Kathy Osbun, Suzanne deKozan, Marc Alexander, David Getzoff, Gloria Stubbs, Sandy Grant, Ann Walker, George Irizary, Arlene Irizary, Dana May Casperson, Art Rosenblum and Barbara France
Member Absent:
Davis Brown
Guests:
Steve Pryputnierwicz and Erin Muha
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 10:00 a.m. by Chair, Kathy Osbun.
Approval of Minutes:
The Minutes of the January 15, 2014 meeting were approved with the following corrections:
In Approval of the Minutes Steve Pryputnierwicz’s name was corrected at the December meeting, not at the January Annual Meeting.
In the Long Range Planning item, Mike Cohill is the Director of Sutter Northern California, not Director of Sonoma County.
Fundraising:
Dana May presented information from Johnny Garlic’s and Round Table Pizza for possible fundraisers and Kathy added information about Mary’s Pizza. The decision to be made then, is how many of them do we want to do as well as what the fundraising will benefit. When we ask members and friends in the public to support these fundraisers we have to be able to say what the money will support.
The money raised goes to support the ongoing business of PSGSC. This includes rental for meeting space, printing, educational materials as well as support we give to larger Parkinson’s organizations.
After discussion it was decided that we would continue with Mary’s Pizza (proposed date of April 9th), and add Johnny Garlic’s with a proposed date of April 24th. We would then add a Round Table Pizza date, possibly May 7. Dana May will try to contact Brent Farris at KZST radio for some wider publicity.
The Board agreed that we would specify in our fundraising efforts at Johnny Garlic’s that 20% of the proceeds would go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and 20% to The National Parkinson’s Foundation. The National Parkinson’s Foundation provides free-of-charge the various booklets on “Medications” & other topics to our group; the Foundation also provides the Aware in Care kits in the cloth cases (free of charge & free postage/handling) The Michael J. Fox Foundation is a leader in research for a cure. These 2 foundations support our PSGSC mission/goals of education, support & research for a cure. Our hope in directing some of the proceeds to these Foundations is to outreach to those in the community who may not know about our group but will want to support these 2 foundations; it shows that we are connected to the wider Parkinson’s community but serve a significant local need for support & education, as well as the unmet need for Parkinson’s specialists in our county.
Sutter:
Dana May reported that Gail Kang had contacted her to say that she did not feel that she could come to Santa Rosa to work with Sutter because she was very involved with the Michael J. Fox Teleneurology project and she feels the distance to Santa Rosa is too far for her to commute. She suggested that Dana May contact UCSF and the VA to see if there are any Doctors finishing their fellowships who would like to start here. Dana May said she would follow up with that suggestion as well as checking with Mike Cohill to keep him informed of our efforts.
Treasurer’s Report:
In addition to income and expenses cited in the Treasurer’s Report, Sandy said that there was additional income of $508 from February Meeting Donation Jar, $25 from Tulip pins and $540 memorial gifts in the name of Bud Nystrom.
Sandy has closed out the financial books for 2013 and has them ready for David and Art to audit. The finance committee will begin work on a proposed budget for 2014.
Sandy asked if the Board wished to continue membership in the Volunteer Center. The many benefits of retaining membership were put forward and Suzanne made a motion to appropriate $125 for membership, Sandy seconded the motion which was passed with a voice vote.
Programs:
Kathy said she had received an email from a member who thought having a physical therapist talk to care givers about ways to help care for their patients safely and effectively would be very helpful. Kathy thought this would be good program for a care givers break out group and talked to Susan Wiegman of the Memorial Hospital Physical Therapy unit. The Board agreed that this would be beneficial and Sandy made the motion that we ask Susan Wiegman to come speak to the care givers break out group from 2:15 to 3:15 on April 5, with a stipend of $100. Gloria seconded the motion which was passed on a voice vote.
Marc asked for suggestions for future speakers. He suggested the topic of driving ability and others added that transportation for those who can’t drive is a major concern. Transportation has been very fragmented in the County but now Sonoma Access is helping to co-ordinate various sources to make finding rides easier. Given all these considerations and developments it was thought that maybe a panel addressing the issues of safe driving and alternative transportation resources would make a good panel discussion. Marc will look into finding panel members and a date.
Facilitator Workshop:
Kathy suggested that we decide about a future facilitator workshop so that we can make arrangements with Alexis Glidwell at Redwood Care Givers. Arlene thought that we should go ahead with booking a date with Alexis for 12-15 this spring as this is a probable number of participants and we can firm up participants as we have a firm date.
Library:
Ann announced that she has a new book in the library, The Thirty-six Hour Day by Peter V. Rabino which is a book of practical advice for caregivers.
Arlene will order more of the free books on various aspects of Parkinson’s from the National Parkinson’s Foundation.
Arlene passed out Sonoma Seniors Today put out by the Council on Aging. They have listed our meetings and are a good resource for our members.
Data Base:
There were 101 at the February Meeting, including 5 new patients. There are enough complete New Member packets to go through the March meeting. We are awaiting the new Redwood Caregiver brochure before completing more packets.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m. by Chair, Kathy Osbun. The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at Brush Creek Senior Living.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara France, Recording Secretary