February 7, 2011 Meeting Minutes

Monument Community Partnership

SENIOR ACTION TEAM

February 7, 2011

Present: Deborah McDonald, O.T., Elizabeth Villafuerte-Jones, Mary Lou Laubscher, Wes Laubscher, Vicky Lizarraga, Arlene Phillips Sally Smith, Jean Fadavi, Harold Blair, Mickey Ryan, Catalina Wright, Maxine McCormack, Ellen Breshears, Susan Lawson, Harold Blair, Bryan Balach.

Community Reports:

Arlen Phillips reported that the Monument Corridor Senior Services Outreach Program (MCSSO) funded by a John Muir Health grant is now operating with Vicky Lizarraga as the Senior Outreach Coordinator.

Vickie said that her focus will be education, outreach, presentations, and case management. John Muir wants her to encourage health, safety, and social well-being of isolated elders. Vickie is also doing referrals and follow-ups. Highlights of her first month showed:
     10 meetings with county or community leaders
     8 number of open cases 1 closed case
     54 older adults assisted with referrals: 36 HEALTH;17 SAFETY; 14 SOCIAL WELLBEING
     Number of follow ups 1
     3 Older Adult outreach table events 2 trainings attended
Vickie helped a 92 year old women facing foreclosure due to sweep stakes gambling from Hawaii. She lost $100,000. and was promised that she would double that amount if she kept gambling. Working as a team she was connected with Senior Housing, a social worker, Senior Peer Counseling, a representative payee to oversee her finances, Caring Hands and MCSSO case Management

Latino Senior Peer Counseling
Elizabeth reported that all day training sessions are now under way for bi-lingual seniors. Coming up in the future will be another Latino Senior Peer Counseling group in the Monument area.

Stan Hansen Day in the City was February 3rd. He was presented his Proclamation by the Mayor at the Heartfelt Dinner for Monument Crisis Center,

February 17 Fall Prevention Quarterly Meeting 9 a.m. 500 Ellingwood Way Pleasant Hill.
February 22 Brain Health and Fitness 9 am. to 11:30 am Rossmoor Community Fireside Room –Speaker Ruth Gay, Alzheimer’s Association, Linda Hughes, Premiera Care, Carrol Larhken, Brain Gym Instructor, Dr. Eric Freitag, Nueropsychologist. Call Lindsay at 925-516-8005 for reservations.
February 24 Town Hall Meeting on State Budget with Senator Tom Torlakson 7 – 9 p.m. Pleasant Hill City Council Chambers 100 Gregory Lane
March 25 - . Senior Resource Expo at Crowne Plaza from 8:30 to 4 pm. Jan Walsh will be the keynote speaker at 10 am. There will be many venders and other workshops
April 8 Laugh, Love, & Learn Senior Live Well Forum, 8;30 am to 2 p.m. Pleaseant Hill Community Center, 320 Civic Dr. P.H. call Kendra at 925-798-8788 for information or to reserve a display table

Helpful information on Assistive devices – canes, walkers, crutch, scooters and other assistive devices By Debra McDonald, Occupational Therapist.
Most of her professional work has been in home care. Here are her tips:

• To stay independent – ask per a prescription for a visit to a Physical Therapist so your walker or wheel chair can be fit properly.
• A walker is a two handed piece of equipment. It is not stable enough to use as support with one hand. It is important to use two hands on the walker and two hands reaching to the refrigerator (or whatever) you will be more stable with two hands.
• Turning is often a problem and that is when we might lose our balance
• Hold on to something sturdy when turning.
• A vertical grab bar can make stairs safer. 12 “ or 15” are best.
• A grab bar just outside the door of the tub or shower is very important.
• Bar soap in a nylon stocking saves bending over to pick up dropped soap
• Transfer benches can help you get in and out of the bathtub.
• Hand held shower hose – her example has an extra long hose which makes it very useful (cheaper sets may not have this). There is a swivel connector that is easier to use (Alson’s hand held shower swivel connector at Ace Hardware). There is a diverter fixture to use a regular shower head or a shower hose.
• If using a LifeLine, calling device around your neck put a sticky hook an the edge of the shower low enough so you could reach it if you fall.
• Shower chair can be a big help. Maybe you can sit the small seat in and use your back against the wall to slide down.
• Adhesive Tub Treads can be better for the bottom of the tub than a shower mat. She suggests putting them diagonally Herring Bone fashion on the bottom of the tub
• Replace towel racks with grab bars.
• PVC tapes in different colors … mark with tape on the burner button to show where ‘off’ is. One color can be for on and one for off.
• A “Reacher” is also a valuable tool … grabbing stuff in the dryer, high things,
• There is also a Dressing Stick that helps pull pants up and has a shoe horn on the bottom.
• Be sure to sit down when pulling pants on and off.
• Hook-on lights are good to put on a walker or put up in helpful places in the house.  When using a walker, attach a small basket with ties and Velcro.
• Shelf liners can be used to keep things from slipping ….
• Use a door stop with an extended stick to keep doors open.
• If you get a new bed, consider getting 3” box springs instead of a thicker mattress which makes the bed too high to get off easily.
• You can also purchase a button hook to help button your shirts.
• Straight back chairs are safer than swivel chairs for elders
• Rubber squares halp keep chairsd and couches from slipping.
• Rubber backed square rugs are best
• Elastic shoe laces are available and make it easier to get shoes on.

Ideas for Mickey
Mickey Ryan a nurse with the County Hospital is working on a second Masters Degree. She wants to do an 8 week volunteer program with seniors at risk in the Monument Ccorridor. These are the suggestions our group came up with for her to explore:

• Work with Vickie in the Monument Corridor Senior Outreach Program
• Work with Katia Regis in the La Clinica Senior Program
• Set up an Invite to Dinner Program where isolated elders do not need to eat alone
• Set up a senior to senior Friendly visitor program
• Distribute a shopping list for easy to prepare meals and distribute it widely
• Set up a weekly soup and salad meal for Monument Seniors
• Set up a cooking demonstration for Brown Bag seniors on easy to prepare meals.
• Have a weekly drop in “Talk with the Nurse” program at Keller House (MCP) or Lakeside Apartments.

Parking Lot …
• Rex’s Locksmith on Clayton will give a AAA discount (maybe even free) for seniors who need a car key made.

Future Meetings

3-7-11 Improve your memory by Judy Vared, Age Song
4-4-11 Tips for In Home Care Givers – When to call in a professional by Janet Johnson, At Home Care and Companion Services
5-2-11 Life Can Be an Amazing Adventure by Francoise Buchignawi

Evaluation of This meeting –
Positive – good information (best meeting ever)
     Lollipops from Ellen
     Good ideas
Improve –.shorter (how do you get great information in a shorter time)

Next Senior Action Team meeting – March 3-07-11, 2011 9:30 am. Keller House, 1760 Clayton Rd, Concord

Mission Statement - The Monument Community Senior Action Team represents seniors ages 55+. We actively promote activities to meet senior needs resulting in an improved quality of life for all.