Minutes, All-Community Meeting 2024 05 08

Topics: aging in community

Sunday 3:00-5:00 p.m., common house sitting room & online.

Present: Kerry, Michael, Emily, Kerri Jo (owner of #10), Ben (fac), Vicky, Linda, Lila, Kay (notes), Jorge, Molly (visitor), Laura, Hannah, Stephen, Larraine

Announcements & Events

The company is clearing out the Carol Smith's house and will hold an estate sale possibly May 31, June 1 and 2. An estate sale means potentially lots of people on the property.

Saturday May 11 Choir-Choir sing-along at 1:00 at common house. Linda can't be here. Laura can open but can't stay.  Need a volunteer to be here and lock up. The lyrics have been sent out on email. Bring either a device with the lyrics or a printout, or plan to share.  Donation box to support musicians.

Sunday May 16, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Mary Tebbs. Donations go to musicians.  Gif announcement going out on our instagram. 

Kerri Jo is moving into unit 10.

Osher class "The elephant in the room," end of life planning, $49, end of June, at university.

Management will be purchasing a defibrillator, an AED.  You don't have to be a trained medical professional to use it.  Can learn with a small amount of training, which the community will be doing.

Aging in Community

Vicky, Lila, and Larraine watched and discussed the cohousing webinar, "Starting a Conversation about Aging in Community," and felt there were things worth sharing.  There was a conference on aging in 2016 in Salt Lake. Nationwide there are about 20 senior cohousing communities. 

Handout of discussion topics and notes. Watch portion of webinar, two residents of Silver Sage, then breakout discussions. 

Silver Sage has sixteen units of which six are federal low-income and 24 residents age range 56 to 89. Not much land. Residents sign a participation agreement when they move in.   They count attendance at meetings and events. Create a healthy culture of participation; Silver Sage doesn't track participation.

For community work, suggestion to complete an inventory of tasks and let older or less able people have first pick. 

Some communities have an elder meeting once a month, mainly a listening and support group.

Questions about

• the reciprocal responsibility between the individual and the community 
  
• the community's responsibility to a resident and a resident's responsibility to the community
• privacy vs. community

Thoughts from discussion groups

• Hold discussions in community, "Wisdom Circles" etc.
• Differences between being in an older community and being in a more age-diverse community.
• We should update next of kin information in internal mail files and also online.  Update.
• Setting up a trust is a lot less expensive than going through probate. Depending on state law, may be able to avoid probate in other ways.
• Younger people need to do end-of-life planning as much as older people -- for instance, custody of children.
• Write your obituary.
• Think about whether you want to be resuscitated and under what circumstances, what arrangements you want.
• Even if you aren't sure what you want, make decisions temporarily, and you can change or update it.
• Have conversations so your family and significant others know what you want.

Committee Reports

ACM planning. If you want some time to talk about something in an ACM, please attend an ACM planning meeting and discuss what you want to talk about so the committee can allot time, help with discussion format etc.

Farmette. Saturday 9:00 & Sunday 10:00

Fund-Raising.  $2,250 total.  $532 from plants at Open House.

Welcoming.  "Save the date" cards to be sent to former residents and others.  Sat Sept 28.. 

East Garden.  Linda would like to hold a work party to clean up northwest bed, maybe plant perennials. Would like any extra bulbs people have. 

Emailed 5/10/24.