President Walt Howe called the regular meeting of the Residents’ Council [the Council] to order at 7:00 pm on March 2, 2021. Guests included Lucy McKean and Heather Sheridan, Associate Executive Director.

MOMENT OF SILENCE:
The Council observed a moment of silence for those who have passed away.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the February 2, 2021, meeting of the Residents’ Council were approved as distributed.

Walt gave his report and then called on the following officers and committee chairs for reports; the text of those reports appears following the formal minutes:

Pat Rudolph, Vice President
Ron DeAbreu, Treasurer
Jean Eichenlaub, Co-Chair of the Benevolent Care Committee
Dick Crebs, Co-Chair of the Communications Committee
Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Chair of the Conservation Committee
Bob Caulfield, Co-Chair of the Dining Committee
Gordon Piche, Chair of the Finance Committee
Mike Rose, Chair of the Grounds Committee
Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker, Chair of the Health Services Committee
Betty Elder, Chair of the Housekeeping Committee
Patricia Payne, Chair of the Legislative/Political Committee
Jackie Graham, Chair of the Maintenance & Engineering Committee
Mimi O’Donnell, Assistant Secretary, for Ron Fayer, Co-Chair of the Resident Life Committee
Ed Wallace, Chair of the Safety & Security Committee
Patricia Payne, Chair of the Nominating & Elections Committee

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS: None

Heather Sheridan then presented “Words from Management” that appear below for those interested in reading the full text of the message.

President Howe adjourned the formal meeting at 8:00 pm.

Hope Tillman, Residents’ Council Secretary

REPORTS—EXECUTIVE TEAM

ANNOUNCEMENTS/ PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Walt Howe): 

Mission Moments
You may have experienced the sinking feeling when your car doesn’t want to go when you have a distinct need to get something done right away. David Douds recommends Lucy McKean for a Mission Moment when she saw him in that situation. On a Thursday afternoon, Dave Douds was ready to drive down to Giant to pick up a large grocery order when he discovered his car battery was dead.  He tried calling two friends to see if they could help with backup transportation. Neither one was available.  As he stood there trying to figure out what to do next, Lucy approached him, indicating that she had overheard his dilemma. She recognized Dave from his work on the Residents’ Council, and she would be happy to give him a lift down to Giant. Dave thanked her profusely for offering to help, and she drove him to Giant for the grocery pickup.  This is a good example of kindness, caring, responsibility, and helping build relationships within our community.

Several residents have experienced  Peggy Reiber‘s friendliness, enthusiasm, caring, and respect, all of which exemplify Erickson Living Values. While many neighbors and friends show support and sympathy during difficult times, Peg is apt to follow up with questions about when the next doctor’s appointment will be and if you would like to have a ride to that appointment. No, it would be no problem to wait while you see the doctor. Another question might be about what groceries are needed because she is going to the store, and it would be no trouble to pick up what you need. She is also ready to go for a walk when you are ready to get out. And she thinks about social distance by walking in the street while you walk on the sidewalk.
If you think Peg has nothing to do but run errands for her friends and neighbors, in the past she took on organizing the Conference Center for Treasure Sales.  Since the usual Treasure Sales are on hold, she has helped with the Tuesday morning routine for Treasures Unlimited. She also helps with the Finance team for Our Lady of Angels congregation. Peg always makes you feel good when you encounter her friendly, upbeat spirit. She is a good example of Harmonious Community Living.

Announcements/President’s Report
It has been a year since we locked down for the coronavirus epidemic, and it has been quite a year. At first, the Residents’ Council members shut down and locked themselves in their rooms as everyone else did. Our activities came to a virtual halt, and we stopped meeting together for several months. We kept in touch by telephone and email, but it wasn’t the same. Then we discovered Zoom, and we began to learn new ways of socializing and working together using our computers and devices. A few of us were already pretty handy with these tools, but others had a big learning curve to go through, and it was a challenge for all. As our Council members learned to work together online, we reached out to our committee members, asked them to join in committee meetings, too, and helped a lot of residents become more comfortable Zooming together.  We weren’t the only ones going through this learning adventure, as a lot of Charlestown’s many clubs and organizations invented new ways to get back together, too. Who would have dreamed that a photography club could thrive with all its members in separate locations? Or that you could play Bingo from different rooms. Even ELLIC is learning some new ways to communicate and educate.

