Vice President Jerry Donaldson called the regular meeting of the Residents’ Council [the Council] to order at 3:00 pm on Tuesday October 1, 2024. 91 residents attended including Residents’ Council members minus two. Staff members included Don Grove, Executive Director; Leslie Johnson, Assistant Executive Director; Jason Dennis, Assistant General Services Director; and Karen Leighton, Resident Life Director.

Moment of Silence
The Council observed a moment of silence for those who have passed away.

Previously distributed minutes of the October 1 meeting of the Residents’ Council meeting were approved as presented.

Mission Moment
Nominator Terrence Lisbeth celebrates resident harmonica player Robert Burnside for the joy he brings to residents. For the past decade, Bob has lifted spirits and brought smiles as he walks to and from Charlestown restaurants playing the harmonica. Bob also plays the harmonica with Charlestown’s Sing- Along Joyful Sounds group on Friday evenings and with the Sing-Along Spiritual Favorites group on Monday evenings. Charlestown can be grateful to Robert for enhancing Charlestown’s music venues through memorable spiritual and popular songs. Congratulations to Bob Burnside, who is with us today and thanks to Terry Lisbeth, who is also here with us, for the nomination.

Executive Team Reports

Jerry Donaldson, Vice President
One of our goals for Charlestown is to create a harmonious environment for all the residents. A harmonious environment is one where all residents are treated with respect and dignity and where differences are valued, and conflicts are managed well. Numerous studies have concluded that friendships are crucial for a harmonious living environment. That is to say, there must be some level of friendship with our neighbors, residents, and our fellow workers, as opposed to an adversarial relationship, for there to be an opportunity for a harmonious environment.

But what is friendship and what does friendship mean to you?
Friendship does not mean that you cannot disagree with a friend. It just means that you agree to disagree. Friendships does not preclude compromise. In fact, compromise is the anchor (corner stone) in friendships.

Friendships have many definitions and most of us think that we have many friends. And some think they are friends with everybody. But there are many levels of friends ranging from acquaintances to Best Friends. And if you really examine all the people you list as friends you will find that a lot are really acquaintances and that is okay because all friends start out as acquaintances.

However, the best definition of a friend was revealed to me when Joe Carrick, our Resident’s Council President, was interviewing me for the position as his Vice President. We were just chatting as we were trying to get to know each other better when he started telling me about his wife, Denise. He was describing the life they had together, her health issues and what a wonderful person she was. I could tell they loved each other very much. But the thing that impressed me the most is that he concluded the description of Denise by saying “And she is my Best Friend.”

As I got to know Joe and Denise better over the next few months, I began to understand a little better what a real friendship really is. I think a real friend, and certainly a Best Friend, can often be described as someone who takes care of you when you need help. And Joe certainly did that. You could see Joe pushing that little wheelchair all over Campus with Denise, going with him to meetings, dinners, and events. Yes, being a caregiver is not an easy task. But I never heard a single complaint from Joe. You know why? Because Denise was his Best Friend.

Joe and Denise may have been Best Friends but they both had numerous other friends. This fact was evidenced by the number of people attending her funeral service in the Chapel last Friday. The Chapel was packed!

But we do not need all our friends here in Charlestown to be Best Friends. However, we do need to develop friendships so that we can indeed have that harmonious living environment. Joe and Denise have shown us the way and we thank them for that!

Connie Cooney, Treasurer

Balance – Sept 30, 2024                                 $ 4,945.40
Expenses                                                         $    234.15
Balance – October 31, 2024                           $ 4,711.25

October 2024 Expenses Details
Secretary                                             $    137.79  Transcription subscription
Communications                                 $      22.17   Domain Name
Treasurer                                            $      74.19   Supplies

Total               $    234.15

The Council finalized its 2024-2025 budget this month

Committee Reports

Benevolent Care, Virginia Antevil, Chair
As of September 30, year to date contributions to the Benevolent Care Fund reached $507,579, up from $491,944 in 2023. Including planned gifts, the Benevolent Care Fund total now stands at $594,758 and includes 29 new monthly donors.

