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Meeting Minutes for May 21, 2014

5/26/2014

 
Members Present:
Sandy Grant, Kathy Osbun, Gloria Stubbs, Arlene Irizary, George Irizary, Art Rosenblum, Marc Alexander, David Getzoff and Barbara France


Members Absent:
Ann Walker, Davis Brown, Suzanne deKozan and Dana May Casperson

Call to Order:
The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson’s Support Group of Sonoma County (PSGSC) was called to order by Chair, Kathy Osbun at 10:00 a.m.!

Approval of Minutes:
The minutes of the April 16, 2014, Board meeting were approved with the following correction:

Under Telemedicine Marc reported that another trial at the University of Rochester was under way but it was not yet approved for California.


Treasurer’s Report:
Sandy reviewed the Profit and Loss and Balance Statements. Art has reviewed and verified all financial records for the month.

Kathy received a call from the family of Kathryn O’Brien Lawrence who recently passed away as a result of Parkinson’s Disease. It was their wish that PSGSC along with Hospice from Petaluma be recipients of donations in lieu of flowers.


Programs:
Set-up for monthly meetings: Since meeting attendance has increased we need to make new arrangements for set up and take down. With this in mind, Kathy inquired of a church trustee if we could hire their janitor to do this for us. The trustee took the request to the board and today informed Kathy that we would be able to make arrangements with the janitor privately to do set-up. Kathy has a call in to the janitor and is awaiting a reply. Kathy asked for a motion authorizing her to hire the janitor for the June meeting for whatever fee Kathy felt reasonable. Sandy so moved, Gloria seconded and the motion passed with a voice vote. After the June meeting we will review the arrangement and continue if all are satisfied with the plan.

Exercise class list: After the last meeting where PT Lee Dibble emphasized the importance of exercise for PD patients, some people asked if we might compile a list of exercise classes in the community. Kathy said that she felt that we only knew about two classes, the class at Memorial Hospital and Pam Field’s yoga class and that to list others that we knew nothing about might be problematic.

After discussion, the consensus was that exercise is important and we should emphasize it whenever appropriate but not provide a list of specific classes. Discussion in break out groups might be a better place for recommendations. Individual members could tell of their classes and provide more specific information.

Christmas party: Gloria said that she spoke to the Ukulele group that Arlene had heard last Christmas and they said it was too early for them to set up Christmas dates. She is following up on several other suggestions and going to listen to other groups perform. She will report back with her suggestions


Facilitator Workshop: This workshop will be June 13 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Redwood Caregivers Office at 1140 Sonoma Avenue Suite 1B. There is still time to invite others who might be interested.


TEVA dinner: John Case, the local TEVA rep. has an educational budget so they put on informational meetings like this dinner to be held on May 28. Marc will attend and take brochures from PSGSC and speak briefly about the group.


Program surveys: Marc distributed a sample survey that he would like to pass out at the June meeting. This will guide him in choosing the speakers for the upcoming year. Several additions and changes were suggested and Marc will produce a new survey to reflect the proposed changes. Marc will make a brief statement about the purpose of the survey at the June meeting. The surveys will be handed out and filled in by members at their seats.

Arlene made the motion that we buy 100 pens to be used at meetings for this and other similar uses. Sandy seconded the motion which was passed on a voice vote.


Data Base:
93 were in attendance at the May meeting.

Fundraising:
Mary’s Pizza fundraiser brought $320 plus an additional individual donation of $20, for a total of $340. Round Table Pizza fundraiser produced $225 and though Kathy has inquired, she has not yet heard the amount raised at the Johnny Garlic’s event.

All the events seemed enjoyable to the participants but there was some confusion with the Round Table Pizza procedures. The manager had said that the staff had been trained to ask people who came in with coupons if they wished to donate 20% of their bill, 20% plus some amount, or round up to the nearest dollar from the basic 20%. Not all people had this explanation given and there was also confusion about whether donation jars were allowed.

A discussion of whether to continue with all three or just one or two of them is tabled to the next meeting when more members are present and we have the amount raised at the Johnny Garlic’s event.


Movie night: Marc has received information about a film to be included in the San Francisco Film Festival called “Ride With Larry”. Larry is a 19 year PD patient who rode 300 miles across the state of South Dakota. This is a 90 minute feature film and might be used as a fundraising event. Both the Rialto and Summerfield movie theaters do have fundraising events so this could be a different thing for next April’s Parkinson’s Awareness month.


Telemedicine:
Marc reported that the University of Rochester has focused on telemedicine and several trials are underway. Since each state has its own requirements and standards there is a lot that must be worked out before their findings could be implemented elsewhere. However, telemedicine does seem to offer hope to underserved areas and Marc will report further developments as they occur.


Strategic planning:
Before opening discussion of future plans for PSGSC, Kathy read the mission statement from our brochure. There followed a discussion of where the group might grow in the future. This included ways in which PSGSC might best help its members. The consensus was that education should remain a priority with our strong speakers program, additions to the library and information about PD events, research and clinical trials. The biggest challenge facing the group is our continued growth. Increased size might require a larger meeting place and the additional problem of how to maintain break out groups in ways that they remain small enough to promote as much individual participation as members desire. We also discussed the possibility of supporting smaller groups in areas further from Santa Rosa like Healdsburg and West County. People in these areas might gather in much the same way the Women’s Group and the Men’s Breakfast Group do. They provide support in a smaller setting but their members are still part of the larger PSGSC.