Now, by the end of this week, nearly all of us will be vaccinated and ready to move on to find a new normal. It won’t be immediate because the virus can still spread, the doctors tell us, even from those who have been vaccinated. It hasn’t all been bad, and we have learned a lot about communicating with each other along the way. I want to thank the Council members and committee members and our incredible staff for finding new solutions to new problems and making us as successful as possible. Thank you all! Let’s keep on learning, and let’s move on!

Walt also mentioned that he is holding an ELLIC class introducing the Residents’ Council on Monday, March 8 at 10:00 via Zoom.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Pat Rudolph): 
As you will hear in the Finance Committee’s report, our occupancy numbers are good, but they are not as good as before the pandemic.  The Sales Team is working hard, and new residents are moving in, but, as Don Grove indicated in the Administrative Update on Wednesday, the best salespeople for Charlestown are the residents of Charlestown.  I want to encourage everyone to share your experiences here with your friends and family.  Encourage them to come and take a look.  The inventory of available apartments is larger than usual, and that means more choices for prospective residents.  And don’t forget to fill out the referral form – the incentives that are being offered are very attractive.

SECRETARY’S REPORT (Hope Tillman, Secretary, and Mimi O’Donnell, Assistant Secretary: No report

TREASURER’S REPORT (Ron DeAbreu):
The Council’s account balance at the end of January was $5,756.00. In February, the Council received $10.00 in Residents’ Association dues. Expenditures for the month totaled $211.50. Thus, the Council’s account balance at the end of February was $5,554.50.

REPORTS—COMMITTEES

BENEVOLENT CARE (Jean Eichenlaub and Eugenia High, Co-Chairs):
The Philanthropy department attended the meeting. Patti opened the meeting by sharing the Annual Report of all Philanthropy activities for 2020. This report will be cubby stuffed to all residents, and extra copies will be placed in the Sales office for prospective residents.

Treat of the Quarter:  Discussion around whether we should change it. Possible quarterly raffle or maybe a calendar with coupons.  A poll will be in the Sunburst March edition, and Philanthropy will review the replies, and we can go from there.

Treasure Sale: no big sale yet. Ladies Boutique is offering a new service starting in March:  Personal Shopper.  Residents call and list the items they are looking for – size, color, etc., and a bag will be prepared and delivered to the resident.

Emily reported on the success of special sale displays. The window sales display raised $1,300. Christmas and January jewelry sales – $1,600.  We will continue with these small sales.

Friends & Family: Looking for ideas of how to contact family and friends to engage them in BCF and educate them about the “home for life” promise. Also, we are always looking for family members with testimonials of how their family member was able to remain in their apartment or Assisted Living through BCF.

Hope Tillman suggested greater use of the resident website since families have access to it. There is information on the resident website about BCF and the link to the donation page.

Memory Walk:  Currently, there are sixteen bricks to be placed and two benches.  Residents in the Arborside area raised money to place a bench in memory of Adel Marriott, the wife of Kenny Marriott. She had worked at the PNC bank.  Also, there will be a memorial bench in memory of Engelina Van Opstal, a pioneer resident of Charlestown who passed away in November. We are hoping to have a ceremony in May if the chapel has removed some of the restrictions. More to come. We are not certain that the committee will meet in March.

COMMUNICATIONS (Dick Crebs and David Elder, Co-Chairs): 
David Elder opened the meeting.  Minutes from the January meeting were approved.
We had eighteen members attending, no staff.

Charlie Eichenlaub gave an update on Evergreen topics.

We discussed Wi-FiWi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for wireless networking and allow nearby devices to exchange data by radio waves. Wireless local area networks (WLAN) are widely used in the world to link laptop computers, tablet co... READ MORE stability. There is nothing new to report on the Wi-Fi upgrade at this time.

Someone asked about the COVID-19 warning signs.  What do they mean?  It is presumed to be a warning to visitors that the resident has been exposed and is in quarantine.

Are we making good use of bulletin boards? There was a discussion on whether we should create a flyer advertising the CCI Website to be posted on bulletin boards. Should we post evergreen topics on bulletin boards?

