 Hey, John. Hi, Hailey. Hey, Jean, how's it going? Good. How are you? Not too bad. I'm hoping that my camera is fixed. We shall see. Yes, I hope so. If it's not fixed, what I might do, I'll just have to raise my hand if I have to shut it off, but keep your fingers crossed. Yes. Looks like it's working now. I know. Don't jinx that. Knocked on wood. Hey, Becky. How's it going? Good. How are you? Not too bad. How much time do I have on the agenda? I actually didn't limit your time because that was intentional. Hey, Jen. How are you, Jacqueline? I'm fine. How are you? Not too bad. Sort of fine. Sort of fine. Is that kind of day the weather's not great? Nope. But it is. But it exists. Yes. As best as I can say. How are you? Well, I'm a little tired and running around all day. But but the good news is, Jean, my car is fixed. Excellent. I'm happy about that. Makes a difference, especially in weather like this. Oh, God. Yeah. That was ugly out there today. Yeah, the beginning of the day was horrible. Yeah. Hi there. Hello there. How are you? We're doing great. How are you doing? Doing great. Do you still have your Christmas lights up, Dennis? Yeah, well, just those. They're a little bit special and they usually stay up until about Valentine's Day, but I've got to get a little bit away from you. Plus or minus a couple of weeks. Yeah, that's all. This season and then some, huh? You got to make up for the drearyness of the of late winter. You know, this is true. You got to do something. So everybody read the report cover to cover. You have it all memorized, I'm sure. I just when when did you send it? Becky had sent it along maybe last week. I haven't know. Haley. Got it right there. A long, rosemary. Haley. Yes. They have my name wrong. They took my name from my email address, but that's my name. What's what's your first name? Rod. Oh, yes. OK, that's the broad. Yes. Oh, yeah. How's that? Very good. Wow. Excellent. Quick. Wow. Yeah. All right. Oh, hey. Oh, how you doing, buddy? Hey, you looked good on camera. Usually because I've got a camera in front of me when you see me. It's a nice perspective. Yeah. It's all about the lighting, right, Dennis? That's what really makes it. Yeah. That's really. Give me another year with Haley. I'll be able to take a selfie. I'm working towards it. You just got to get you got to get the pop socket. It really is. It makes all the difference. A lot of pop socket. Pop socket. You put it on the back of your smartphone like this. And then it lets you hold it. Oh, you get better angle. And you can then you can stand it on its side. It's they're like 10 bucks. And it's not going to fit in the places I normally put it. Then you got to buy all the accessories. And then you can fit it in everything. That's how they get you. Then you can fit it in your back pocket. Right. That's what I'm saying. You kind of can. I'm going to turn on the caption setting. Jacqueline Smith, Chris, so on here. That'll be helpful. Hi, Rosemary. Hi, hi, Dennis. Hello, Rosemary. Yeah, Jacqueline. Oh, Jacqueline, I keep meaning to call you. I think of you so often. You I that goes two ways. This is certainly the sweetest town committee. It just must be. We're a really good team over here. In the interest of time, Jean, do you want to start or do you want to wait? Well, I was just looking down at our list to see who we're missing. I think we're missing Terry, Shad. And I think Christina said she couldn't make it. Yeah. Is that Terry Carr? Yeah, he's in the attendee. Someone just needs to pull him in. Oh, yeah. Oh, excellent. Hello, Terry Carr. Good eye, Earl. Perfect. Earl, do you want to watch all the participants? No, I need to listen. I'm excited for this. Okay. All right. So I think we're just missing. We have a quorum. We have a quorum. Good. Okay. Excellent. Welcome everyone. I'm going to call this special meeting on the council on aging to order. I'm going to take roll call. Persewent to governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. General law chapter 30 a section 18. This meeting of the council on aging is being conducted via remote participation. This meeting is also being recorded. I'm now going to take roll call. And I'm going to take roll call. I'm going to take roll call. Because she wants to double check their video and that their audio is working. That would be awesome. Ann. Burton. Excellent. Terry Carr. Here. Thanks, Terry. Chad. I don't think he's here. No. Karen Helfer here. Jacqueline Smith. I'm sorry. I apologize. Dennis. Right here. Okay. Want to welcome everyone and especially welcome special guest, Becky Bosch from the pioneer Valley planning council. Also want to welcome the age friendly working group members. Folks from Amherst neighbors. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with public comments. We have set aside 10 minutes. If residents. Want to express their views. We will allow up to three minutes, but just ask that you all be mindful. We are going to start the meeting tonight. We're going to begin this evening's meeting with public comments. We have set aside 10 minutes. If residents. Want to express their views. We have set aside 10 minutes. We have set aside 10 minutes. If residents. Want to be mindful. We are looking to keep the lion share the meeting for our. To hear about the report. So without further ado, does anybody have any. Public comments they wish to make it this time. I don't see any. And if anyone wanted to, you would just have to raise your hand, click the hand icon down at the bottom. And we can allow you to speak. Everybody. Good. Excellent. So now we'd like to move on to the presentation of age and dementia friendly project. And Becky, I know you've spent it many, many hours working on this and we're excited to hear what you have to say. So. Take it away, Becky. Thanks and thanks for having me today. Thank you. So. Generally with these meetings, I kind of go through the report. To get comments on that, but I did. Create a presentation. Just to give a little bit of background and. Look at some of the goals and actions for several of the chapters. I don't know if we'll get through all of them, but. If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt me at any time. If you have general comments about the report that, that you'd like to share questions or anything that you think was left out. Cause that's, that's the purpose for this meeting. And I hope, I hope most of you had a chance to look at the report. I did send a link and I sent the. The full. Report out as an attachment. So I think I have, I can share my screen. So I'm going to go through all of them. This is to talk about the community assessment action plan. As most of you know, we have been spending the last year or so on this report, even a little bit more than a year. With a number of community engagement activities, including a survey, which we had about 900 responses. And several public forums. We had a number of public forums. We had a number of public forums. We had a number of public forums. So in the public forums that we had. But just a reminder that we, this report and the survey were organized around these nine domains of an age and dementia friendly community. So just looking at these. The built environment is often, you know, covered by in town plans and, you know, housing production plan, transportation plans. So I'm going to go through, you know, the different sectors of the report. And in those types of reports. So just to reiterate that this. The social environment and the built environment are all important to, to healthy aging. So I'm going to go through the different sections of the report. And mainly look at the goals and actions. And then look at the priorities for the next three to five years. And then what we'll do is create an executive summary with, say the top three priorities for each section. That can be distributed more broadly. And, and then we'll also create an action plan that looks at. You know, who potential partners are or leads on certain actions and. And, you know, timelines for, for those actions. So just to start off the dementia friendly community goals and strategies. These were separated out because. Really a dementia friendly community is all about building awareness of the existence of people with dementia and. And, you know, how to communicate with people with dementia. And so I'll go through these goals and strategies first. And I'm going to stop after each section just to see, get any comments and thoughts about, you know, if this resonates with you or if there are any priority goals and strategies that you want to highlight in an action plan. So the goal for this one is to build awareness, acceptance and a culture of support for people living with dementia and people who care for them. And actions are continue