Several operating villages have not yet paid dues for 2017. For the convenience of villages which have not yet paid dues, we will accept checks at the door on our February 26 Triannual meeting at the Bethesda Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. Operating villages are requested to pay the $35 dues for 2017 if they have not yet done so. Checks should be made out to Washington Area Villages Exchange. Here is the dues form: 2017 WAVE Dues Form to send in or to give to us at the meeting with your check. We will accept dues for 2018 at the same time. Emerging villages are invited to make a donation but are not required to pay dues.
Even on the best of days, some relationships are challenging and stressful. Of course, we appreciate and accept that everyone has a different personality but certain behaviors, traits, habits, moods and temperaments can bring us to extreme feelings that impact our own mood, disposition and behavior. This gets even more difficult when there is dependence or interdependence with the challenging person, when you have to work with that person or when you sense that something might actually be wrong with that person. Navigating through conversations and activities with difficult people requires skill. Should you say something? If so, what should you say?
Kim Burton, Director of the Mental Health Association of Maryland will address this issue with her knowledge of human behavior and relationships. Kim will provide insight and tips for appropriate approach, engagement and strategies when you are faced with challenges by another person’s attitude or behavior. Program participants will be able to ask questions, discuss and learn from each other and will leave with new skills and understanding.
WAVE Triannual Meeting
Monday 26 Feb 2018
Meeting opened with welcome remarks and thanks to Kensington Park Senior Living’s representative Heather Flattery for sponsoring refreshments.
Thanks were also given to Dave Prescott who is WAVE’s webmaster, for posting the minutes of the fall Triannual meeting which were accepted without objection.
Announcements
Thanks were extended to Don Moldover for his leadership of the WAVE IT Workgroup. He will step down from managing the committee, but will remain a member of it.
Isabelle Schonfield, Wyngate Neighbors Helping Neighbors announced the meeting of the Montgomery County Aging Commission’s Aging Friendly meeting on 28 March at the Silver Spring Civic Center.
The DC Resource Group announced a speaker on hoarding issues for their March meeting; and a panel from WAVE for their April meeting.
Diane LaVoy, Cheverly Village, announced a speaker on communication strategies with dementia patients on 03 March at the Cheverly United Methodist Church.
Lisa Walker, Hyattsville Aging in Place, announced that the MD Communities of Practice meeting in Columbia was to have a discussion on plasticity of the brain.
Annual Meeting Business
Election of Board – By unanimous consent, the WAVE Board of Directors were approved: two new members – Leigh Sempeles/Foggy Bottom West End Village and Sharon Canner, Reston for a Lifetime; and three reappointments – Pat Clark/Glover Park Village, Gail Kuttner/Arlington Neighborhood Village & Eddie Rivas/Potomac Community Village; all will serve from Feb 2018 until Jan 2020.
Treasurer’s Report – Stated that as of February, only seven villages had paid 2018 dues, out of approximately 71 villages operating or in development in the DC Metropolitan Region. Members were urged to please consider becoming paying and voting members of WAVE given the value it provides the region.
IT Workgroup – They reported that although they shared their software evaluation tool with the VTVN community, they had not received any feelback of any nature. They also reported that there exists an aging technology blog titled “Aging in Place Tech Watch”. They also reported that Paul Burton of the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind was using Amazon Echo to assist individuals with tasks; more information to come in the future. The IT Workgroup reported that John Bradshaw/Georgetown Village was working on hospital discharge planning by using geomaps of local villages to target local outreach efforts. Lastly, they asked attendees to consider joining the Tech Users Working Group.
Speaker Presentation
Miriam Kelty/Bannockburn Nieghbors Assisting Neighbors substituted for the planned speaker on late notice. Miriam offered a presentation on “Making An Aging Plan,” in which she discussed an overview of the many aspects that must be considered in planning for your life as you age. These include not only the creation of wills, estate plans, advance directives, etc., but also something called a Master Aging Plan, which is a long list of considerations when planning for longevity. Presentation materials can be found at http://wavevillages.org/index.php/resources/making-an-aging-plan
Next WAVE Triannual Meeting is scheduled for 14 May 2018 in Arlington VA.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer reported that WAVE currently had 19 paid memberships, out of a potential for 65 villages in the DC-MD-VA metropolitan región. Currently we have $665.00 in annual revenues, with $5,100.00 in carryover funds.