David shared a bit about Zoom chat.  They had a second session yesterday and plan for more on Sat mornings before Bingo.  Several topics could take advantage of this medium:

• Interview club leaders
• Do a virtual fruit of our labors. This will require input from Mary Evans, who was unable to attend the meeting.
• David suggested that we might consider a sort of “radio flea market” using Zoom.
  A Zoom happy hour and social events to combat isolation were discussed.

Any database glitches should be reported to Wayne Smith, who is chairing the Data Task Force.

The corporate group will report hopefully before next month’s meeting.

Dick will post an announcement about monthly council meetings on bulletin boards.

The Communications Committee suggests that the Council add the TV studio capital budget to their recommendation to send to the Finance Committee. We discussed Residents’ Council dues collection.

The Administration has not yet decided whether to conduct a Holleran survey this year.

There is a Help button on CCI-Charlestown. Hope made a change to CCI-Charlestown to move the “Menus” to the top of the page. Hope updated us on Website changes to include a tech-help page.  Zoom and MyErickson profile help are currently supported.

Next month’s meeting is on March 22 at 2:00 pm, immediately following the Website meeting via Zoom.

CONSERVATION (Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Chair):
Michelle Fenn (Housekeeping) Supervisor stated that the 2020 Recycling and Trash Monthly Statistics would be sent later in the day.

Posters: The posters have been rotated for three weeks, and now they are “on break.” Michelle Fenn asked that posters not be placed in the main lobbies: CCS, CTS, and ST. They will be stored.  However, Mary Evans and her team may be creating more professional-looking posters.

Channel 972:  Various members of the Conservation Committee will record and report on the progress of conservation bills in the Maryland Legislature.  This is in conjunction with the Legislative Committee.  Bills to be reported: HB583/SB414: Climate Solutions Now Act of 2021; HB164/SB116:  Department of the Environment – Office of Recycling – Recycling Market Development; and HB280/SB304:  Maryland Recycling Act – Recyclable Materials and Resource Recovery Facilities – Alterations and SB76/HB33:  Climate Crisis and Education Act.

Plastic in the laundry rooms: The containers have signs requesting that residents bring their own plastic bags to grocery stores.

Sunburst: Mary Evans is now the editor-in-chief of Sunburst.   An article by the Conservation Committee was published in the February Sunburst. We hope to have more articles to highlight conservers and restorers and also conservation and climate change.

“The Story of Plastic” Two members watched the film and believe that it would be valuable educationally for Charlestown.

Earth Day is April 22.

The committee’s next meeting will be on March 16, 2021, at 2:00 pm via Zoom.

DINING SERVICES (Bob Caulfield and Ronald MacNab, Co-Chairs): 
The Dining Services Committee met on February 15 at 2:00 P.M. This was again a hybrid Zoom/ Brookside Room 1 meeting. Attending were eighteen residents and Residents’ Council members.

Bob Caulfield welcomed Victor Cirrincione, Assistant Director of Dining Services, and provided an update from our February 10th meeting with him. We learned there are no current plans for the reopening of the Refectory. Self-service salad bars and buffets are not currently practical. Staffing has improved to the extent of allowing the Atrium to reopen.  Currently, 50% of meals served are carry-out. The remainder split evenly between dine-in and delivery.

Victor provided updates as follows:  Beginning this week, 2/15, all items listed on a restaurant’s menu can be ordered for carry-out. This significantly increases the number of options available to residents.

Some committee members were not clear about where to find the menus for the various dining rooms online. Hope Tillman demonstrated and explained how to find them on ccicharlestown.org. and on MyErickson.com.

There was a recommendation the menus should indicate they are available for both dining and carry-out and not to be listed separately.

It would be reasonable to assume residents are now beginning to look forward to an easing of restrictions and a return to some of the pleasures of dining they enjoyed before the pandemic. Niceties like a slice of lemon for tea, hand-dipped ice cream, Sunday brunch at the Atrium, a drink at the bar, Bistro dining, and a fresh banana/orange, etc., are sorely missed. Victor reminded us COVID restrictions would remain for the foreseeable future. Even though most of us have been vaccinated, Charlestown must strictly comply with State and County health requirements and cannot reduce restrictions on its own.