to encourage trainings on how to recognize the signs of dementia and communicate with people with dementia for all municipal staff. I think some of those are already happening, but this is just to sort of put it in words. And then hold dementia friends trainings for community members as well as all sectors of municipal government and public facing businesses and organizations. And recruit volunteers to become dementia friends champions who can provide trainings. So that's a dementia friends is, is organized and run by the Jewish family and children services. And those trainings are available to anyone. And it's a great way to sort of spread that out in the community. And third work with the triad program partners, police, fire and emergency services to develop a registry of people living with dementia or other health concerns and encourage people with dementia and family members to register for this list. And then identify and reach out to family caregivers to connect them with support programs and opportunities for meeting with other caregivers of people with dementia. And then continuing identify respite care opportunities for family caregivers at all income levels. And connect people to these resources. Identify memory cafes and other programs for people with dementia in the area and availability for residents of Amherst to participate. Continue to raise awareness about dementia and available resources for people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and continue to expand services and programs for people with dementia and their families through partnerships with Cooley Dickinson Hospital and other health and social service agencies. I'm just going to pause and see if any of those goals and actions resonate and what your highest priority might be in that area. Feel free to unmute and we'll have a little bit of discussion for each area. There's one that I'm looking for and my eyes are playing tricks on me because I've been on the computer for about an hour. But connecting them with people other than in formal programs. Maybe people who are not directly related. And I'm asking that because I'm working with somebody in another state and one of the things getting outside of residential care settings. And something as simple as asking about connecting with people from her church. I'm not sure that any programs do that, but it brings to mind that question for me. So you're suggesting sort of support groups for people? Not so much, well, support, but not formally support. If there is some sense, because she continues to talk about how she feels caged in and keeps longing for her house. And we've been through this a number of times. And I just wondered if there's any way to stretch their wings for a minute or two someplace outside the house. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the strength of. The institutional setting. Okay. Yeah, that's a good comment. Yeah. And that might be sort of the memory cafe area. Sorry. Sorry with someone else. Okay. Somebody needs to mute themselves. Sorry. That's okay. Jackie, are you thinking I have a couple of thoughts. I don't know if you're thinking this is an interesting thought. I don't know if you're thinking that people could somehow be attached or be connected with somebody who helps them navigate like how to reach out to people in their church or how to. To either be that person to go do those things where they get to stretch their wings or connect them to others who will help them do that. I think. Yeah. That's a good comment. Thank you. Thank you. A little bit of the ladder. Person is was a music multiculturalizing music teacher at the college level. And that connection. And there are two things that I hear coming from her. One is that. Because of the nature of the place where she is, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, while she appreciates the staff at the service people, there's not somebody who looks like her that she can have a shared conversation in certain ways with. Yeah. And the other thing is feeling confined to the building. And I don't know. I know that there probably are some legal implications or I don't know if there might be some legal implications. But I can't give her any hope. Her daughter is a playwright and travels throughout the country and she's not able to be there a lot. And she doesn't have people. In the community necessarily. Who know her quote know her. And that sense of connectedness. Is missing. Yeah. And it creates depression. Yeah. Well, and maybe this is on a much smaller scale than probably what you're thinking, but with Amherst neighbors, we've just started working with the pioneer Valley memory care initiative where we link people. Link volunteers with members who have who are experiencing memory loss. So those volunteers could very much do what you're thinking, what you're talking about. You know, it's basically, we've got a bunch of volunteers and then we have a subgroup of people who are interested in being matched in this way. Okay. It is the kind of thing that we can do. Presuming we get kind of a nice, healthy, robust volunteer group. And they're, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, and they're matched individually, but that would be something that would be really great to be able to do. I agree. It's hard. Liz, do you use technology to do that? Cause I know there are a lot of. There are a lot of platforms out there that. You can develop. And I know this because I've done it for my aunt who's in rural Vermont. And, you know, you know, you can have a lot of people sign up for it, but you can sort of post what's needed for someone and then other people can sign up for it. You know, like someone wants to go see a musical concert. Is there anyone out there who could bring them, you know? So you sort of, you work, you tailor it to people's interests and then. For the volunteers, they, they, they actually have something they can sign up for that. They might be interested into. Yeah. I think that's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that Anne's had her hand up for a while. Yeah. Go on. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, Ann. I just wanted to tell you that some years ago. We had a neighbor who had dementia and. Everyone on the block knew about it. And said, who can devote one hour, one day a week to take a walk with. To reading with, to, you know, becoming company. And this was a very active woman, woman with early onset dementia, but we actually had people who took her out on bike rides and she was out and doing. Yeah. Yeah. Organize the neighbors. So I, I recognize that Amherst neighbors does a wonderful job, but often these are volunteers outside of the community and there are legal restrictions on them. Whereas when you're just doing a neighborly thing, you don't have to worry so much about the legal restrictions. So I'm, I'm making a suggestion that it's possible to organize neighborhoods blocks. This is what she, excuse me for cutting you off, Ann. But because she, she misses. She's not really able. And I had to help because I said, my day may come at some point in time. And her daughter called for me to help when they were needing to make the transfer. And my friend describes it as her having been kidnapped. But she misses gardening. And the neighbors coming by to admire her garden. And she there's that sense of real connectedness. She's not a technology person. And in fact, the phone isn't, I think that's probably about, other than the piano, that's about as much technology as she involves herself in. But I can, I can feel, I can feel the, the life declining, not just the memory, but the life inside of her. Yeah, you're making some really good points. And, you know, depression often comes with dementia and, and it's a, it's a loss of, of your regular daily life. Isolation. Yeah. Yeah. Isolation. So I will add something there. I'm not. Have to play with the wording, but I appreciate those comments. And it just goes to show, you know, there's, there's a need for, for this, I think in every community, but. Yeah, thank you. Are there any other comments on. And anything that you're already doing that, you know, we don't need to include in here. Can you flip back to the four things that came before this? Yeah. Earl, I'm curious what you see. Sorry, I'm meeting a PB and J. Can you just reiterate the question for me? I'm just curious what Chris has seen in terms of the outreach that you do and coming in contact with people with memory loss. Yeah, I think there's a lot of education to be done in the wider community. I think people don't have a sense of what it takes to be a caregiver. And I think that is a unique drama for folks. And I think folks don't necessarily really understand how dementia works. And so I often