Seniors' Advisory Committee - Minutes

Tuesday, February 09, 2021

9:30 A.m. - 11:00 A.m.

Virtual

Present:

• Glenda Reid, Citizen Representative
• Lorraine Best, Seniors NL
• Devonne Ryan, Public Representative (19-35)
• Deanne Stapleton, Council Representative
• Judy Tobin, Manager of Housing
• Ruby Constantine, Citizen Representative
• Sharron Callahan, Chair (CARP)
• Shirley Ryan, Citizen Representative
• Paul Fisher, Organizational Representative - NLPSA
• Gordon Kirby, Citizen Representative
• Mohamad Abdallah, Organizational Rep.

Regrets:

• Neil Hamilton, CARP

Staff:

• Karen Sherriffs, Manager of Community Development
• Robyn Dobbin, Adult & Seniors Co-ordinator
• Maureen Harvey, Legislative Assistant
• Marianne Alacoque, Transportation Engineering

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1.

CALL TO ORDER

The Chair opened the meeting with a warm welcome to new members

• Shirley Ryan - citizen representative
• Gordon Kirby - citizen representative
• Mohamed Abdallah - organizational representative (Connections to Seniors)
• Paul Fisher - organizational representative (Newfoundland Labrador Public Pensioners Association)

1.1

Confirmation that Committee Members are Agreeable to Sharing Email Addresses

Recognizing the need to protect the privacy of individual committee members and to mitigate any potential privacy breach it was agreed by all present that email addresses could be shared among members.

2.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

• Recommendation
  Moved By Paul Fisher
  Seconded By Ruby Constantine

  That the agenda be adopted as presented.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

3.

ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES

3.1

Adoption of Minutes November 17, 2020

• Recommendation
  Moved By Ruby Constantine
  Seconded By Glenda Reid

  That the minutes of the meeting held November 17, 2020.

  CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

4.

DELEGATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

4.1

Mayor Breen - Committee Check In

While Mayor Breen had intended to be in attending the meeting in person, the recent change to a virtual meeting, arising from the recent pandemic outbreak, has resulted in his decision to postpone attending until in-person meetings can, once again, be held.

4.2

Kelly’s Brook Trail

Marianne Alacoque, Transportation Engineer, attended the meeting and updated the committee on the proposed Kelly's Brook Shared-Use-Path.  

Kelly's Brook Shared-Use-Path is the first catalyst project coming from the Bike St John's Master Plan. The shared-use path will extend from King's Bridge Road to Columbus Drive. It is mostly in place as a granular walking trail today, linking several neighbourhoods through an important east-west greenway that largely parallels Empire Avenue (between King's Bridge Rd and Carpasian Rd, the route will be along Empire Ave). Its goal is to provide an attractive and continuous 4.8 km recreation corridor and active transportation city-centre route, connecting popular destinations and amenities along the way. The shared-use path is proposed for people of all ages and abilities, using all forms of active transportation, including walking, running, biking, and rolling.

The City of St. John's has engaged a highly qualified team of professionals to complete the detailed design of the shared-use path while working closely with city staff. The design team is providing a series of public engagement opportunities for residents and stakeholders to share their input to inform design decisions around elements such as lighting, surface materials, path alignment, trailhead and rest areas, wayfinding, and other features that emerge during the process.

The Committee was informed of virtual engagement sessions scheduled for Tuesday, February 16th and 18th.  They were also directed to a video on the City's engagement page that would bring them through the proposed trail.  It was noted that registration for the engagement sessions is done online.

The Committee was also encouraged to view the video which is located on the Engage St. John's webpage. 

It was agreed the video and the registration links be forwarded to the committee.

Discussion took place on material options options for the trail surface and measures that could be implemented to ensure safety of seniors. i.e. lines etc.  concluded with Marianne informing the group 

Discussion concluded with the committee being informed that the design should be completed with construction to startthis summer.    

5.

BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

5.1

Care Home Services and Alternate Heat Sources

During the Seniors Advisory Committee meeting on November 9th , Sharron Callahan and Neil Hamilton brought forward a report documenting research they had completed on alternate heat sources in care home facilities. The recommendation put forward on this document was that the Emergency Preparedness Team of the City of St. John's assign a staff person to do an analysis of the deficits in heat accessibility in the care home within its boundaries during an outage situation.

Manager of Preparedness, David Day has provided the following update:

Unfortunately, David’s team does not have the ability to complete such an analysis. This is not the City’s jurisdiction and the only influence/jurisdiction that we would have is the national building code and fire life safety code which does not address contingencies for loss of power.

After the last meeting, David did make further enquiries and in conjunction with SJRFDs Fire prevention division he met with a representative of Service NL responsible for private personal/long term care homes.

What has been discovered is that these facilities are required to have an Emergency Plan in place, and this is by legislation. This is a relatively new requirement and implementation is still evolving. Service NL has an advisory committee in place which David and Captain Power have expressed an interest/willingness to be part of the committee and that the City would look favorably at being part of it. This approach if they are successful, will bring more results by being able to influence those who have jurisdiction. They have not heard back from the representative to date, however David will reach out to see the status of this committee.

Discussion took place with the committee discussing the need to understand and review the operations standards for personal care, home care and community care homes, all of which are currently under review by the Province and for which feedback is currently being sought.

While it was agreed that digging in-depth  into operations may not be within the committee's scope of authority it would be good if a sub-committee could investigate further. 

It was agreed that Sharron would reach out to the Province to identify the status of these reviews following which time a subcommittee of Sharron Callahan, Ruby Constantine, Gordon Kirby, Paul Fisher, Shirley Ryan and  Mohamad Abdallah would arrange a follow up meeting. 

5.2

Senior of the Year Award- Update

This award recognizes a senior who has made significant contributions to the community through volunteering, helping others, or participating in activities such as music, sport, recreation, or art.

The current award process within the City is currently being evaluated. For 2021 nominations, the deadline will be May 7th. The Senior of the Year Award would normally be presented during the first council meeting in June to coincide with Seniors Day. Seniors Day is now occurring as a weeklong celebration from September 27th- October 1st.

Discussion concluded with agreement that the following people would sit on the selection committee - Karen Sherriffs, Robyn Dobbin, Devonne Ryan, Paul Fisher, Mohamad Abdallah and Deanne Stapleton.  Robyn will coordinate a meeting of this group in due course.

6.

NEW BUSINESS

6.1

Seniors Week 2021

Seniors Week is an event that is coordinated by a sub-committee of the Seniors’ Advisory Committee. This is an opportunity for the City of St. John's to recognize seniors and provide them with information to improve their quality of life. This is an annual event that attracts members of the public (primarily seniors), community organizations, members of council and the media.

The Seniors Week subcommittee is comprised of the following members: Robyn Dobbin, Sharron Callahan, Ruby Constantine, Neil Hamilton, Devonne Ryan and Christine Fitzgerald (Adult & Seniors Fieldworker).

Due to COVID and the many restrictions the Seniors Week activities in 2020 were cancelled. Many changes have occurred with events/programs and the way they are implemented and therefore the delivery of these events have been assessed.

Seniors Week will run from September 27 to October 1(National Seniors Day). The committee met on Jan 18th to discuss the schedule of events. It has been determined that the theme will be “Conquering Challenges & Celebrating Change,” which will put an emphasis on mental health and overall wellness in the senior population. COVID-19 has affected many seniors, so our goal is to provide them with the information tools and activities to help with their overall physical and mental wellbeing.

Discussion took place with the committee being informed that daily events are proposed and while it will look very different than traditional seniors week activities, each event will require pre-registration. 

A welcomed suggestion was put forward to consider hosting a virtual event with the support of a television station such as TV bingo.  All committee members were encouraged to submit suggestions which will be given due consideration.  

Next meeting of sub-committee is to be scheduled.

 

7.

ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for April 13, 2021 at 9:30 am.  There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:00 pm.