There was agreement that we needed to get as many 2017 dues paid as possible. Barbara Sullivan said that she would send an email with the information form to village contacts. All agreed that we must do more to encourage dues payments, including reminders on the WAVE website, emails, the newsletter, etc.
The conversation evolved into a discussion regarding the need to recruit someone to write/edit/be responsible for a WAVE newsletter that might be compiled monthly. One idea floated was that in the newsletter and during WAVE business meetings, we could feature a “village spotlight” on some aspect of one village for information sharing.
Website & Host Server
Acknowledging that there does not exist a formal communications mechanism for information sharing, Dave Prescott (who has taken over keeping the WAVE website up to date) asked that we forward newsletters or information ítems of relevance to be posted on WAVE’s website.
After considerable discussion regarding what entity/server would be chosen to host our website and regarding registering the domain name, it was agreed that Dave would investigate the options and make a recommendation for quick implementation.
Although we discussed the need for a Communications Director to manage the email lists and the production of a WAVE newsletter, there was no decisión on who might be recruited to do so. This ítem remains open.
2018 Annual Meeting & Elections
We decided that the next WAVE Triannual meeting would be held on Monday, 26 Feb. 2018 at the Bethesda/Chevy Chase Regional Service Center in Bethesda. During this meeting, we are due to have elections for Board members.
The following was compiled for discussion:
The final ítem was a request from Steve Gurney from the Guide To Retirement Living, for a presentation to the Senior Resource Group on Monday 02 April 2018. Barbara, Peggy and Eddie will represent WAVE in that presentation.
WAVE Triannual Meeting, Tuesday, October 17, 2017
St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church
555 Water Street SW, Washington, DC 20024
Plenty of parking at The Wharf or at 1100 4th Street SW
Metro: Waterfront-SEU Stop is one (long) block away
Agenda
9:15 am Lite Fare Networking (provided by Home Care Assistance)
(Please bring business cards and materials to share)
9:40 am Welcome, Barbara Ehrlich, President Waterfront Village
The Rev. Martha Clarke, St. Augustine’s Presbyterian Church
9:45 am Business Meeting: Miriam Kelty, President WAVE
Introduce our Host, Jerald Roberts, Home Care Assistance
Approval of Minutes: Eddie Rivas, Secretary
Treasurers Report: Virginia Hodgkinson
Committee Reports
Village to Village Network National Gathering
10:00 am Beckyanne Theriot, Owner of A First Class Move
Disorganized homes and hoarding: how Villages can identify and compassionately support members with dysfunctional and dangerous home environments.
10:40 am Break
10:50 am Discussion Groups: Developing, Open & Executive Directors
12:00 pm Adjourn
Following adjournment, those interested may attend a networking lunch at The Wharf.
Bob Craycraft, SW Waterfront Village, welcomed everyone and introduced Reverend Martha Clark, Rector, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, who also welcomed everyone to their facility.
Miriam Kelty, Co-Chair of WAVE representing Maryland Villages, also welcomed attendees, explaining the new schedule of WAVE membership meeting three times per year – Triannual Meetings.
The IT Committee offered in their report that they are still working after four years on studying village software packages that offer the best value to villages. Having studied many existing packages and not able to find developers willing to develop packages without a guaranteed return, the IT Committee has decided that they will serve in a “Consumer Reports” function to evaluate software packages for villages, in hopes that their reviews will lead to improvements and affordability. The Committee also announced that Dave Prescott has taken over the duties of managing WAVE’s website.
The Treasurer’s Report stated that WAVE had collected $420.00 in revenue, spent $588.00 in expenses, had $5,102.00 in carryover, for a balance of $4,934.00. All villages were reminded of the importance of paying village dues of $35.00 per year so that WAVE can prevent using up our reserves.