The meeting then opened for questions and comments:

The fresh fruit cup dessert, the fruit is hard, tasteless. Others did not find it a problem.

Everyone expressed how much they enjoyed the Valentine’s Day meal. The boxed candy drop-off was appreciated.

The question asked: which carry-out containers are not recyclable? Hope Tillman was able to show members how to find this information on the ccicharlestown.org website.

Phone service response time has greatly improved for carry-out orders.

The next meeting of Dining Services will be on March 15 at 2:00 p.m. It will be a meeting in Brookside Classroom 1 and by Zoom.

A member of the Council reminded all that Ken Zahn will update residents about bringing wine to the restaurants during the Channel 972 update at 10:00 on Friday, March 5th.

A member of the Council noted that Chef Victor gave some of the history of fruit distribution and that pieces of fruit would probably not be provided in the future.

FINANCE (Gordon Piche, Chair):
The Finance Committee met on February 23 with Director Pam Stiner, Assistant Finance Director Eric Schwab, Council President Walt Howe, Council VP Pat Rudolph, Council Secretary Hope Tillman, Council Treasurer Ron DeAbreu, and 11 committee members.

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am.

The Occupancy Data and Financial Package reports for January were presented by Eric Schwab:
Independent Living 94.0%
Assisted Living       96.7%
Memory Care          100.0%
Skilled Nursing       72.4%

Independent Living Occupancy had a small increase over budget in January. Independent Living is expected to remain steady for the next couple of months until the opening of the Wilton Overlook addition, which will have an impact on IL occupancy in 2021. Settlements of new residents continue in Independent Living. The occupancy levels in Skilled Nursing continue to be affected by the need to maintain the COVID unit and the discontinuation of double-occupancy rooms. January Operating Revenue of $7,141,000 was $67,000 above budget and includes $208,000 for Care’s Act Federal relief funds. This will continue each month through June. Operating Income was $496,000, which is $40,000 above budget. Operating expenses were $27,000 below budget, despite incurring continued COVID expenses.

Nonoperating income for January was negative $2,204,000 resulting in a decrease in Net Assets of $1,708,000. There were changes in cash flows which decreased by $2,071,000 to $5,466,000 cash at the end of the Period. The balance sheet continues to be good.

Regarding Restricted Funds:
Benevolent Care Fund expended $108,432 for the month of January. Sixteen residents received a total of $98,432 for January. It is possible that the number of residents receiving care will increase to eighteen or nineteen in the coming months.

The Scholars Fund Balance is $1,265,570 after making Scholarship Payments of $33,917.

The Staff Appreciation Fund ended the year with a balance of $10,789.

Pat Rudolph asked about the annual submission to management of budget-related items considering the 2021 postponement of some capital expenditures. The committee agreed to review the list for late 2021 and 2022 of pending recommendations from the past as well as any cost reduction items.

The committee will meet next on March 30 at 9:00 am via Zoom.

GROUNDS (Mike Rose, Chair): 
Thirteen members and three staff members attended the meeting. We will be meeting with the staff to go over the work plan to repair/repaint the fencing, lampposts, etc., along Erickson Way.  As available, the committee will receive and discuss future plans to improve the Nature Trail and bridge, privet hedge,  the results of soil samples, and a 5-year plan for all grounds with priorities. Many of these plans are out of the control of the Grounds staff due to weather, funding, etc.  The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 23, at 10:00 am.  However, if needed reports are not available by that date, the meeting may be canceled.

HEALTH SERVICES (Merci Izquierdo-Whitaker, Chair):  
Our Committee met on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at 11:00 am via Zoom.

The Administration and CVS are to be commended for conducting excellent vaccination clinics at Charlestown. The Intermissions Program combats isolation and promotes socialization in a fun way for those who have some level of memory difficulties and is a great respite for spouses who are caregivers. The program has a few openings and runs four days a week with four two-hour sessions a day.  Information is available on the CCICharlestown.org website. The Low Vision Reading Brigade seeks those needing the service as we have volunteers ready to help. Continuing Care Council meetings are still on hold due to Covid-19 restrictions, but residents continue to enjoy individual activities in their rooms. All look forward to the transition to Wilton Overlook in March. The Maryland State Ombudsman Program is focusing on completing annual reports and continuing training without onsite visits. Problems with hearings and getting residents ready for hearings are problematic as onsite visits are not possible. The program may receive some funds from the Dept. of Aging and will target elder abuse. The Virginia I. Jones Council met on January 27 and continues to work on the State mandated revision of the 2012 Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Report.

