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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