Secretary’s Report – The minutes from the June 2017 Triannual meeting were accepted as written and posted for review.
Announcements:
Guest Speaker:
Becky Theriot, founder and owner of A First Class Move (AFCM) was introduced to speak about Disorganized Homes and Hoarding. She stated that her business was targetted to individuals whose homes were “bursting at the seams” with clutter, which can cause safety risks that can lead to health issues. Among her more pointed remarks: hoarding is a disorder that can be treated but not cured; health, social and mental health and safety can all be compromised; not only is it important to clear up a physical space, but also it helps the individual; recognize the problem, consult professionals or authorities, and give the individual a say in how to remedy the situation; clutter requires organizing one’s space; the key is to make the solution as stress free as possible.
DC Community Conversations Town Hall - Agenda
September 27, 2017 1:00pm – 3:30pm
1:00pm: Welcome & Introductions
Opening Remarks: GOH and CNCS Staff
Summary of the initiative and introduction of key speakers/presenters
1:15pm: Age Friendly DC
Gail Kohn, Age Friendly DC
Discussion Topics:
1:45pm: Washington Area Villages Exchange
Miriam Kelty, Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE)
Discussion Topics:
2:15pm: Results of Community Conversations Demonstration Project in Washington, DC
Emily Morrison, GWU
Discussion Topics:
2:45pm: Conclusion and Open Networking
Closing Remarks: GOH and CNCS Staff
DC Community Conversations Town Hall
September 27, 2017 1:00pm - 3:30pm See Agenda Below
Please join us for a Community Conversation on the Measurement of Civic Engagement at the Local Level
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is supporting a series of projects across the United States that are exploring ways to improve measurement of volunteering and civic engagement activities at the local or neighborhood level; and how to better capture and describe various facets of civic life which may be linked to other important indicators of individual and community wellbeing.
In support of this initiative, the Washington, DC Community Conversations Team – comprised of Guardians of Honor, the George Washington University, Age Friendly DC, and Washington Area Villages Exchange (WAVE) – has recently completed various interviews, observations, community consultations, and focus groups seeking to better understand what “civic engagement” and “volunteerism” mean to older Americans, how they talk about and think about these activities, the mechanisms by which they engage and volunteer, and why they choose to engage in these activities.
Given your expertise and interest in these issues, we hope you will join us Wednesday, September 27, 2017 from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm at the True Reformer Building located at 1200 U Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 to learn about our partners’ current initiatives and to contribute to a discussion on the team’s findings.
WAVE Meeting
Monday, 19 June 2017
Barbara Sullivan, Executive Director of Mt. Vernon At Home, presided over this meeting. She opened the meeting outlining the Board’s new structure and the introduction of WAVE’s new timetable for three meetings per year. The Board Chair/President will rotate on this trimester basis, with a Board representative from each jurisdiction (DC, MD & VA) chairing WAVE’s activities and meeting every four months.
Alexandra Johnson from Old Dominion Home Care was then introduced and thanked for providing the meeting’s refreshments. She provided a short description of Old Dominion Home Care’s services and their willingness to work with villages as appropriate.
Board reports were made:
Guest Speaker: Emily Carton, Owner of Thetfordhouse, “How villages can help with compassionate care and support for our loved ones.”
Announcements:
Carolyn Ward, Georgetown Univ. Medical Center, announced that the Memory Disorders Program would soon start enrolling potential subjects/ cognitively normal patients in clinical trials, for anyone interested in their research.
Staff (Miriam ?) from the Corporation for Community Services stated that they planned on starting their focus groups with village members later that week; please contact her, Anthony Nerino or Emily Morrison.
Various villages mentioned that they would be holding watch parties for national video cast from VTV on Sept. 25th with Dr. Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal.
Waterfront Village in Southwest DC, will host the next WAVE meeting, Tuesday 17 October 2017, in St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 555 Water Street, SW, Washington DC 20024. Parking is available at The Wharf, 100 4th Street, SW. The Waterfront Metro stop is one block away. Networking at 9:30 am; meeting starts at 10:00 am; optional Networking Lunch at The Wharf at 12:30 pm.