The Maryland General Assembly is considering many bills related to health and health care issues, such as essential caregiver visitation, dementia quality of care in assisted living, elder abuse, earlier notification to nursing home residents when changes in their condition occur, and more inspections for new nursing homes.  Difficulty getting vaccines into smaller assisted living facilities and tracking those who received their first dose and then are discharged before their second dose and the controversy over mandatory vaccines for staff are areas of concern. Delegate Sample Hughes had two bills introduced that address staff training and admission and discharge criteria in Dementia care facilities. Unfortunately, House Bill 416 on Health Care Facilities – Assisted Living Programs – Memory Care and Alzheimer’s Disease Unit Regulations was canceled at the request of lobbyists citing prohibitive costs. However, Senator Pam Beidle is hopeful that its counterpart SB204 will get out of the Senate and cross over to the House. The Senate bill had a hearing scheduled on the Finance Committee for Feb. 11th.  All are encouraged to write letters of support to State Legislators or call them to express their views on the impact these bills will have on Charlestown. Virtual testimony is permitted for hearings. You can track Information on these bills on our CCICharlestown.org website under the Residents’ Council Health Services Committee website. Articles on health-related issues are also posted on the website.

The administration has been contacted to express concerns regarding a more safety-conscious method of medication delivery to residents’ shelves.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 11 a.m. via Zoom.

HOUSEKEEPING (Betty Elder, Chair): 
The Housekeeping Committee met on February 19, 2021, via Zoom, with fourteen people in attendance. Michele Fenn represented the CCI Charlestown staff.

Resident inspectors were concerned about the cleanliness and sanitization of the elevators, especially the panels and buttons.  Lots of handprints were noted on several of the elevators, possibly by outside contractors. A member of the staff will be addressing those complaints.

Emergency cleaning can be brought to the attention of the CCI staff.  Residents noticing a need for emergency cleaning should notify the department directly by using the MyErickson portal. (CCIWorkOrders@erickson.com)

Please contact  Mr. Apostolov if trash or recycling items are placed in the hallways earlier than the days or hours allowed.

Ms. Fenn is looking into trash placed outside, next to the dock door at St. Charles.  This is a source of rodent infestation.

Maintenance items noted by the Housekeeping committee members were shared with the Maintenance and Engineering Committee chairperson.  It was reported by Chris in Maintenance that there is one painter assigned to all work orders for touch-up painting and gauges throughout the community. He will do aesthetic items once other works orders to replace lights and safety items have been cleared. Kudos to the hard work of the Charlestown Housekeeping Staff, especially Kevin and Zack.  They are still sanitizing high-touch areas and doing the daily cleaning/restocking of restrooms.

Several volunteers have vacated their positions on the Housekeeping committee. New advertising for needed volunteers has been placed in Sunburst, bulletin boards, and Channel 972. Fountain Hill, New Carroll, and Park View still need volunteers.

Miss Fenn mentioned that there would be a Housekeeping Town Hall in the next couple of weeks. Trash dumping will be addressed by the Housekeeping Department.

Our next meeting is Friday, March 19, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. via Zoom.

LEGISLATIVE/POLITICAL (Patricia Payne, Chair):
The Legislative/Political Committee held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, at 10:00 am, with 21 members in attendance. The meeting began with the approval of the minutes for the January 13, 2021 meeting. The first item of business was to approve a plan for three 30-minute programs on TV 972 highlighting key legislation of interest to Charlestown residents before the 2021 General Assembly, which is now in session. The Committee approved the name for the series:  “What’s Up in Annapolis 2021”. The contents and presenters for “What’s Up in Annapolis 2021” are:

TV Show 1:  Proposed legislation in the areas of voting and election law. Presenters: Phyl Lansing, Eleanor Lewis, and Don Sillars. That show aired on March 2.