The October Treasure Sale Total was $48,141, compared with $45,000 in 2023. Total year to date Treasure sales reached $260,520.

Seven residents were honored in a Memory Walk Ceremony held on October 22.

Signage has been ordered for placement above the Legacy Tree in Cross Creek, and a Legacy lapel pin has been designed and ordered.

The focus for the coming year will be on planned giving for benevolent care.

Next meeting: Wednesday, November 27 at 2:30 in Charlestown Square Room 116.

Communications, Larry Taylor, Chair
Technology Assistant Day (Residents Tech Bar)
Reminder – Tech Bar or Technology Assistant Day is on December 3, 10:00 to 12:00 at the Chesapeake Restaurant.  Note – This is a FREE event.  Also, onsite service calls can be booked at this event, and they are also FREE!

Tablets for the restaurant
Tech Services reported that they sent back a batch of tablets to Erickson IT as these devices couldn’t be wiped or updated.  I was advised today that most of these devices have been returned. Residents keep seeing tablets not being used by our servers. This can cause inaccurate meal numbers in our dining venues. IT also confirmed today that shoulder straps for the tablets are going out to the Fireside to be evaluated. They also mentioned a network survey addressing bandwidth issues in certain areas of our community. Lastly the new 2.0 tablets have not come in yet. They are still being assessed by Erickson and were expected to be in this quarter.

Shuttle Tracker Display
New Shuttle Tracker iPads are currently in their office but need a profile update before they can be installed.  They are also working on protective cases and the mounting of these iPads in each of our building lobby desk areas. It was mentioned that an iPad was needed at the Brookside residents’ entrance on the 1st. Floor.

Status of Mobile Phone Access Project
Our committee has asked for the status on mobile phone access in the community (Verizon is our only provider and will no longer support or replace their old repeaters.)  IT and Admin had a few walk throughs in the community.  I heard that Erickson was in the process of sending the financing for this project to our Board.  Note this issue has been going on for quite some time.

Amazon Complaints and Delivery Issues
General Services continues to make direct complaints and requests to Amazon supervision concerning resident deliveries. Greg Johnson also discussed the success of their weekend delivery strategy (which is to avoid deliveries at weekends). He also noted that there were no issues over the most recent weekend.  Greg also agreed to create a reminder to send out to residents with the holidays coming.

My E-Preferred Project
This is the Email in place of cubby stuffing.  Implementation is to start today. Greg Johnson also noted the program would be included in the Welcome Home program.

MyErickson IT Roadmap for 2025 ideas
Hope Tillman presented the list of topics raised at the latest meeting of the Erickson tech residents’ group (This is a group of residents from several different Erickson communities) and asked for topics for improvement for Charlestown to be sent to her.

We still are encouraging more Residents and our Staff to put their Pictures in the MyErickson Residents and Department Directories

Next Communications Committee meeting: Monday, November 25, at 2:00 PM, preceded by the Website Committee at 1:00 PM.
Contact Larry Taylor at cherokee405@verizon.net for the ZoomAI Companion is a generative AI-powered assistant from Zoom (for those with the paid version). It uses large language models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, and has also trained itself by listening in on thousands of meetings between Zoom employees.  Some of its uses include:
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Conservation, Mark Buehlman
We didn’t have a formal meeting in October. The Committee attended the joint presentation on the Nature Trail. We learned some facts and the history of the trail. Did you know, while not as old as Charlestown, the Trail was opened and dedicated back in 1996. It is ½ miles long and parallels the East Branch of Herbert Run. The presentation took us on a virtual tour of the trail, discussed the current “state of the Trail” and offered some potential solutions to some of the runoff and erosion problems the trail is experiencing.

We learned about one solution that has already been implemented, the Eagle Scout water bar project. These water bars protect not only the eastern entrance trail running down from Cross Creek, but also serve to protect Herbert Run from sediment and nutrient runoff.