will hear from people that someone is behaving in a certain way. And when you arrive, you realize that this is such a clear case of someone doing their best with, with real gaps in their memory. Yeah. And, and we see that actually fairly frequently. I would say we're, we're in Haley's office. Talking about a case several times a week. And it's been like that from our very first week. There's a profound loneliness. And in that community that, that something, something needs to make an impact. We're doing our best, but it is, it is, it is vast. Absolutely. And I think, I think we can cross off the memory cafe portion of these goals or action plan. That's something that we started back in late November with a handful of people and we've had up to 30 participants. From all walks of life. Earl's right. There's a lot of isolation that's been exacerbated by the pandemic and people don't realize that caregiving, it's, it's a 24 hour job that you're not getting paid for and people don't recognize and a lot of people, employers or, you know, your, your school, they, they don't recognize what's involved. I think when people think of, well, I need time off to care for my infant, people have a general conception of what that's like, but they don't understand the other side of caregiving, which is working with somebody who's older and the unique needs that they have. The other piece I'd add is. People also don't give the proper weight to, that the caregiver generally had a profound relationship with this human being their entire lives that they're, they're often watching their parent. And that is a hard place to be for any human being. And so that's something that I've really been enlightened to. I mean, I think I, I feel like I thought I knew that, but I don't think I felt that. And over the last year in Amherst, I have felt the profound weight of folks feeling unsupported as they watch someone who, who was, you're often seeing a parent they loved and who care for them there. It is, it is a unique trauma. And I've sat in living rooms with people and cried. It is tough. It's really sad. Your, your, your parent in that case becomes a different person. And you have to have a totally new relationship with them. And how do you process, I have to take care of my parent, but my parent doesn't know who I am. I have to get to know a whole new person, but I have all my memories. And then on top of that, you've got your own personal life. You've got your own personal life. You've got your own things going on. And it's, it's very stressful. We do offer a caregiver support group. We're looking at doing some more caregiver respite services at the senior center, but we can also connect folks to Highland Valley elder services. They have their own respite care program for caregivers. So we would certainly encourage people to reach out. If they need help with that. Okay. Thank you. Becky, was there any reach out to faith communities at all? Have they been. Included or, I mean, I would think they, they could. Added to the network. To help support folks. That's a good point. I'll put that in as a recommendation. I know we did. I think they were on the list for the, the working group, but I don't know. People are pretty busy and, and I don't, I don't know if many attended, but. I think, you know, collaborating with the faith community to, to provide that connection. And, and also to hold some educational trainings for people in the, in that community would probably be good. Okay. Kay has her hand up. Oh. Oh, and Jennifer does too. I didn't see. I only see a few people on my screen. Let's take Jennifer and then Kay. I think Kay had her hand up before me. So she can go first. Go ahead. Kay. Sorry, I can't see on the screen. And I'm a resident at 23 green leaves. And I have recently assumed the responsibility of being a caregiver for a woman who. Has a mild dementia. Her daughter. Who lives in Amherst. She has provided. 20, as she said, seven days a week care for her mom. Four hours a day, I believe, just to do things as. Activities of daily living. She doesn't need any personal care. She manages that on her own. But I think the most important thing in dealing with this person. Is given a lot of stimulation when I'm there. I engage her, you know, she doesn't have very good eating habits. So I'll tell her that I haven't had lunch and would she join me for lunch. So I know that she's eating properly. When the weather is permissible, I take her for rides. And I try to engage her. I mean, she, she's a talker. So that's helpful. But she's cognizant. Of what's happening to her. And I'm finding this a very learning experience because. I used to take her at face value and I used to say to her. Melanie, have you eaten? She'd say yes. And then when I would check with her daughter. She said, don't take her at face value. So, you know, it's for me, it's a learning experience because I'm interested in dementia and. I'm interested in dementia and particularly Alzheimer's, people who suffer with Alzheimer's. But I think that for someone who's mildly has mild dementia. I think it's important to offer. A lot of stimulation and to engage that person so that they don't regress. Further. With their illness. Yeah. And that's. So. In terms of, of a lead for these kinds of things, would that be. Amherst neighbors or just having more sort of educational programs in the community. I mean, educational programs in the community, the way we do. You know, CPR trainings. You know, I mean, what I mean is just there could be education that's provided. To whoever. Or it could be done, you know, neighborhood by neighborhood or. Around certain people, but. And does the town have a registry of people and do you think that's, that's something that's needed. You know, that's been suggested at the mass. Dementia friendly Massachusetts is just developing some kind of registry. I mean, that's mainly for. People who are, you know, At risk of getting of wandering and getting lost. And so that's maybe further along, but. I think South Hampton might have something like that. So that if, you know, people are called. To the home for some, you know, for a variety of reasons, emergency reasons that the. Responders first responders know. Yeah. I think that would be really helpful. And have a little bit of a heads up that that's, that that's an issue. I think that would be really helpful. Earl, do you guys keep track of that? Like when you do get your calls, do you keep track of, you know, people's, whether they have dementia or other medical conditions. Was that for me? Yeah. Are you still eating your sandwich? We do track age and. I would say we track pretty close to 901. About a third of all of our calls. Our seniors. Do you track whether they have dementia or other conditions? Okay. Haley recommended that to us. So we've been doing that from day one. Okay. And who has access to those names. So we would consider them generally part of a public. Part of their health record. We would consider them generally part of a public health record. With dementia being a diagnosis. They shared it through us in the context of, of a support. If, if a registry existed, we would be glad to make that part of our process of asking people if they'd like to register and support them to do it. Yeah. Yeah, we would that. No problem. I do know that through. That the police department does have a very solid idea of, of who these people are. And. I kind of wish that captain young would, would be around on this panel. Because he's got. A solid idea of exactly how extensive that network is. And also who, who has access to it. So is it like a PMT show up? Is that something that's going to be like a little banner? Let me jump. Oh, okay. Never talk to fire chief. No, come on. Jesus. Hey, what, what, what is, you know, we, we have, we do do have an extensive, you know, when we run run into run into these cases, we were, we make, make, make a record of it. In the cat and in the. Our computer aided did dispatch. So it's there. So if, if we go back or if we go or us or, or the police, police go. Then, then we're, we're noted, noted, noted, notified about the history of this particular. You know, a dresser per person, but that's really as far as that information can, can go. We can't really just send some disseminated will, willy-nilly. Yeah. They're, they're, they're very strict. Group group group group of folks that are allowed to have access to that, that type of stuff. Thank you chief. Yeah. Okay. Real quick before we check, I would just say, actually Haley knowing the folks the way she does is probably our best asset. So when, when something comes in Haley's able to give us really useful information really quickly in that relationship between the senior center and public safety really is key. That's