TV Show 2: Proposed legislation in the areas of health care/health care service delivery, senior consumer issues, and equity. Presenters: Janet Allan, Wendel Thompson, and Ann MacKay. This should be on during the week of March 8th.

TV Show 3: Proposed legislation in the areas of environment and conservation. The goal is to highlight major climate change legislation, which is before the General Assembly right now, and recycling bills. Presenters: Donna Martin, Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Marty Tewksbury, and Bonnie Kawecki.

There are two options for accessing information about the status of bills of interest to Committee members: (1) The Maryland General Assembly Website: mgaleg.maryland.gov and (2) “Track Maryland Legislation” on the Charlestown Residents’ website. This site includes a list of 2021 legislation tracked by the Committee, as well as links to the General Assembly website, mgaleg.maryland.gov.  All House and Senate hearings are now on YouTube Channels.

The meeting concluded with Committee members reporting on the bills they were tracking. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 am.

The Committee will meet again on March 10th at 10:00 am.

MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING (Jackie Graham, Chair):
The committee met on Tuesday, February 23, at 2:00 pm via Zoom. Nine members met with General Services’ Kevin Crawford and Don Hoffman.

General Services’ Updates
Mr. Crawford explained that many projects have been chosen for updated pricing. The process of prioritizing and rescheduling is still under review.

An email from Mr. Crawford has advised that the following projects are likely to be scheduled for next year.

1. Auditorium stage renovations
2. Brookside/Herbert’s Run hallways
3. Refectory dining room
4. Shuttle tracker

It was also reported that the structural floor repairs at bridges, though completed, are an issue. General Services is working with the vendor to correct/replace necessary areas. Other updates from General Services include:

• Painting stripes at newly installed stop signs,
• The Nature Trail Bridge will be repaired this spring,
• The pool should reopen within the next 2 to 3 weeks,
• Working with the vendor concerning control of exterior lighting,
• Addressing worn carpeting on Brookside’s 4th and 6th floors, outside of elevators
• Investigating possible equipment problems with poor circulation on the 4th floor, in Brookside, (After talking with some residents, we think that the situation has been resolved.)
• Investigating controlled lighting in Cross Creek,
• Investigating residents are using the card room beyond 9:00 pm, and
• Investigating elevator annunciator malfunctioning. (I also received an email stating that the annunciator in the Brookside elevator has been repaired.)

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, March 23, at 2:00 pm via Zoom.

RESIDENT LIFE (Ron Fayer and Cindy McManus, Co-Chairs): – Read by Mimi O’Donnell
Four items were discussed.

Volunteering
Stephanie Knowles, the Volunteer Coordinator, lists 800 resident volunteers — no external volunteers due to COVID. She has as-needed volunteers, for restaurants needing phone order-taking, etc. Her office will help recruit for groups and clubs, Floor Captains, new groups such as “Helping Vets Heal,” a potential group to help women who have had mastectomies, etc.  There’s a Zoom program for relatives of continuing care residents. Stephanie needs one-on-one volunteers to brighten an independent living resident’s days. She explained the process for welcoming new residents, receiving a Welcome package. “Friendly Visitors” is currently in place. Residents wishing to volunteer should meet with Stephanie for guidance. Cindy suggested adding Sports Clubs. i.e., Ravens and Orioles fan get-together groups.

Reporting Mission Moments
For “Mission Moments,” Phyllis Lansing urged reporting of residents helping others to her. They are acknowledged monthly in the Sunburst.

Communications Project
For the project to foster better communication, David Elder discussed the potential formation of a Meet and Greet group and solicited ideas to foster conversation by phone and computer. One model to look at is the successful Zoom Happy Hour hosted by Ann MacKay.

Showcase of Decorated Elevator Lobbies
Cindy McManus suggested showcasing individual elevator lobbies, using 972, CCICharlestown.org, and the Sunburst with photos monthly; photographers wanted.

The Resident Life Committee will not meet in March. The next meeting will be on April 21, 2021, via Zoom.

SAFETY & SECURITY (Ed Wallace, Chair): 
The meeting opened at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, with six committee members, two Council members, and one Charlestown representative, Reynold Giese.

Cybersecurity:  The fourth and final article on Cybersecurity for Seniors was published in the February Sunburst.