You can view both the presentation and a video of the Eagle Scout project through MyErickson/TV and Videos/Channel 972/Special Presentations.

We continue to work with both involved Residents and the Staff to see if centralizing and formalizing the collection of paper dining carryout bags is workable.

At our November meeting we will form a Sustainable Dining Working Group to try and implement some of the recommendations suggested by this year’s Sustainable Dining Working Team.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at 2:00 pm in BR1.

Dining Services, Stephanie Leddy and Cathy Stevens, Co-Chairs

• Paul Edelman discussed changes in upper-level staff in dining rooms.
• I showed a Dining Services Organizational Chart that Ken Zahn and his General Managers would be talking about at the Dining Hall meeting on Wednesday, November 6 in the Auditorium at 2:00.
• QR Codes for September- 1612 responses with Dining In representing 1508 in-person dining and 104 for carry-out. There was an 89.8 % ratings of 4 and 5; 8.2% of 3; and 2% of 1 and 2. A question was raised if those ranking the services lower, put comments and the answer was yes.
• Clothing and Hair Guidelines- Clothing guidelines are determined by the residents through Resident Council and Hair guidelines follow the Health Department. Anyone handling food must wear a hairnet or tie hair back.
• My Nutrition portion sizes- 4 ounces is the standard portion size for protein.
• Dietary Focus – Committee menu recommendations
  • The sub-committee chair, Kate Hausner, discussed the process taken to provide nutritional food choices that the chefs and general managers can choose from when planning menus. A packet of those choices was delivered to each dining establishments’ chefs and general managers the prior week.
• Lobster rolls – The Terrace and Shortline have lobster rolls while the sit-down restaurants have filet mignon.
• There was positive feedback from the restaurant committees about the food and service this last month.

Next meeting: Monday, November 18 at 1:30 at CS116.

Finance, Art Johnson, Chair
Charlestown’s cash position remains strong as reported in August.

Billed Independent Living occupancy and Sales Activity are ahead of the planned budget levels.

Continuing care staffing and other staffing levels remain a challenge and are receiving attention.

The Committee is giving attention to developing the process for the CapEx (Capital Expense) process for FY2026.  All, including resident generated proposals, must be processed through a Residents’ Council committee. The committees also may generate proposals of their own.  All proposals will be reviewed and evaluated. The committees will submit no more than five proposals each to the Finance Committee which will review all proposals submitted by the committees and forward no more than ten to the administration. The administration will share in November with the Finance Committee the 2025 capital projects that have been approved by the Board of Directors. These will be shared with Residents’ Council committees to assist them with their 2026 proposals.

The committee invites residents to attend its meetings and become contributing members.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 26, 2024 at 9:00 in Brookside 1

Grounds, Dick Voelkel Chair
Charlestown bridge pier & Nature Trail work update:  Awaiting dates from GeoTech.

Lake hydro raking update:  Permits are needed regarding placement of the debris.  The Engineering Firm is working with Solitude to submit a topographic survey to DMW.  Once the permits are approved, the work should take about 30 days.

Deer herd control: To date 13 deer have been removed. Hunting will continue.

CRTT Shortline Trail extension update: The Residents’ Council has approved moving forward with the project.  Corporate legal counsel is reviewing the proposal.

Grounds Dept. capital expense planning: The cost of proposed projects should exceed $2500 and should have a life span of greater than one year.  Sustainability projects have been submitted. Proposed projects included:  Grading and reboarding the existing garden plots, Creating a better walking path around the lake, Funding the second phase of Christmas lights, Purchasing a rake tiller.