great. I'm sorry, I've had my hand up and I want to ask this question. Is there any, I understand that you know of people once you have had an interaction with them. Is there any way that relatives and friends can register? Is there a registry? A way of capturing people who haven't yet become your problems. But I mean, it just seems. This is taking order. The police department has a program. That they initiated specifically originally for wanderers. People have. So they have that list and they create the list of people that they interact with. With dementia. But by law it's kept confidential. It's for their own use only to the best of my knowledge. And yes. I'm not really not talking about that. I am talking about a. A list or a registry somewhere that would let police and fire know where people are. If there were an emergency. If there were an emergency, I would have a friend who I would like to see on a list who has never come to your attention. So it's. To me that the police and fire department somehow need to communicate. To the rest of Amherst. That there is an opportunity. That there is an opportunity. To put someone who is at risk. On a list. No one knows that. And I think that that's something we can collaborate with the council and our, and our cell council branch. And I do want to just take a quick second, you know, Jen's had her hand up. Has it for a while. I think that I think anything within that purview would just be something that we can do as a council and, you know, collaborate with some of our other departments. Cause they are more than willing to do so. And that is a, one of the recommendations here was to develop a registry. So yeah, thank you. Jennifer, sorry about that. I had you on my different spring. No, that's okay. I just wanted to say that I went to a friend's house one day and she had. She had something on her door that said there's a cat that lives here. There's a small, a child and certain people. So I don't know. And it was, I think for the fire department originally, but it just kind of broke down. And so I didn't know if there was a way for folks to distribute that out to the, which might go through salt. Distribute out that form so that people can fill it out and put it on their doors so that people can be aware at minimum that way too. And then I kind of forgot what my other statement, oh, I know what it was now. And this is nothing to do with what we're currently talking about, but I do want to say that I know that. Particularly with the community safety and social justice committee is really trying to emphasize the importance of not just childcare, but elder care. And so I think that in places where you often see childcare, you, we should start to look or ask people to begin to include elder care as well. That's a great idea. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Okay. Jacqueline. Yes, and I'll, I think that Jen Jennifer just said something that I was thinking, especially press when we say, and I don't know what your guidelines are, but I think it would be very important for crest to have that roster of people. Because going to visit people for emergencies that my better deal be dealt with by human services or social service people would be good. Yep. Certainly. And I would also say that for the senior center, I think we, we are the ones who can help people get the resources they need when they do have that diagnosis. And we can work in tandem with crest and we can work in tandem with the fire and police departments. But if people at the senior center now, we can be there for stop. And then I, and then I know Dick's had his hand up for a while. Go ahead, Dick. Yes, thank you. It's an important for us to access the medical community. Because doctors see this. First, more than the average person does. And, and they're looking to help their patients. And, and, you know, within the. Confines of the legal regulations. They're very interested in helping and they, as a community should be addressed. All of, all of the doctors, let alone the, the ones who special, specialize in seniors. Yeah. So it sounds like a, you know, a registry or something could be a voluntary, you know, active, something that people could sign up for voluntarily. And they would just know that the information could be shared with maybe the senior center crests, police and fire. And then you, you all can. Contact those people and make sure they know about resources as well as, you know, so that you know about where they are. Okay. Okay. I'm going to move forward. And also feel free to email me if there's anything else to add, but I think I have some good ideas of, of some other recommendations to add. So in the survey, the main focus areas that people wanted to pop the town should, should look at in the next five years was housing, health and community services, and then transportation. So I'm going to go through at least housing and transportation. I do have health and community services too, but we'll see how far we get. So housing. And these are just a few statistics to, to remind you all of, or to let you know of, if you weren't at the forums, most people want to remain in Amherst and even more want to be able to stay in their own home, either independently or with a caregiver. So there's some conflicting data, you know, I think what we find in this work is that people really want to stay in their homes, but there comes to a point where they can't, you know, and that's where we, we ask if, you know, if, if there was a change in circumstances and you want to downsize what type of housing would you like to move into. And this is where, you know, senior independent living was the most apartment or condo, assisted living and a location close to services. So some people want to stay in their own home. Some people don't, but they have to because there aren't these other options available. So I think that's what we, we came up with there. There are challenges to aging in place. Housing was not available or not affordable for almost 15%. People had concerns about paying for home repairs and home modifications. Concerns about basic home maintenance and paying for utility. So, especially with people with dementia, the longer they live at home, the harder it becomes to be able to stay in their home because of what it takes to manage a home. Some of the other challenges were need help with basic tasks. And that's where I think Amherst neighbors is really helpful. I mean, 8% said need help finding people to do yard work or snow shoveling. So that was a big one. And then 12.5% said they don't have a friend or neighbor to help. So housing goals and actions are two parts to this. The first was making sure there's a range of safe, affordable and accessible single and multi unit housing options. Available to meet the needs of the aging population. So, in this section, I really want you all to think about, you know, what. What could this group do the council on aging or a, a, a, you know, if you develop a working group to implement this plan going forward, you know, what, what's the real, what can this group do in terms of housing? Cause I know there's a lot of, you know, there's a housing trust that, that is doing a lot of this work, but, you know, this, this group could be, you know, maybe called on to advocate when certain housing developments are proposed. So that's where continue to advocate for new housing developments that are universally accessible. Include smaller units and are located within walking distance of town centers. Provide incentives like property tax rebates, flexible parking requirements to bring grocery stores up, something that came up or neighborhood markets. You know, if people do, do live in town centers, they need places to get food. Provide incentives for private owners of first floor rental units to rent to older adults with benefits, including lower rates of turnaround. So that's sort of getting into, you know, the conflict between rental units going to students versus, you know, having rental units available for older adults. Thank you. Becky, just to let you know, Jacqueline had her hand up first and then John has his hand up. Okay, go ahead Jacqueline. There's a concept I came across last year. And I believe it was conversation with somebody in another state. And they call it congregate housing. And that would be probably appropriate for people who are in their early to moderate, whether they rent rooms like you're saying students, but that concept of congregate housing is gaining momentum in some cities. Not all of course, but it really, it resonated because it allows people to stay, if not in their own house, perhaps in a familiar environment and non institutional. We tend to resort to the institutional model because that's what we are most accustomed