Virtual Meeting 3:30-4:30
Attendees: Deirdra Murphy, Michele Melanson, Susan Ellis, Allison Hepler, Polly Shaw, Janet Persen, James Peavey, Marla Davis, Barbara Reinertsen, Kelly Brochu, Elizabeth Libby, Joel Merry, Karin Sadtler (had to leave early)
New Steering Committee member Elizabeth Libby introduced herself. She works at MidCoast Hospital in the Community Health Department.
Karin reported on Volunteer Transportation Program. People Plus has been informed of Arrowsic’s and Georgetown’s launch of the independent VTP. Drivers have been recruited and put into the system. Karin and James held two training sessions, learned from the first and made improvements. Georgetown has 4-5 fully vetted drivers. Arrowsic has 3 with two more potential drivers. Next step is to develop promotional materials; need to update forms to show changes to insurance coverage, which will now allow things like drivers bringing grocery bags into passenger’s home.
Marla said, Woolwich would be interested in working to bring Woolwich into the VTP. Allison agrees. They asked Karin and James to mentor. They will discuss offline. Allison said Danny Everets, who is Woolwich EMS Director said he is interested in setting up infrastructure of VTP. Michele said, she has clients in Woolwich who need transportation; there is a need and she will send people to Allison and Marla once they are ready.
James says they have had a great team helping them out and couldn’t be as far along if they did not have them. Jim said Karin has taken the lead on this program and developed all the material. Marla has also been an essential part of the team. Michele mentioned Deirdra, Susan and herself as contributing and emphasized that it takes many hands. She thanked Karin for her unbelievable effort.
Deirdra said that there are people interested in the VTP in West Bath; she is meeting tomorrow with someone there. Allison mentions that Julie House is the Town Administrator for West Bath and also a Selectperson for Phippsburg. Deirdra will talk with her. Susan said that she had spoken with July House about the VTP in Phippsburg and gotten no response. Susan will be meeting with some people from Phippsburg to discuss the VTP. They are still looking for a ride administrator; one driver is signed up so far but not vetted.
James was at the United Way today and gathered some materials and has more. He asked that everyone should think of handouts/resources for riders. Michele mentioned the new Comfortably Home brochure that just came out. She and Jim have 211 handouts and more. We will talk about what to include at our next meeting. James said he wants to get our VTP listed on the 211 resource card. Michele said this is a great idea. Deirdra asked Elizabeth if she has information that she might want to add. She mentioned Maine Health Find Help, which we might want to include.
Deirdra says, AARP Challenge Grant has come out; we have gotten a couple of them. She listed the areas that we can apply for. We may want to think about a Community Challenge Grant. Bowdoinham did backpacks full of everything you need in case of an emergency.
Michele talked about the Emergency Management Team and Chief Booth. Working with them perhaps we could put together backpacks for people in each town using Bowdoinham’s backpacks as a model. James talked about what Georgetown did for Emergency Preparedness. This included a list of people who would want to be contacted in case of an outage for assistance in getting to emergency shelter. They also have people who have volunteered their homes as places people can come for emergency shelter.
Michele talked about RAVE (https://sagadahoccountyme.gov/departments/emergency_management_agency_and_board_of_health/emergency_notification.php) which was discussed at a meeting she was at today. RAVE is a place where you can get emergency preparedness info. Allison said one of the best things is that you can filter the areas and types of info you want to receive.
Deirdra said that we are running low on rack cards. We may want to revise. Barbara and Jess worked on this last time. Deirdra asked Barbara whether she would be willing to spearhead this again. Kelly has the program for the design. Deirdra will send the file to Barbara and Jess for review.
Barbara talked about the VTP and how we communicate. We do not want to deluge people with all of the info about training, etc. right away so want to talk about what we are going to say in our promotions.
Marla said she felt that for providing info about resources to riders, we should not give people materials they don’t want or need. Drivers should make an assessment and hand out what they want/need. James agrees that this is what we should do, but that drivers should always hand out the 211 resource card. Michele said that she cannot understate enough that when you are a volunteer driver, you are not the professional, so it will be important to always have a team member to lean on for information and support.
Susan talked about social media and the website. She now has access to the original Age Friendly Communities of the Lower Kennebec FB page, which we will be using going forward (the new page Susan had created is in the process of getting merged with this one.) Susan said we need a strategy for the website going forward. Deirdra will set up a meeting with her, Michele, Susan and Kelly to discuss.
Susan set up a meeting with Janet, James, Karin and Allison for Monday to discuss the photo contest, which will be used to support social media and the website. Meeting will be held on Zoom and subcommittee will report to steering committee at February meeting.
Polly asked about volunteers for the VTP for Bath. James said Bath needs to participate and provide an administrator to get involved. Polly asked for more information.
Marla brought up free walking for community members at the YMCA. She knows that it is a useful program; people are interested. Marla said it is time to refresh the poster. She will work with marketing person, Andrew Francis at the Y to do this. Program is Tuesday and
Thursday 1-2; anyone can come, sign in and walk on the indoor track where it is warm and safe. Marla will also refresh people at the Y about the program.
Next meeting February 13 at 3:30; we will make it in person to put together materials for the rack card and VTP.
Comments