Pennsylvania Soldiers' andSallors'Home Advisory Council Meeting Erie, Pennsylvania March 9, 2022 9:00a.m. ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT Mr. Gary Fry, President, AMVETS Mr. Raymond. J. Chambers, Vice President, Marine Corps League Mr. Richard DiGiacomo, Secretary, Military Officers Assoc. of America Mr. David Price, Military Order of the Purple Heart Mr. William Rose, PSSH Resident Council President Mr. Richard Supak, Catholic War Veterans Mr.. Joe Benacci, Director of Veterans Affairs The Honorable Daniel Laughlin, PA Senator ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT Mr. Harry Stewart, American Legion Mr. Walter Simpson, Disabled American Veterans The Honorable Curt Sonney, PA House of Representatives Mr. Robert C. Eiler, Veterans of Foreign Wars OTHERS PRESENT Ms. Maureen Weigl, BG (PAI Retired), Deputy Adjutant General-VA, VIA Phone Mrs. Barbara Raymond, RN, NHA, Director of Veterans' Homes Ms. Cheri Spacht, RN, NHA, PSSH Commandant Ms. Deborah Cubero, PSSH DON Mrs. Elizabeth Seibert, PSSH Deputy Commandant Ms. Alyssa Cooley, PSSH Commandant Assistant Ms. Kimberly Knapp, PSSH PCU Administrator Mr. Ken' Vybiral, PSSH Volunteer Coordinator Ms. Pauline Wood Mr. Gregory Smith Mr.. John' LaPlaca Mr. Daryl Berlin Mr. Randy Moore Mr. Victor Sauerwein Ms. Doris Svitek Mr. Gerry Svitek Mr. Mike Bailey Ms. Cathy Crawford CALLTOORDER Mr. Gary Fry called the meeting to order at 9:00a.m. MOMENT OF SILENT AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. Gary Fryl led a moment of silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance wasrecited. ROLL CALL Ms. Alyssa Cooley took roll call for all present. SWEARING IN OF COUNCIL MEMBERS No Council Members were sworn in. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES A motion was made by Gary Fry and seconded by Richard Supak to approve the minutes of the Advisory Council Meeting held on December 8, 2022. Motion carried, and minutes were approved as written. MEDICAL DIRECTOR UPDATE No update was provided. ADMISSIONS AND MARKETING UPDATE Ms. Cheri Spacht provided update on behalf of the Admission Department: The unit D and unit E flooring project, that was going on our last meeting, has been completed. All of our units are up and running and we are actively taking admissions weekly. We currently have 32 open beds on our Dementia Memory Care area. 18 of those beds are filled. We have an active waiting list of3 veterans and 3 non-veterans. We are working very diligently on getting admissions in. On our Nursing Care side, we have 75 authorized beds and 63 of those beds are filled now. We have 13 Personal Care authorized beds is 100. Currently we have 521 filled, but we are still in the renovation process on Personal Care with our restrooms and bathing areas. We are in the last phase of that. We veterans on the waiting list and 7 non-veterans. have 3 veterans on the waiting list and 1 non-veteran. We have at total of 133 beds filled of our 207 occupancies. REPORT OF THE DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL General Weigl provided update: Any questions? General Weigl apologized for being unable to make the scheduled' TAG visit due to a public hearing being held on March 16th regarding veteran suicide. General Weigl stated that the Governorwasg goingtobemeeting President Biden todayi in Philadelphia to discuss some of our Homes construction projects. The projects are currently on hold, but we are General Weigl stated that she will be coming out to visit PSSH in mid-April and that she is going to try ready to break ground. and make it toi the next Advisory Board meeting. REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF VETERANS' HOMES Director Raymond provided update: We are doing good across the Homes from a covid perspective. Currently there is at total of 11 residents that are positive across the six Homes. Two of our facilities have zero residents, including our Erie We have 11 staff members that are currently positive across the six Homes whichi is at tremendous decrease. We've seen some ebbs and flows over the last several months int that flu season in the winter type months, but currently we are doing okay. Everybody is stable and nobody has had any major In2 2023, we have had one death that was attributed to covid. That was at our Hollidaysburg facility. None of ouri individuals in 2022 had covid listed as their primary cause of death, it's listed as a We have 1 staff member at our Southeast facility with influenza. We have no residents withi influenza at We are currently prepping for new state regulations across the six Homes, getting ready for those new items coming through, including new staffing numbers. Thankfully our Homes do run a very high hour per patient per day. So, we aren'tvery concerned as far as those regulatory changes for staffing The TAG is visiting out in Erie tentatively on March 16th. Hei is planning to visit out at our Hollidaysburg facility next week so, we are getting ready fori that and very excited for those visits. The residents really The Public Health Emergency is scheduled to end on May 11th. From ai funding perspective we are funded for our testing for covid through. June. Where we think there may be some changes, are changes toi the masking and some changes to the requirements for testing. New York State as well as Washington State have already dropped the masking requirements for Nursing Homes. We have not gotten that guidance yet from Pennsylvania sO we will wait until we hear something from Pennsylvania before we Another thing with the Public Health Emergency changing that will affect Nursing Homes across the entire country is the 90% occupancy role. What that means is, we have to have 90% occupancyi in a nursing home to be paid for any individual that goes out to the hospital for what is called a' "bed hold".If someone goes out to the hospital, we have to hold the bed for, depending on which regulation you look at, up to 15 days. We cannot fill it with anyone else on our waiting list and we will not get paid for that bed hold. The 90% occupancy was waived during the Public Health Emergency and that is scheduled to facility. Our other facility without covid is our Southeast facility. illnesses