Present
Cindy
Harrington (Shelters of Saratoga), Reed Lehan (Saratoga County DSS), Ardis
Armer (Saratoga County OFA), Veronica Lestage (VNSNY Choice), Katiria Romero
(VNSNY Choices), Elise Mizek (Home Health Care Partners), Kim Swire (Choice/St.
Peter’s), Kathy Leonard (Eddy Health Alert), Kym Hance (Alzheimer’s
Association), Carolyn Crawmer (NCR & NY State Wide), Carole Beauregard
(Care Links), Lois Celeste (Saratoga Senior Center-Community Connections),
Donna Rudzinski (Shenendehowa Village), Diana Martin (Wesley Evergreen ADS),
Rachael Pflieger (SAIL), Richard Amico(Community Hospice), Denise DiNoto
(Consumer Directed Choices), Karen Laing (Health Literacy for All, Inc.), Mary
Ann Evans (Sacandaga Task Force for Senior Living), Jennifer Baldwin (Saratoga
Hospital)
Attendees
were able to introduce themselves and make announcements. Statewide Senior Action Council has a
Saratoga Chapter and they will be having a meeting on 11/19. It’s $15 a year to join. Also, on 11/19 there will be a walk from City
Hall in Saratoga to Code Blue which is housed at the Salvation Army in
recognition of Homelessness Month.
The next
meeting of the Aging & Disability Group will be on December 8th
at the Malta Community Center at 2. This
will be a network meeting. Please bring
brochures and/or information about your agencies to share. We are still looking for ideas 2016. Please let Mary Rickard or Cindy Harrington
know if you have an idea about a presenter or a topic.
Today’s Presenter and Topic
Carole Beauregard will present on Care Links and Lois Celeste
will present on Community Connections.
Care Links
The Care Links program was established in 1996 with the help
of a Robert Wood Johnson grant. In 2010
Community Human Services assumed the sponsorship of Care Links along with
additional support from Saratoga County Office for the Aging. The goal of Care Links is to help keep people
living independently in their homes.
Trained volunteers provide no-cost supportive services to persons 60 and
over in the towns of Ballston, Charlton, Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Malta and
Mechanicville. Services include:
friendly visiting, transportation, handy helping, telephone reassurance as well
as information and referral. They always need volunteers as the list of
individuals who need help is overwhelming.
Care Links also sponsors a Alzheimer’s Support group on the 2nd and 4th
Wednesdays at 1 pm at the Christ Reformed Church located at 1010 Rte 146
Clifton Park.
Community
Connections
Seeing a need for volunteers to help seniors with
transportation, shopping, information and referral, respite help and check-ins,
the Adult and Community Center of Saratoga with funding assistance from the
Saratoga County Office for the Aging, launched Community Connections last
February. Their primary mission is to
help seniors age in place safely. The program recruits, trains and deploys
volunteers to assist seniors. Volunteers are recruited from the community,
trained and matched with care recipients.
Volunteers can assist with tasks
that appeal to them and can set their own schedules. Volunteers are always needed. With this being
a relatively new program, they are actively recruiting volunteers as the need
for help is great. Community Connections primarily assists
individuals in the Saratoga Springs/Wilton area.
No comments:
Post a Comment