to. And when people are looking for options, they do what they know and what they need. That's a great suggestion. Yeah, I do know of some examples of congregate housing and that's, it's a great way for people to have that social interaction as well as, you know, maybe have some support within the housing, you know, someone to cook or just to help with basic. Yeah. And that might require advocacy at some levels that we might not have opened ourselves up to or given serious thought to but being creative in that respect. John. Yeah, I have a couple of comments. I'll just comment on what Jacqueline just said. And that is that I don't know if this is exactly congregate housing, although it can be. And that is where an organization or an agency rents a house and then uses it to allow people to have shared living. So they can share tasks of cooking, cleaning and social networking among themselves. But like everything else on Becky's list and it's a good list. This is not a criticism. There's a lot to do. Yeah. Financing is a major issue. Zoning can be an issue as she points out. Later on among the actions and unlike the things that were discussed under goal one. These goals generally are things that take. At least a year and often as many as five years to accomplish. So they're on a very different time scale than everything else. And so the question is. Who's going to do that? You know, what is the role of the town? What's the role of the housing trust? What are the role developers. Organize this and make this happen. Yes. Because it's not easy. You know, just to cite an example. Valley community development will be opening in about two to three months. A studio apartment building. Near or really enveloped in Amherst college. On route nine. And it took them close to five years. And we're talking about a 28 unit building. But that would be a good idea. But that would be an example of the kind of option. That some people would like. Yeah. I'd see an opportunity for a larger development for older adults. On West Pomeroy lane. Where the old golf course is now. Undergoing various kinds of changes. And. I'd like to see support for that. All of this requires advocacy. And organization. And. It's for financing. At the end of the day, the support of the town council. So. Becky, you don't say who's going to do this. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Becky, you don't say who's going to do this. Not yet. Which I, I, I, I'm not critic criticizing you for. But really that's one of the things that we need to decide. And. We need to decided people need to set up step up and say, okay. I'm going to work on this. And I want. Two or three or four or five other people to work on this with me. Because there are opportunities there and there already are some programs. That support this direction. And we have to make sure for those existing programs. That people take advantage of them. And that new programs are developed. Thank you. And I think. Terry had her hand up first and then Jacqueline has her hand up again. Yeah. Okay, I live in an over 55 condo place and I think it is great. We all watch out for each other. We know everybody's kids. Or spouses and, you know, if we see something we can tell them. And we look out for each other. We, this is the only over 55 place in Amherst. And how he doesn't have any, they're working on getting one, but you know how long things take. But I mean. That's what I think would be better. You know, because it's over 55 people, no kids, no parties. And we watch out for each other. So if we know that somebody's slipping, we can say something to them or their kids. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Um, Jacqueline. I agree with the last, I guess, three comments. One, um, what you're talking about something, my daughter who's in Miami is talking about creating a village, intergenerational village, but she's very new at this thing from the ground up. But the vision is there. And I think that is absolute because research has shown what happens to elders who are in constant. Not all, but many elders who are in constant engagement with kids. Um, and so I think, I think, I think that's, that's great. I, I appreciate, um, John's comments too about the reality of it. And, and I think you've done a darn good job pulling this, this together. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I also think that it's important in many communities. Elders are looked at as with an afterthought. And do we need volunteers? Yes. We also need commitment from the town. Uh, elders, their numbers go into, um, making some things possible for the town that quote might not otherwise be able to happen justification, having been a grant writer once upon a time. Um, and so I think that if there's any honor, it need not be superficial. It needs to be action speaking as loud as words, not louder. And they need the elders need to be seniors need to be, um, an ever present, uh, consideration in things that are being done. All seniors in Amherst don't have financial capabilities of some seniors in Amherst. And the question becomes that of whether they are to be included or excluded. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And that's, that's a big part of this whole. Process and project is to really wait, raise that awareness and, and make sure that. You know, older adults are included in all planning processes. Yeah. Thanks. John, you have your hand up again. Yeah. I wanted to make a couple of points. I agree. With what Terry said, which is that there are over 55 communities in Amherst. And I think that, although I'm not part of them, I've known people who live there who see them as very successful. I think the problem for Amherst is that for many people, they're not affordable. And we haven't really developed much in the way of affordable housing for seniors in it, in more than a decade. Most of the new development, like green leaves, for example, have occurred again in the last 10 years. And they don't, they aren't really affordable. Or many people who will need subsidies or need lower rents than are available there. So that's one of the things that we need to work short toward is assuring that new units are affordable. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. Going to the next one. So this one is goals more about. Providing, yeah, providing support and assist with alternative housing models to enable. Sorry, this is adding to take up work to enable Amherst residents to safely age in place. So that that speaks to both aging in home and also aging in community. So continuing to connect homeowners with the home modification loan and grant programs. That are available. Continuing to provide information assistance for older residents in single family homes to get property tax abatements. Provide assistance in education to older adults on housing options such as home sharing or how to design and build accessory apartments for income or housing for caregivers. Consider pursuing a program such as masterly, which screen students to rent rooms from older adults at reduced rates in exchange for assistance with home care, basic tasks. And I was just adding potential people to help with that. Collaborate with Amherst neighbors to understand areas of greatest need for people aging in place. Pursue funding or collaboration with students or other groups to provide additional services where needed. Along these lines, Highland, not Highland Valley, but life path up in Franklin County has a home share program. And so you can rent. And the, the, what you pay for rent varies according to how much help you are going to be for the individual. And it would be great if we could have something like that here. Yeah, Vermont has that as well. Yeah, it's called home share Vermont. Karen. Yeah, I think that connecting with students is a great idea. There's an incredible housing shortage for graduate students at UMass. And what they're building right now is primarily for undergraduates. So that housing shortage is going to continue. So I think there's real potential there. And I, I don't know how we're going to choose priorities here, what the action plans are, but you know, that's one I think should be pretty high up there. Yeah. Oops. Sorry about that. Okay. Yes, I will note that. Yeah, I think, I think there. There's a lot of opportunity with all the colleges and university that you have in the community to, to. You know, where can you find opportunities there to collaborate? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So that's what I have for housing. Did I leave anything out, or is there anything that you want to highlight as priority? I'm just going to put this in editing mode so that I can. Oops, sorry about that. So I can add to these. I'm just going back to this one. So these are all for, you know, making sure that the housing supply and I didn't put a lot of actions there, but they are big ones. So I just want to make sure there's, there's not something I should add there. You want to do that. Sorry, Jacqueline has Jacqueline, you have a hand up. And this is my last one, I hope. I appreciate what you've done. You've pulled together some work, I think that is absolutely imperative for the lifeblood of a given population in the community. One of the things that it brings to my mind, being a clergy periodically, you know, this offers a way of reinventing the question coming to clergy people and church people in my experiences, is how do we maintain church? And one of the big challenges has come that we, it will never be the same. And I think the same goes, it's not just taking place within walls, whether you are in a church, a synagogue or wherever, whatever the worship place, it is not necessarily going to be confined to that anymore. And the question is how do we, how do we engage a thriving sense of living for as many people as possible in being able to reimagine what it means to be an old person and living a fruitful life? And I think you've put forth some ideas to really explore. I appreciate that. Thank you. Chad. Yes, I'd like to second the change of attitude and opinion. None of that is on there. Things like public education, attitude change. But what I raise my hand highest for is a little more, let's see, adjectives that are more forceful instead of continue and, and that sort of thing. You know, I would, I would like to see adjectives that are more stronger for the housing issue. It is such a big issue. It's a national issue as well as local for every town in this, in the country. I'd like to see something in there that says, you know, create linkages with local senators on the housing issue or something that's a little more. Involved in advocacy. Anyway. What page was that? You know, it said continue. This one continue to advocate. It's on the screen. Oh, you have an advocate one. Yeah. Okay. I would say. Let's see. Create new channels of advocacy by. You know, meeting once per month with local senator, et cetera, something like that. Housing, housing boards, H, you. Yeah, H, U, D, HUD, you know, Amherst housing authority, whatever it might be. I'd like to see something in there that is a little more. This is a big issue. Yeah. Also, our, our Senator Joe is working on pilot. The main, you know, anchor institution in this area is not willing to talk to us. They're like the bully on the street. They don't have to talk to us. All the businesses are oriented towards the students. I'd like to see something there that says, you know, you know, again, advocacy or linkages or whatever. To find a way to help. With the issue of absentee landlords. Renting to renting private homes to students. Because what happens is that drives up the cost of a home. And so, you know, People can't, can't live here. Anyway, those are just a couple of issues that I don't see. Without strong enough for my gut. Okay. That here under the rental parts. I'll work on that. John. I just wanted to reiterate something that Jacqueline raised earlier, which is the idea of car get housing, although I wouldn't use that language as I said earlier, I use the language of shared living arrangements. Students throughout Amherst have shared living arrangements. And with some structure, I think that. Again, it would be possible to have shared living arrangements for older people as well. And so I didn't want to lose that idea with Jacqueline had. Introduced earlier. Okay. Jennifer has her hand up. Yes, Jennifer. So I was just to add on to the shared living arrangement. So I foster a woman with disabilities who lives with me under a program called shared living. So I don't. But that's also through the state. So I don't know how you connect with, I mean, these are the parts that I don't know that how we would connect or someone would connect with the states to kind of make that an actual. Program that could happen. I mean, it's run through all multiple different. Organizations. Out here in the community. So I just thought I'd add that. It's called shared living. Yes. So the one I work for is through service net, but I believe BHN has its own additional program as well. Okay. So usually their thing is brain injuries. So I don't know where dementia falls into brain injuries. So. Yeah, it sounds like something that's similar to what the necessarily thing is or. Home share Vermont. It's, it's a similar kind of a situation where people are, are screened, but, you know, looking for assistance. And having someone in their home. Okay. Anyone else have a hand up that I missed. Just moving on. So transportation. We saw that 25% of the respondents walk. Most people still drive themselves. And then 10% had bike or e-bike. Some of the challenges and barriers. Limited options for people that need assistance, getting in and out of vehicles and limited amount of wheelchair accessible drivers. High demand of rides to for image. From immerse neighbors. Because people want the flexibility of rides and personal vehicles. 25% of people walk, but there were many locations where people don't feel safe walking due to poor or no sidewalks, crosswalks or drunk college students. And there were several locations identified in the survey. Need for better snow clearing, especially at bus stops. And a need for benches at transit stops. So goals and actions here ensure that transportation services are available and information on how to use them easily accessible for residents of all ages and abilities. Allow access to food, medical appointments, employment, educational and social connections. So expand hours and service area for per transit services for people who use wheelchairs both public and private. For days when the senior centers close. It's all with mass mobility to determine a possible solutions for ride services. And that's a big challenge. When, you know, ride, when rides to supplement or replace ride services offered by immerse neighbors, I know that's, that's a big, there's big demand for that. So possibly look into contracting with Uber and Lyft. Or to consider adopting a microtransit program. Expand dryer volunteer driver program with Amherst neighbors who are working on their property tax work off program to compensate drivers for time and fuel costs. Just pause here. And hope you're muted. Yeah. I've been talking to several people who, because they no longer drive are dependent on the PVTA system for transportation. They told me because the PVTA system. Is based on usage, mostly by students. That when vacation time or summertime comes around, their transportation options become really limited. So I think perhaps we might look into discussing with the PVTA. The fact that many seniors who no longer drive. Are dependent on the PVTA bus system, which changes radically. With student schedules, student vacation schedules. That's a good point. Yeah. I would just add to that that we should mention that that's the fixed route service. People can still take the paratransit. And schedule a ride that way, but you're right. Once the students go away, the fixed route bus service. It can run sometimes only once an hour instead of every half an hour. Also add to that, that this document also points out. That seniors are not really using the PVTA very much. Which sort of is the contradiction. And perhaps we could make a greater effort to let the senior citizens know that it is indeed free. And if we get the ridership up, then maybe they can actually maintain a consistent schedule across the, across the seasons, even in the summertime when the kids on around. Right. There is another problem for seniors using the PVTA, the ones that do not live in town or downtown. The stops are about a mile apart. And it does mean that in order to get to a PVTA stop, they're walking in the road. That's that's kind of difficult for many seniors. I don't know what the solution is to that, but I think perhaps there might be some consideration to where there are concentrations of older people and having more PVTA stops than one every mile. Something we need to engage in discussion with the PVTA as to what we can do to make it more available for senior use. Yeah, yeah. And I would say going along with that to also look at the sidewalks or lack thereof. Yes. In nearby community, whether it's the communities where folks are living or near where the bus stops are located because there are places in town where you can travel on a sidewalk for a while and the sidewalk just end, but you can see the bus stop ahead and you have to walk out in the street. Yeah, I'm going to add that. I did put in there the complete streets prioritization plan. I