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PKS Council on Aging Meeting Minutes – January 2024

Fireworks in a dark sky

Written by

Cindy Schersching, PhD

in

Here is a summary of current topics discussed at the PKS Council on Aging meeting on January 9, 2024.

Community Outreach

Emphasis in the coming year will be on raising awareness of our name, vision, and what we can offer.

  • We will be speaking to the Women’s Club, the Garden Club, and History Club – and any group that would like a presentation.
  • Michelle Powers agreed to speak to the Garden Club; Susan Phillips will speak to the History Club; Cindy Schersching will speak to the Women’s Club.
  • We will also reach out to local churches.
  • The Library has indicated an interest in partnering with us; at minimum we would like to display our brochure.
  • There may be opportunities with Leon Mann TBD.
  • We have a presence in all town sponsored activities and plan to be visible in the hallways/lobbies with materials prior to town meetings.
  • We will continue to have brochures in key places, e.g., Town Hall, Hotel Alice, and Spoondrift Market.
  • We would also like to link our website with the Town’s website.

Forums for 2024

The number of forums offered will be 2–3 times greater than 2023. They will cover a wide variety of topics. The presentations will be videotaped and available on our website, on Facebook, and on YouTube.

Mike DiLauro and John Clarke will oversee the expansion of topics, line up speakers, advertise the dates, and videotape the presentations for our website, Facebook, and YouTube.

  • We are looking for a third individual to volunteer to take care of refreshments for each session. Expenses will be reimbursed.
  • Topics being considered include: Nutrition, medication safety, life documents (these could also help frame dialogue with the hospital); medical insurance planning and coverage; estate planning; “I’m dead, now what? Preparing for the end.”

Resident Data Collection

A key strength to the services we are working hard to provide depends on data. The data should be obtained from surveying a comprehensive listing of all residents.

I would like to create a master database of every household in PKS with codes that describe the household’s characteristics, e.g., full and part-time residents, families with children under 18, retired vs. still working, etc.

Residents would be asked to respond to different surveys throughout the year.

  • We will need help from the Town to accomplish this.
  • Once we work out database details, I’d like to draft a more comprehensive survey than we did the first time. We will explore the “quality of life in PKS.”

This will be an active year and I am hopeful all will find ways to participate.

If you have additional ideas to explore, please voice them. We grow with new ideas and collaboration.

Agenda

We had Jason Baker, our Fire/EMS Chief, speak to us in December. Given the value and depth of his knowledge, he kept us engaged throughout the meeting and we didn’t attend to any other items.

Since it is the beginning of the new year, it seems like an appropriate time for us to review our past efforts and talk through ideas for this coming year.

I would like to talk through each initiative in some detail…but keep the discussion of each initiative to no more than 30 minutes. We likely won’t get through the entire list, and it’s OK if it spills into our February meeting.

I’m hopeful everyone is willing to contribute to the discussion. The emphasis should focus on Goals/Messages and Next Steps. This may mean trimming our list of initiatives and adding new ones. Let’s see where the discussions take us.

Currently, we are working on Gathering Places, Lists of Service People and Medical Professionals, Transportation Issues, Forums/Education, Food Security–Meal Delivery, and opening a dialogue with the Hospital.

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