Next meeting: Tuesday November 22 at 11am in BR-1

Health Services, Marty White and Lois Eldred, Co-Chairs

• Charleen Freeman presented an excellent capsule summary of her ELLIC lecture on diabetes risk, outcomes, and prevention
• Dr Michael Pelczar reported that influenza and COVID remain low nationwide, while mosquito and tick activity are decreasing. Because of climate change, some tropical infectious diseases are being seen further north.  In our area, West Nile Virus and the H5N1 bird flu have been seen, with the later most recently infecting feral cats.  He recommends keeping our cats indoors.
• The Falls Prevention Group sponsored an event: Preserving Independence, a Fit Fair Extraordinaire, attended by 75+ residents. A representative from the American Medical Equipment Company checked rollators for proper height adjustment and any deficient parts.  Consideration is being given to making this a monthly event.  A presentation by Kristen Aybar on home safety is planned for January or February.  In addition, we have obtained an excellent hour-long video lecture on Fall Prevention by Dr. Kevin James, a retired orthopedic surgeon at Ryderwood, and have it available on the website.  We hope to have it presented on 972 as well
• In Wilton Overlook, programming activities in October included a pumpkin decorating contest, best costume party, 2 trips to Friendly Farms Restaurant and a fashion show. Volunteers from the Residents Council and associated committees helped residents with their Resident Satisfaction Surveys
• In Caton Woods Council A Halloween costume party was held on October 31, and

Volunteers from the Residents Council and associated committees helped residents with their Resident Satisfaction Surveys.  Unfortunately, the leader of the arts and crafts program is no longer able to continue the program, but fitness training is going well.

• We are continuing to work with the administration on the possibility of adding grab bars to some of the public restroom non-handicapped stalls
• The Next medication disposal event is on November 18 from 1-3 at the Fireside Lobby and Cross Creek Station.

Next meeting: Tuesday, November 12 at 11:00 in Brookside Classroom 1.

Housekeeping, Jean Williamson, Chair
As we have spoken over the last few months, we have talked about the importance of “See Something, Say Something”, encouraging all residents to participate in making and keeping our home at Charlestown clean, safe and healthy. As I have said, with all these residents, there are going to be accidents as people return to their home carrying coffee, people watering plants and spilling onto the floor in the hall, or even dogs having accidents. However, no one is going to blame or criticize you…accidents happen; however, it is so important that you just take the time to call Housekeeping and just report it. Certainly, treating a spill before it dries makes all the difference, and just letting Housekeeping know is so important.

We are also reaching out to ask if there are residents who would be willing to help serve as part of the Housekeeping Committee, just taking the responsibility to walk one or two halls once a month and calling Housekeeping of any concerns…just stains, dirt, dust…anything that needs attention to keeping our home, again, clean, attractive, healthy and safe. Areas not currently covered are those in Building 713 -Fountain Hill, New Carroll, and Maple Terrace. If you would be willing to help, it is easy…taking less than half an hour, but making such a difference, please let me know….williamsonjp@comcast.net.

Finally, as a reminder, please put all garbage/trash into plastic bags and then place them in a trash can to avoid possibility of mice intrusion and spills onto the rugs. Especially with the renovations going on, we don’t want to add spills and stains onto the new carpet – or carpet in any buildings.

Recently, there were also accidents where glass was placed into trash bags for disposal. Please remember, to avoid accidents, any glass should be placed in carboard containers before placing them into plastic bags – avoiding injury for both residents and Housekeeping.

Finally, please remember that trash and garbage from residents should not be thrown into outside trash cans, often resulting in the overflow of trash onto the ground and drawing rodents.

Next meeting: Monday, November 18 at 10:00 am in BR 1.

Legislative/Political, Paulette Hammond and Richard Lee, Co-Chairs
The Meet and Greet for Legislators has been confirmed for December 10, 2024, at 7:00 pm in the auditorium. Flyers will be posted around the campus.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, November 13, at 10:00 in BR 1