know there is a bike and pedestrian plan for the town, but that's that's an area that the town could get some more funding to develop a plan and get some funding for implementation. Yeah, I agree the sidewalks. So. Sidewalks near senior living and are. To get to connect to bus stops. Yeah. Okay. Yes. I just today had an experience of talking to a senior who's 20 years younger than I am on my block. And she told me she had a bad fall. Because the pothole that had been reported multiple times and we have no sidewalks. There's a maybe 10% of the street has a sidewalk. None on either side. So we walk in the road. And although she knew that there was a large pothole that's been there for four years. But she didn't tell me. I didn't tell into it because of the lack of lighting. And I said, Oh, you know, you can go online and report that. And how do I do it? And. It turned out that. Making a report of the sidewalk that needs repair. Is somewhat complex. But I think that's the. Amherst. M a. Gov site. And finding a way to report that there's a sidewalk problem. And just to add to that, I take. A, an exercise class at the senior center and I got called by the woman who runs the class today saying there would be no class. Why? So twice today that, that has just come up in the course of general conversation. There has to be an easier way for people to report problems, sidewalk dangerous sidewalks. And there has to be a quicker way to get them. Repair. Yeah. Okay. We just put that in there. Thanks. Terry. If you have a disability and you have a PVTA card, you can call them and get. A van to come to your house to pick you up. And bring you to the doctors. And then you call them when you're ready to be picked up and then they'll pick you up and bring you home. So you don't have to go to the PVTA bus. Stops. You know. So a lot of my neighbors use that and they come right here and pick them up. Yeah. Yeah, we do have that. I think there was a comment in one of the forums about expanding those hours in service area in case, you know, for people who need to. To go out of town because it's, it's limited, I guess. Yes. Yeah, they don't go too far and they don't go. If you're a, just have a disability, they'll come seven days a week. But you have to plan it ahead. You have to make it. Right. Yeah. Jacqueline. There, this is something. Not on transportation. I just want to know if there's another category that's going to be coming up. This is about use of the landfill. Go ahead. I'm not sure. Well, it's, there are two things that have come up in some conversations. I don't think it's going to be the same. I think it's going to be to use a sticker for a month or 12 months. It's the same price. And I think some. Thinking should be given to that. Not only in terms of, of seniors, but just. Thinking. Probably services. Yeah. Community services, I guess. Okay. Are you saying because some people don't live in town all year. And even if they live in town, if they don't use the service until X. Point of time. There should. Yeah, it's like if, if you buy. Stickers for some other things. They pro rate it. Okay. Time that you don't use. Okay. I'm making a note about that. Yeah, that's through the DPW. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to check, Haley, have you been looking at the people not it currently panelists to see if anyone else had comments? I have. Yes, I have not seen anyone raise their hand. And I may as well point out that our meeting is scheduled to end at about six 30. So we've got about 15 minutes. But maybe we can continue this at another time. If there's interest. If there's any other questions, any other questions, any other questions, any other questions, any other suggestions to go through. So I'm happy to come to another meeting or. Take comments a different way. But I think this has been a really useful. Definitely. Yeah. I can move to buildings and outdoor spaces or do you want to have more you need to cover Haley for your meeting or. No, I'm happy. I think the flow of this conversation has been really good. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay, so buildings and outdoor spaces, some assets where. There's a self assessment and transition plan in place. The town's been successful in getting funds for shared streets and spaces projects. There's miles of trails and several shared use paths for safe off street walking or biking. And then small neighborhood parks. Some challenges were not much accessible parking near the bank center and some comments that the bank center is outdated and small. And many people expressed the need for a new senior center. And the need for more benches and outdoor gathering spaces in town centers. So. I think the goal provide opportunities for use of public buildings and outdoor spaces by all, by people of all ages and abilities. And so I have planned for an expanded community center or senior center with ample parking and universal design. I want to make sure that's a priority. It just seemed to come out of some of the comments. Yeah. That's a key point. The next slide. For the new public buildings and the public buildings. There are some connections to trails and conservation and recreation areas. Adopt universal design standards for all new public buildings. So that's, you know, planning, not, not adding ramps later, making sure, you know, buildings have no step entries and, and are accessible by everyone from the beginning. of difficulty, accessibility, and amenities, such as picnic areas, accessible restrooms, so make that available online in hard copy form. Continue to create plazas or park pocket parks and identify locations for benches in downtown spaces to create more comfortable and inviting outdoor gathering places and expand recreational programming for older adults to encourage greater activity and social connections. I'd just like to see that number five expanded to say in every village center. It kind of looks like it's just talking about downtown. Yes, okay. Because there's six or eight village centers. We need them where the people are, not just in downtown where I am. Right. Okay. Thanks. John. I just wanted to reinforce the idea that there needs to be a senior center in town. I think the lack of a senior center is a significant problem for us. I actually had a conversation with the town manager probably at least a year ago and it kind of left me under the impression that he at least had an interest in having a subcommittee that would work on planning a new senior center. But I haven't heard anything from him since. So I don't know, Haley, if you've heard anything about that. Yes, well, thank you for saying that we need a new building. I do think that the town manager is amenable to that. And, you know, he and I have had discussions about how we can renovate the space. What can we do differently? What modifications can be done? So he's certainly willing to work with us on that. Great. All right. Is he talking about a different location or just working on the bank center? We're painting in broad strokes right now. I think there are some other constraints on the town. But the fact that he and I are having these conversations regularly is the thing to take as a really good sign. Yeah. Okay. Great. So that can stay as the number one action here. Okay. And I would actually, for number four, we have at the senior center, a trail guide of all the accessible trails and Amherst volunteer actually put it together for. So it's available in print. We have a PDF. All people have to do is just get in touch with us and we can get it to you. It's really beautifully done and it has all the information that they need to find those trails. Yeah, really, they did a great job. Yeah, they did. Great. That's great. So I'll just say publicize the map. We can put that further down. That's great. You have one. Yeah, I like that you have the parking listed with that number. Okay. Yeah. Because that's how I assume the 50% of the respondents on this survey and get there. I didn't put, yeah, I'll add parking to that. Number five, isn't it? Oh. We're going to head to you. I saw it was something you just deleted, I think. I'll just add that there. Yeah. It definitely needs the parking bike racks, whatever. Okay. Great. Could we also perhaps add under number six, not only the expand recreational programming, but spaces for recreation. For example, pickleball is really popular. And for the best of my knowledge, there's nothing in town other than a private facility that has courts. Kendrick should have bocce ball. Well, I think there's a variety of things that, you know, when we put our heads together, we could come up with. So I think that would go a long way in helping seniors connect, particularly post COVID. We appreciate outdoor activities. Get some