Guests Sally Castleman, Elaine Dratch, & Sara Arnold of Transportation Committee
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of January 28, 1985 were approved as mailed
Day Care
Bea reported that she had visited The Children' s Center after receiving an
invitation to sit on the Board. She declined the Board position, due to time
conflicts and a concern about potential conflict of interest. The visit was
very interesting with Joyce Holman, the new director Joyce had four issues
How to locate emergency funding for a child Bea mentioned the Trustees,
The Children's Center' s need for long-term relocation to larger
quarters She wanted to alert the Town that there is a need for
more day care space, and they cannot expand in their present location
The news that she is beginning to discuss with DSS an agreement for
them to take protective and voucher day care contracts
Her interest in creating a family day care information and referral
network with support and training to family day care providers Bea
said that if she was interested in Town funding, it should come before
the committee in the fall
Marion suggested that Joyce be invited to come to a committee meeting It was
felt it might be an area the committee wanted to become involved with, but in
the context of what else we wanted to focus on
Transportation
There was discussion of transportation to after-prom parties Suggestions included
using taxis, parents, volunteer college students, or LexPress In Brookline there
is an arrangement with the tuxedo rental place and the limo service to reduce the
fee for a package deal.
C.C. raised the point that the children shouldn't be pampered, and should be told
of the concerns of their parents and their responsibility to think about their
parents Sheila thought most students would be responsible, but she was worried
about the few that do not have relationships with their parents
It was felt that students probably would not want to have to call for a ride, but
have it ready and there when they needed it- It was decided that Sheila would
pursue this discussion with the Prom Committee, class officers, BASE and the PTA,
since it was imperative to involved the students in the decision making She
would offer our concern and support
Handicapped transportation was discussed next Elaine, director of Share-A-Ride,
said the META is planning to expand the Ride to Lexington, but she does not know
exactly what their proposal will look like. The Ride is a dial service for
people with physical disabilities, and would not serve many of the elderly who
currently use Share-A-Ride. She thinks The Ride will operate 7 00-7 00 and
weekends
She stressed that it is difficult to get a handle on needs, and the META will
offer a couple of vehicles and see how the demand develops Elaine thinks the
population most in need now is employed people who need assistance getting to
work Share-A-Ride now uses that commuting time for Day Care and Sheltered
Workshop transportation contracts and cannot serve the employed commuter
Elaine is currently running an extra van for Lexington on Thursdays FY86 will
fund the second van, and put it on Mondays
Sally said there would also be two late busses from Alewife, when the station is
open She does not know what hours they are scheduled for, and would like
suggestions from the committee since she expects the MBTA will try to accomodate
local needs
Marion expressed the need for evening recreational transpertation, such as
for the movies
The commitee was concerned that we knew so little about the need. Leonora
suggested working on a questionnaire
Elaine said that she was most concerned about the Ride separating the elderly, and
forcing two parallel systems to operate She asked that we help to recommend
that elderly be allowed on the expanded Ride
Visiting Nurse & Community Health
Bea reported that she had received a request from Jayne Tapia for funding for
their program for frail elderly who live in Housing Authority Villages This
program was developed after Rita Sullivan, of the Housing Authority, expressed
concern about the wellfare of some of the more frail tenants Jayne has put a
program in place serving a dozen LHA residents funded as a demonstration by
the Department of Elder Affairs Her funding expires in June, and she is looking
for $7,000 to carry until December, when she will pick up a new grant.
The committee invites her to send a request in writing, and they will then
consider if they are interested in helping explore options, which might include
the Human Services budget, the Health Department budget, the Trustees, United Way or
private funding
Brainstorming
Stan raised two loose ends that had been surfaced while the committee was focusing
on the budget, which he now thought would help get out of the reacting mode
a. Explore ideas from the Community Health Committee and discuss
with Jim Lambie issues of mutual concern The first issue might
be the VNCH request mentioned above
b Philosophic questions around the viability of the RePlace program,
which serves Lexington only and depends so much on Town funding
The commitee agreed that Stan and Leonroa should try to meet with Jim Lambie
There was much discussion about the RePlace issue Leonora pointed out that
there is a big gap in the provision of clinical services to kids, with AYCC
being the only area-wide provider Ed reported that Bill Blout had said the
most recent quarter showed an increase in use again. Stan felt that the demographics
showed a decline in their population and the organization would want to stay
alive or expand nonetheless, so it was a question of where and how Any expansion
might then impinge on another agency territory
It was mentioned that an important job of subcommittees was to keep in touch
with and visit agencies throughout the year, not just at budget time Ed and
Sheila will go to Replace board meetings
Judy raised the question of holding another Providers Council meeting She feels
a whole year should not go by without reaching out to agencies
Marion suggested a topic focused meeting, such as youth. Leonora suggested
transportation. Bea felt that attendance over the last two years had declined,
and the agencies would come if summoned, but that the goals of getting to know
each other and discussing need had both been met in the recent past and it was
time for a break
Possible issues to assess are day care and single parents Stan thought we
should work on the needs data we have from the April meeting and translate that
into tasks and report back to agencies He also suggested a party with a
speaker, perhaps dinner It might be a new tradition of an annual human services
dinner
Bea thought it would be expensive, but was a good idea Stan thought they
could pay for themselves, (maybe donation from the Sheraton?)
Next meetings
The next meetings will be February 25
March 11
Respectfully submitted ---ks2
Beatrice Phear c
Note Appropriation Committee wants to meet with the committee TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 19 at 8 00 pm. Please call me if you cannot come