Maintenance and Engineering, Rob Vickerman, Chair

• Cayton Ridge renovation: Two of the seven permits have been received including the hallway permit. Schedule completion is first quarter 2025.
• Water Flooding:
• There is an ongoing study by General Services to determine which apartments require structural pipe support in the heat pump closet.
• There is an ongoing study to determine a design of a pipe support near the valves.
• A working group will develop a proposal to address the flooding caused by overflowing of a resident sink and present it to General Services.
• Replacement of laundry washer/dryer machines in Chapel court is complete. The replacement of the laundry washer/dryer machines at Caton Ridge will be accomplished, but there is no schedule yet.
• The replacement of the Charlestown Square elevator is in process. The second Herberts Run elevator will begin in five weeks after the first one is finished.
• The signage Sub-Committee is identifying and installing temporary signage where necessary. Permanent signage is installed with the life cycle work on each building.
• The proposal for “easily seen” elevator buttons is done, and the buttons will be installed in a month. The shields to prevent washout of exterior elevator position lights is being investigated by the M & E Dept.
• The M & E Dept agreed to paint stripes on either side of the pavement dips on Charlestown sidewalks to match what Riderwood has done.

Next meeting: Tuesday, November 26, 2024 at 2:00 in the General Services conference room.

Resident Life, Bill Jones and Fred Sadler, Co-Chairs
The Tapestry Program will host events on November 20 and December 6 in the Chesapeake Restaurant. The topic will be: “Getting Older..How is that going for you”. Information is being distributed to all residents’ shelves. A new project titled “Chatty Bench” was started during the Fall Festival where Tapestry members sat with residents to discuss issues. This program will be expanded in the future to include Continuing Care.

The Age/Ageism group has been focusing on accessibility issues on campus and especially the concept of universal design where accessibility will be a major consideration in all construction. The group is also considering a new program where residents who have impairment issues could voluntarily wear a special lanyard to identify their specific needs.

The Low Vision Group has been focusing on issues such as new buttons in elevators, dips in sidewalks, and the dangers presented by the black walnuts in the parking lots. New large print menus and magnifying glasses are now available in the restaurants.

The Dine Together program saw 20 new residents share a meal together the first Monday of October. We are looking for additional volunteers to greet people and to host tables.

Dining Ambassadors is continuing to contact new residents to arrange group meals. Two new people have volunteered to be ambassadors.

The Friendly Visitors group has contacted 69 new residents since June 1 to give them written information and to see if they can be of any service to make their transition go smoothly.

A New Resident Newsletter is now being sent to new residents weekly to help them become familiar with many aspects of Charlestown life. The last issue addressed abbreviations that could confuse new residents.

We are repeating a program from last year called “Light Up Charlestown” where residents were asked to put lighted candles in their windows for the holidays. Candles will be available for purchase, in limited quantities, at the Holiday Craft Fair on November 15.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, November 20 at 2:00 in Brookside Classroom 2

Safety and Security, Ed Appel, Chair
Security continues to address vehicles speeding and going through stop signs and unsafe EV operation. Notify Security when violations are observed with details such as full or partial license plate, car or EV description. Security can identify and address violators.

Security and General Services are reviewing and upgrading handles in lavatories where possible, falls hazards, better lighting and recently repainted crosswalks and curbs. Safety signage in the auditorium is being considered. Security uses devices to help locate wandering Memory Care patients. Some residents use Apple Air Tags and similar devices to help find lost items such as keys, handbags or luggage.

The October 22 Elder Fraud FBI presentation was well-attended and is available on Charlestown’s YouTube channel, along with handouts on cciCharlestown.org.

The committee is considering ways to thank BCFD and BCPD, and possibly volunteer emergency responders.  Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Despite successful hunts, hungry deer continue to roam Charlestown campus, posing a risk for drivers and eating plants.  Be careful when driving, especially from dusk to dawn.

BCPD tells us that juvenile thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles are still a problem.

The Committee discussed the Short Line Trail extension, which is still under review by Erickson corporate. The Administration will present the results of their evaluation of the proposal.

The next medicine take-back is scheduled for November 18 from 1-3 pm on both sides of the campus.

American Medical Equipment participated in the recent Fall Prevention event, fixing several rollators, especially brakes. They plan to schedule monthly visits to assist residents in keeping rollators in safe repair.