Consensus was that education is a high priority and growth is the biggest challenge. The discussion will be continued at the next meeting when more members are present.

Aware In Care Outreach:
Suzanne, at the April meeting, had suggested that volunteers from PSGSC take the Aware In Care kits into hospitals to familiarize hospital staff with the special needs of Parkinson’s patients. It was felt that at present, the group does not have the credentials for such an undertaking.

Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 by Chair, Kathy Osbun. The next meeting will be Wednesday June, 17, 2014, at Brush Creek Senior Living.


Respectfully submitted,
Barbara France, Recording Secretary

Meeting Minutes for April 16, 2014

5/5/2014

 
Members Absent:
None

Members Present:
Sandy Grant, Kathy Osbun, Gloria Stubbs, Arlene Irizary, George Irizary, Suzanne deKozan, David Getzoff, Art Rosenblum, Marc Alexander, Ann Walker, Davis Brown, Dana May Casperson and Barbara France

Call to Order:
The Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson’s Support Group of Sonoma County (PSGSC) was called to order at 10:10 a.m. by Chair, Kathy Osbun.

Approval of Minutes:
Minutes of the March 19, 2014 Board meeting were approved as read.

Treasurers Report:
Sandy presented the revised budget reflecting the changes made at the March 19 Board meeting.

Arlene stated that she thought that the expenses and income in the budget should be equalized and that the financial books should be set up on a program specifically designed for non-profit accounting. This would, Arlene added, help the group if a big donor came to be interested in supporting the group.

This led to a discussion of what sort of undertakings the group might take in the future.

After discussion, it was agreed that we would allocate 15 minutes at the May Board meeting to discuss strategic aims for the future. After that there might be a special meeting to further refine future plans.

Suzanne then made a motion to pass the revised budget as presented by Sandy, Gloria seconded the motion and the motion was passed on a voice vote.


Programs:
Marc said that speakers for 2014 are set and that he would like to pass out a survey at a general meeting in a few months time in order to gauge the interests of the larger group. This would guide him in searching out speakers for 2015.

Susan Wiegman spoke to the caregivers breakout group at the April general meeting and many felt that what she had to say about how caregivers could help their patients would be very important to the patient as well. Discussion revolved around when to have Susan speak to the PD breakout groups. After the speaker at the Feb. 2015, meeting was mentioned, and Kathy said she would talk with Susan.

Facilitator Workshop:
Sandy reported that the dates available for the Redwood Caregiver Workshop were May 30, June 13 and June 20, all at 10 a.m. Those interested in attending were Kathy, Marc, Sandy, Arlene, George, Ann, Suzanne, and Davis. This group decided that June 13 would be the best date. Those members will also ask members of the group who might be interested to join in the workshop as well.


Publicity and Library Resources:
We received a partial order from the National Parkinson’s Foundation but the Aware in Care kits have been delayed. The orders were confused somewhere along the line but Kathy and Arlene have worked through the confusion and all materials should arrive shortly.


Fundraising:
The Mary’s Pizza fundraiser brought in approximately $340. This is an increase over our last fundraiser in October 2013.

The next fundraiser will be April 24th at Johnny Garlic’s. We can put out brochures from the National Parkinson’s Foundation along with our own brochure. Marc will check to see if there is Michael J. Fox Foundation materials available for placement as well.

Dana May is sending press releases to KZST and the Press Democrat websites. The press release will direct people to the PSGSC website for coupons to present when dining. Everyone should have several coupons to give to friends and family.

At the Round Table Pizza fundraiser on May 7, those dining will present a coupon and the restaurant will discount their bill by 20%, it is then hoped that the diner will contribute that amount of money (or more) to PSGSC. We need to find out if we should have jars for contributions available. The Roundtable fundraiser includes both dine-in and to go orders but not on delivery orders. We will have 50 pages of coupons printed to be available at the May meeting.

There have been 200 tulip pins sold with 100 remaining.

Telemedicine:
Dana May has looked into some of the Doctors who are using the internet to consult with Parkinson’s patients. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is just getting their program underway and at present will have just a one time meeting with the patient.

Dana May spoke to Gillian Lowell at the University of Rochester where Dr. Dorsey will consult with patients every 3 to 6 months but does not want to be the primary physician. The consultations are conducted over Skype, they are approved for California and there is no cost because it is part of a clinical research trial.

Marc had investigated another trial at the University of Rochester, but it was being conducted by someone else as a clinical trial and not approved for California.

Dr. Huang is working with tele appointments but at present the consultations are not approved by Medicare and the cost to patient is $300. In addition the consultation must be carried out in the presence of a physician and take place in an office fitted to purpose.

Dr. Kandar is doing tele appointments for his patients at Kaiser over Skype. Dana May said that she would contact Mike Cohill to urge him to offer an equivalent service at Sutter.


Aware In Care:
Suzanne wants to take the Aware In Care kits into hospitals to help train staff on the importance of timeliness in medication for Parkinson’s patients. This falls under strategic planning and can be discussed at the May meeting.


Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 by Chair, Kathy Osbun. The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at Brush Creek Senior Living.


Respectfully submitted
Barbara France, Recording Secretary

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