Upon arrival at the Browning Room of the Central Library, attendees were asked to sign in and were offered refreshments. The first Area-Wide Resident Council meeting began at 2:15, at which time, attendees were welcomed and provided with general housekeeping information. Introductions were made for: Michelle Motta Local Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Rebecca Adamson VOICES, Inc. Administrative Assistant and Lynne Davenport Ombudsman Volunteer. Roll call was taken with residents from 6 local long-term care homes in attendance for a total of 20 residents present.
Michelle Motta gave a short program on the Ombudsman Program, described her role and provided information on how to contact her. She then fielded some questions from the residents, provided information on their rights pertaining to their concerns and gave information on how they could advocate for themselves or contact her for further assistance.
The floor was open to allow for residents to voice their concerns regarding experiences with METS Mobility. Such issues as having to wait for long periods of time to be picked up, not having the equipment to accommodate large or heavy wheelchairs/passengers on the lifts, arriving for pick-up more than an hour before the scheduled pick-up time, drivers go to wrong door and assume resident not there so left and would not come back. Most residents agreed that the service was valuable to their quality of life in that it enabled them to not be prisoners in the homes, but there was much room for improvement. This was an issue in which the council agreed needed to be addressed further. Michelle Motta was to see about having a representative from METS Mobility attend an upcoming meeting in the event the council wanted to continue with Area-Wide Resident Council meetings.
The Area-Wide Resident Council agreed that it was a good idea to have more meetings and having them quarterly would be sufficient. It was suggested that a formal agenda be provided to the residents and a microphone be used during the meetings. Michelle asked them to think about such things as how they want the council to proceed since it is their group and should be self-directed by them, what they want to accomplish and how formal they want the meetings.
Refreshments were available. Bingo was enjoyed. The first Area-Wide Resident Council meeting concluded at 3:30 p.m. |