Fire Prevention:  Films are currently being shown on channel 972 on fire prevention, thanks to Tom Moore.

Falls info:  Ed Wallace is attempting to determine the number of falls.  Reyn Giese stated that a member of Charlestown administration must provide the information.

Medicine on shelves:  People from CVS are still leaving medicine on shelves, which they are not supposed to do.  Ed Wallace will contact the Health Services committee to find out who should be made aware of the problem. That turns out to be Administration.

Open exit door: The exit door at Herbert’s Run was broken last month and unlocked.  Security had to wait for a part to repair it.

Safety month:  June is national safety month.  The committee needs to begin planning what can be done.

Fall Prevention Month:   September is Fall prevention month.  The committee needs to begin planning what can be done.

The next meeting will be held on March 9, 2021, at 1:00 pm via Zoom.

The Chair of the Health Services confirmed that Clara Parker had discussed this problem with CVS. Two residents commented that they had noticed a change in CVS’s delivery methods.

NOMINATING and ELECTIONS COMMITTEE (Patricia Payne, Chair):
The Nominating and Elections Committee held meetings on January 29 and February 19, 2021. All members of the Committee were present at both meetings. Committee members reviewed lists of names of potential candidates for election to the Residents’ Council in 2021. There is a shared spreadsheet that Hope continues to update throughout the discussions. Packets have been sent to all approved candidates. Posters inviting residents to consider becoming candidates to serve on the Residents’ Council are located in the lobby areas at Charlestown and are being shown on Channel 972.

Residents are encouraged to contact any Committee member to suggest good candidates. Members of the Committee include Joan Green, Bill Miller, Diane Lyons, Wendel Thompson, Sherry Stewart, Pat Kasuda, Hope Tillman, and Anna Marie Ciarrocchi, Co-Chair. The next Committee meeting will be held on Friday, March 5, 2021, at 12:00 pm.

WORDS FROM MANAGEMENT (Heather Sheridan): 
Heather updated the Council with the following information and answers to questions raised during the meeting.

• Administration is thrilled to announce that there are zero residents in Independent Living who are COVID positive, and there are zero residents testing positive living in the COVID cohort in Continuing Care. This is the first time with this number. Four employees are positive, with another 15 staff that are out on quarantine. It has been almost a year since we had our first COVID positive case.
• At Monday’s clinic, 734 residents came through to get their second shot. We have gotten great feedback about the flow of the clinics. Thursday, March 4, will be the final clinic giving shots to approximately 40 residents who could not go to the clinic on Monday and to employees. We were able to extend invitations to employee family members who met COVID criteria to get shots in this final clinic, using a lottery system.
• We had 23 settlements during January and February against a goal of 18 settlements. The Sales Department is “knocking it out of the park.” As mentioned earlier in this meeting, residents are the best advocates and testimony for prospective residents. Please continue to reach out to family and friends.
• The Wi-Fi upgrade is absolutely a priority with COVID and streaming usage. The critical equipment, Access Points, has been held up in transit. Administration anticipates starting the WI-FI update in early April. More communications (letters, 972 updates) will be distributed as we get closer to installation.
• Ken Zahn will cover the alcohol policy mentioned earlier in his update on Friday, March 5th.
• March 18th will be the ten-day mark after the second shots are given. Gathering plans for church, etc., will be announced soon, consistent with County regulations. We are slowly moving forward, and there will be more to come.
• The Scholars campaign kicks off on Monday, March 15. We have 40 scholars this year. They have been given masks identifying them as scholars. Residents are urged to congratulate the scholars.
• The pool will be reopening on March 11th.
• The problem with medications being left on package shelves has been addressed with CVS, and they responded quickly.
• If the Council has concerns about falls, please send these questions to the Administration for answers.

A Council member asked about the number of employees who have received vaccinations. Heather did not have the figures. Heather responded that details about who is or who has not been vaccinated is a HIPPA violation. Residents are asked not to ask staff members about their individual vaccination status.

Another question asked if making vaccinations mandatory for employment. At this time, Erickson has not made vaccinations mandatory for employment.

We have a 97% vaccination rate among residents. This is allowing us to get to the reopening stages.