parity with the kids and all the playgrounds. Good idea. John, did you have something else? No, I didn't. Sorry, I should have put my hand. That's okay. Okay. We can get to one more section and then I think probably that's as much as we can do. So health and community services. Ensure that older residents of Amherst have access to health care and community services that support their ability to live long and healthy lives. Some of these came under aging in place, but it goes back to Amherst neighbors. So explore the possibility of working with other service organizations, colleges and universities or schools to assist Amherst neighbors, volunteers with meeting the needs of older residents who have signed up for help. And if Liz is still on, I want to make sure that works for you. Explore a collaborative arrangement with UMass School of Nursing and other programs to fill the home care needs of older residents. Explore the feasibility of developing neighborhood circles within the Amherst neighbors program where neighbor volunteers help other neighbors with basic tasks such as shoveling snow. Work with healthcare providers at Cooley Dickinson and other hospitals to establish a system of care coordination for older adults. Connect the CRUST program with Amherst neighbors and the senior center to ensure that older residents in need are connected with the services they need. I think that's probably. It's already in the works. Yeah, happening. Okay. Should we take that out or? I would, I think. Yeah. Okay. Identify resources to provide respite care for family caregivers. And you're kind of already doing that Haley or? Yeah, I mean, we can, we can definitely refer people if they call us. We're happy to work with people. So we know what they are. Maybe just we can publicize that a little bit more. Yeah, publicize instead of identify. Okay. And yeah. Expand support networks for people with dementia and care partners and include people with these experiences and program development. Kind of talked about that earlier a little bit. Do we mean senior center programs or other types of programs? Both. It sounded like, yeah, I mean, before we were talking about, you know, faith communities, I think, you know, as the need is going to be growing, I think the more, the more networks there are the better. So I'll just put that down as. Senior center and faith. And then I anywhere, even the triple A it's like. Yeah. Highland Valley and so on. Yeah. And I would include the pioneer Valley memory care initiative in here. Okay. Coolie deck. Yeah, I have that under. So what should I include? I saw that elsewhere. After Highland Valley because other things that might come up. That's good. For the memory care. Liz, are you talking about expanding that or how, how do you want to include that? I mean, the hope is that it will grow. So yes. Okay. So you're talking about. Service organizations or, or. Well, it's actually the way it's organized right now is it's with villages. So it's really deck in collaboration with. The local villages. Okay. Advocate for Medicaid reimbursement of higher wages for home care and home healthcare workers to build a more consistent and sustainable work force. I think that's sort of in the works at the state level, but. Yeah. Well, I would, I would add workforce development, not just for the reimbursement, but to actually have more PCAs and HHCs. That's kind of interesting because I think when we talk about housing, I think one of the reasons why people cannot remain in home in their homes is because they need. A significant amount of care. When you do the math, it's just too expensive. And so there's a place where I think. You know, you might have like a co-housing type set up, but you had. Caregivers who could. Somehow be connected to those places. I'm not. Being literal, but it just. I think. A way that care can be built into a housing model. There is. There's actually a report there. There's actually a report. That recently came out that I just got from. The mass healthy aging collaborative. And it talks about supported housing. Yeah. Working. Yeah. Okay. I might move that to the housing. Suction. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So. Even, even. Caregivers getting overwhelmed in the home, taking care of a family member. A home health aid that can go into that home and. And provide extra support. Sometimes the policies don't allow it because of income and so on. And when you have a 70 year old taking care of a 90 year old. It's not just for home care. So we need policy change at some level. Yeah. That really works for families. And if I could just chime in, it's not just for in home care. There's study studies that have come out. Residential care. And one of them was captioned. Medication being chemical. They refer to chemical. And they refer to it as. Quiet as it's kept and as quiet as we like it to, to be. As noisy as we not like it to be. That's a reality. So what, what would that recommendation be? Resources. Make it affordable for people to live. Health. Whether it's in an institution or in a shared home setting or otherwise. Are you talking about the ombudsman, the. No, no. Older people's ombudsman who examines these things. I don't know off the top of my head who, but what the. Practitioner per patient. They don't have sufficient numbers. It does not. Result in affordability for the owner of the business. And so that there's a. There's very. There's an over. An excessive number of patients per care taker. And it, and in order for, I, I have. Set with elders in the senior home. And it's essentially a good place, but I've, I've sat there and. And a woman called out for almost an hour that she needed to use the toilet. And nobody was able, they couldn't get to her. And they were not pleased. Which, you know, I can understand the frustration. It's frustration. On all parts. So it's like having a way that we can engage in conversation where, as they say in business. It's a win-win situation for everybody. And I don't know economically how you make that happen. Because the number of seniors needing services continues to increase with. My generation. Yeah. Well, I think it's going to have to be a legislative change or, you know, more coverage by Medicare, you know, right now Medicare doesn't cover home care, you know, it's only Medicaid that covers home care. Okay. Well, it is 630. I don't want to keep you all, but. Thank you. Thank you. Do any, John, did you have one last comment? I had one last comment and that is underlying a lot of our conversation as a principle. Called the least restrictive alternative. When you talk about people wanting to remain in their homes. Or. Stay out of institutional care. The principle of least restrictive alternative. Really is something that. You know, it's a lot more restrictive to keep somebody in the public. Because there's no money. There's not much tax money. Doing that. But if you live at Applewood or something like that, which is. You know, A more capital intensive. You know, I think it's a lot more restrictive. You know, I think it's a lot more restrictive. You know, I think it's a lot more restrictive. You know, a more capital intensive. You get those choices. Seems like we're always going to run into that one. Yeah. We need more state support. In elder services, just like we need more housing. Yeah. We need more. Substance abuse treatment. Facilities and so on and so on and so on. Right. I'll just add that. Let's be, let's be firm advocates for the elderly. Yeah. Yeah. Because I is one. Yep. Yep. Gotcha. Great. Great panthers all the way. Yep. Okay. I'm going to stop sharing. Did you resend this. PDF. All the changes that you just made. Yeah, this is a right now. Yeah. I'm not going to resend it. I'm not going to resend it. But I will incorporate these changes into the document. And resend it. And then. Yeah. If, if you have time at another meeting, there's a few more sections, mostly on the social. So it shouldn't take as long, but. Yeah, I will resend the document. And then. Yeah, feel free to send any other comments you have also. Okay. That's good. Thank you, Becky. I'll be. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thanks, Becky. Great work for all your great comments. And to all the 16 people who participated. Yeah. Good meeting. Not yet. I'm going to work one out with Becky. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. I do think there's lots more that. Great to cover. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next meeting is next. Is Thursday, March 9th at five. If anyone else is interested in joining us then, but otherwise is there a motion to adjourn? I saw a move. I saw a move. All in favor. Hi. Hi. All right. Thank you all so much. And have a wonderful evening, everyone. Good night. Bye.