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Home My WebLink About1990-04-18-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes , 4/ 18/98 ( Present Renee Cochin and Bob Cushman Co-Chairman Leonora Feeney ; Ann Irving, Seymour Mande } , Dennis Murakami Human Services Committee ; Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator ; Peg Jemison social worker , Council on Aging Minutes uf 4/2/80 The Minutes of 4/2/90 were approved Coordinator report a Fee policy Council on AuinR Linda Vine will send a draft methodology on fee policy Steve will send this to the Committee along with policy statement when the Committee is prepared to put this on the agenda The Committee' s concern is with the fee policy as it relates to Town funds b Special needs situations Steve related case vignettes that had recently come to his attention regarding aging parents with adult special needs children Neither case had been formally / , referred, but it seemed as if casework services were indicated c EAP program ouarterlv report The Employee Assistance Program contractor had issued a quarterly report Steve related the highlights There has been orientation of Town employees to the EAP which appears to be well utilized d Central Middlesex Association for Retarded People (CMARC) CMARC has moved to a site very near where they had been formally situated There is as much square feet as before with the added benefit of air conditioning, all at less cost Sheri McCann, Director , invited Committee members to visit It will not be necessary for the CMARC board to take any action in relation to Town Meeting since the CMARC appropriation is part of the balanced budget ( � Human Services Committee Minutes, 4/ 18/90 Page 2 Senior Health Monitor Program Peg Jemison reported on the Senior Health Monitor program A contract has been signed with VNCH and is in force A change in rate-setting procedures will be effected on July 1 Rates for the Town should reflect the cost of services to the Town Copies of the contract were distributed to the Committee Peg noted that the specificity in the nature of the contract had helped to pinpoint what was required of VNCH which had proceeded to provide a good quality of service through a Registered Nurse supervisor and two Licensed Practical Nurses Old clients are seen on an average of once a month; new clients are seen on an average of once a week Assessments are done by a Registered Nurse initially and at six-month intervals The caseload is presently at 30, half from the Council on Aging and half from Minuteman Home Care Corporation Initially there had been poor communication between the two organizations, but now it is quite satisfactory Thus, the LPN does not tend to provide services herself since there are no homemakers, chore workers or other providers Rather , she will call upon the Minuteman case manager to deal with an apparent need for such services Clients tend to rotate in and out of hospital while being followed by the program with the goal continuing to be one of preventing institutionalization Peg felt it would be useful to conduct a study of length of stay in hospital There have been 38 referrals to the program since last July, and 21 have remained in the program Public relations is considered important for the success of the program After a hiatus, there will be a renewed start-up of efforts to publicize the program Emerging needs Peg has been disturbed lately at the growing incidence of elder abuse having made two reports to protective services in the last three weeks While elderly persons can get transportation to medical appointments through FISH, it is difficult for them to get transportation for "social " purposes, such as for shopping or visiting a relative Isolation is a big problem After a significant loss--the death of a spouse, family moving away or retirement--people "get into a Human Services Committee Minutes , 4/ 16/90 Page 3 rut" and become depressed While there is a daytime bereavement group, there may be a need for a group in the evening, particularly for older people who may still be working (as noted by Renee Cochin ) In response to a query by Seymour Mandel , Peg said that there did not seem to be a lack of medical care, but a number of elderly people were seen by Health Stop which had been a source of referral Steve asked about shortage of homemakers and chore workers since there had been such a shortage a couple of years ago At this time, reported Peg, there is no shortage for Minute Man-funded clients since, as a result of cut backs , there were now more bodies to do less work The Council on Aging had created an informal list of providers Special needs umbrella group Steve reported that representatives of Lexington Citizens with Special Needs and the Enablement Committee had been meeting at the suggestion of the Human Services Committee The purpose of their meetings was to see what needs the two groups might meet by combining forces They have been revising a statement of purpose and discussing what their place might be in the Town' s human services structure Reservations were expressed by Human Services Committee members Was the Lexington Citizen group too narrowly focused on housing, and did they have the capacity to become Interested in special needs in a more comprehensive manner? 2 If the group remained focused on housing, then would it not be better for them to become a strictly advocacy group outside of Town government? 3 As to the matter of responding to comprehensive issues of special needs citizens, should this be in the purview of a special needs committee or within the jurisdiction of the Human Services Committee9 Human Services Committee Minutes , 4/ 16/90 Page 4 1 Report on meeting with the Town Manager Renee reported on a meeting she and Steve Baran had with the Town Manager which he had requested in order to establish regular contact The following was discussed 1 Establishment of cost centers in the Senior Health Monitor program with the allocation of administrative costs This could serve as a model for more general review of funding sources and programs for the entire COA 2 Recreational fees have been discussed in Town meeting as a means of subsidizing special needs participants Rick mentioned that Maggie Whitesell , staff in the Recreation Department, was making a comparative study of special needs services in other towns Rick feels that the current director of Hayden would be amenable to making changes Steve was aware that the Parents' Advisory Council in the schools had been looking into Hayden services 3 Rick White had urged that the Human Services Committee ( link up with Leo McSweeney when they were ready to report out the results of the Heller School needs assessment He had again indicated his readiness to locate Town funds for the next stage of assessing need New business RePlace and override Renee reported that RePlace had given some consideration to raising the question of why RePlace was being cut while COA was being given an increase and then decided not to proceed This led to a discussion of whether the Human Services Committee should have taken a position on the override It was agreed that Committee members were free to advocate as individuals Spring agenda The Committee reviewed list of agenda items that appeared in the last set of minutes The financial capability of parents to pay for day care was seen as a potential item for discussion as opposed to actually subsidizing day care programs Doubt was expressed as to whether day care should be considered a "human service" It was felt that there was a need to know much more about the availability of ( day care facilities + use of relatives as an alternative resource Human Services Committee Minutes , 4/ 18/90 Page 5 Interest was also expressed in looking at the need of persons with mental health and mental retardation issues and a discussion of providers who might speak about this , particularly representatives of State agencies , Community Mental Health and Retardation, Inc and McLean Hospital Next meeting The next meeting to begin at 7 will be reserved for a discussion of the Brandeis needs assessment Leonora Feeney and Bob Cushman will be absent when the students give their report Respectfully submitted, Stephen Baran, Human Services Coordinator