Next meeting: Thursday, November 14, in Charlestown Square Classroom 116, at 1:00

Update from Don Grove, Executive Director
Resident Satisfaction Surveys – We received an 81.7% response in Independent Living, .9% higher than Riderwood. We were also second among the sixteen mature communities. And as far as continuing care, their percentages of participation generally are going to be lower. But in assisted living, we have 54%, in memory care, 59% and in skilled nursing, 64%.  54% of the survey responses were made on-line. I think we were what I call the king of paper. For those who know conservation, it’s nice to see we’re taking a little bit less paper. We won’t get results until around the holidays. Last year it was a while before we got the results, maybe in January. Thank you everyone for participating. Thank you, Residents’ Council, for your job. Your roles in helping folks in continuing care, going over there, spending the time, and helping those folks participate, and promoting, whether it’s restaurants door to door, and all the different events we had.

I think we’re all frustrated with the outage situation with elevators. I just want to give some perspective on what we you know. I feel bad, because I know, you know, we need elevators on our campus, and it’s frustrating. Obviously, we’re doing the renovations on the Charlestown Square elevator, and the Herbert’s run elevator. those two elevators. We expect completion on those elevators by the end of the month, and those were scheduled, planned. We will have brand new elevators essentially, when they are done. But again, still on its course for end of November. I know there was an elevator outage in Arborside, Building 8, for a period. That has been restored as it was a simple maintenance issue to fix. The one that we’re all really struggling with is the Edgewood elevator located just down the hall by the Terrace. Just to give everybody a clear picture, that elevator is out because the motor essentially burned up, setting a smoke alarm off. Nobody was hurt, nothing like that. But the motor was done. So, we need a new motor. It raises the question as to why it takes so long to get these elevators going again? Getting a new motor is something they must locate first. So, they’re sourcing all around the country to find an elevator that matches. There needs to be a matching motor that works. When they find it, there’s the shipping issue. They have found it. It’s being shipped and in five to seven days, the new motor will be here. The maintenance work requires the local Otis Elevator maintenance team, who comes out whenever we have an issue. And so, they need to identify a crew that can come in and do that for us. All that said, we’re going to be through next week before this elevator is replaced. The motor replacement in the Edgewood elevator is frustrating, as it’s a central point to the community. we have been and we want to make sure I’m using this opportunity and every opportunity I can to say for residents having trouble with getting around campus due to this, they just need to reach out to security, and we’ll provide support. We’re trying to make sure that security is ready for those calls, and we can dispatch whoever we have to help with those situations. We’ve been monitoring the shuttle usage. If increased, we’ll add shuttles to that. We haven’t seen that yet. Some signs have been placed up. You’ve heard the alert media messages. I want to put signs out, but we put a lot of signs out on campus, so I tend to watch too many temporary, taped signs. But we hope there’s awareness, and people who need support are reaching out while we get through this one, because it is, again, a central elevator to community. We will update you as soon as we have more information on a completion date

On November 21 at 2:00 there will be a Residents’ Town Hall meeting with the Board of Directors. They will join us in a discussion that relates to the letter that you recently received about the changes in the monthly service package going into next year. The Board will talk a little bit to the process and what goes into that decisions we have. We’ll also, in that discussion, have some talk discussion about upcoming projects that are slated for next year, some of the major capital projects. I appreciate Art Johnson and the Finance Committee that’s working on getting the committees to come forward with proposed projects. It helps us identify what people are looking for and to prioritize in the coming years. I found that often these are projects that we’re already working on, but there are certain ones I’ve not heard about. I’m like, no, didn’t think of that. We need to look at whether that makes sense.

Questions and Answers

Frank Moran expressed concern that with the Terrace elevator out, there is no map showing how to get to other elevators. Don agreed to investigate this. Another resident suggested that someone from security be stationed at the elevator to guide people.

When is the grand opening of the Refectory and new Music room? It is scheduled for November 18 at 1:30, by which time the Music Room furniture should be installed.

There was concern about laundry room washers becoming off-balance. Some people have posted comments in the room. If there is a problem a resident should submit a work order instead.

Respectively submitted,
Nancy Meier, Residents’ Council Secretary