recently. contributing factor. any of the Homes, nor any other type of GI illness or outbreak either. perspective. do enjoy all thet fun and festivities. change anything with the masks change.1Fy youl look atn nursing homes across the country, very few are anywhere neart that 90% occupancy. Most facilities are in the 60-70% census category. Mr. DiGiacomo questioned if there was a grace period? Director Raymond responded; we are in the grace period. Mr. DiGiacomo responded, who makes the call on that? CMS, CDG, everybody is ending all of the waivers. Director Raymond responded, the Public Health Emergency was declared ended by the President, sO Our six facilities do a very goodj job with: staffing, some struggle a little more than others. Our facilities in the larger cities, Philadelphia, Spring City and Pittsburgh struggle quite al bit more than our Erie facility, Hollidaysburg and Scranton facilities. However, where we'r re struggling to bringi in additional residents is because we don't have the: staff. That is where our challenge is. Our waiting lists are decent. Most of our facilities are up to a pre-pandemic waiting list level.. Ai few of our facilities aren'to quite up to where they use to be, but we do have several facilities that could fill the buildings based off of the waiting list, but A1 few things we are doing for staffing to get people in our what we call' "Walk-in Wednesday's, and that interview process is going quite well. We bring people in, we interview them, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we offer them thej job on the stop. They do have to go through the background checks that are required. Iti is a much more fluid and quicker process than our traditional hiring process. At few things we did to improve our hiring process, we use to be around 90 days from the time the person applies to the time they start. We dropped to about 65 days and then some changes happened down at the Office of Administration in Harrisburg, and we popped back up to about 75 days. We are working on some things to be able to get back the support that we have had to get us back down to the We are scheduling job fairs at our Homes in April except for Hollidaysburg because staffing is quite well For someone to start in the Commonwealth you have to have the position. If we don't have that actual position posted in our system, even if wel know we have the opening, we can't have anyone come in. what we did was reach out to the Office of Administration and they are allowing us to have continuous postings. If. Joe Smith comes in off the streets on a Tuesday, and we know we have the position, but we didn'tget all the paperwork processed yet, now that it isa a continuous posting, Joe Smith can apply to that position. That has helped speed things up, but it's more of the bodies, they aren't coming to work. Director Raymond responded that she didn't have those exact numbers, but she could get them because itcould be significant. We at any given time have about 25-30 resident across the Homes out at the we can't because of staffing. 60-65 days. there. We are also doing continuous postings. Mr. DiGiacomo questioned what is thej financial impact of the 90% rule? hospitals. Mr. DiGiacomo responded, SO thej fixi is aj federal fix? Director Raymond responded, yes. Mr.DIGiacomo askedi if we want to lobby OArPeeTopeuswAwTisue. message that we want to deliver on that topic. Director Raymond responded, to extend the 90% occupançy waiver. Mr. DiGiacomo asked what is a reasonable timeframe. for an extension? Director Raymond responded; we're looking at probably at least another 61 months. Mr. DiGiacomo asked ifsomeone is eligible to be hired on the spot, why does it take 75 days to bring Director Raymond responded, to get everything approved by the Office of Administration. We'v ve had al busy quarter from a survey perspective. In February we had our Southeast, Erie and Gino Merli facilities visited by the Federal VA. Everybody did quite well. We are very proud oft them. The Pennsylvania Department of Health visited our Delaware Valley facility for their annual survey. The Department of Human Services visited our Erie facility for their annual survey. So, it was very busy quarter for everyone. Next quarter we are gearing upi for a Federal VA survey for our Hollidaysburg We are doing really well with our star ratings. We have three of our facilities that are 5-stars from the nursing home compare website which are our Delaware Valley, Gino Merli and Erie facility. Two oft the facilities are 4-stars, Southeast and Southwest and our Hollidaysburg facility is considered 3-stars. Hollidaysburg is al little bit lower because of the Department of Health survey from last year. That will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, drop off provided we have a great survey in the August Census across the six Homes is 967. All six of our facilities are admitting, a little bit slower though due to staffing. We do like to maintain al little bit higher of a staffing ratio because of the census of individuals someone in? facility and Pennsylvania Department of Health for our Erie facility. timeframe which is about when they are due. that we do take care oft tend to be al little more challenging than the private sector. Any questions? REPORT OF THE COMMANDANT Our total authorized employee number is 272 and 246 of those positions are currently filled. Our vacancies currently are only 26. Oft those vacancies we have one Assistant Director of Nursing, and the position is currently posted. Our Quality Assurance Coordinator is also posted. Our Admission Coordinator position is open, but we. justi interviewed and did make an offerwhich was accepted. Hei is currently going through the hiring process. We have one HR Assistant opening, four LPN openings, four RN openings, 12 CNA openings and two Custodial Supervisor openings. We are doing the Walk-in Wednesdays as Barb talked about and every other week general orientation for new employees. Ourj job fair is scheduled for April 20th and we do very well with our jobi fairs, we, get a lot of good turnouts for We have four employees that are out with covid. They are due to return to work between 2-5 days. Community level for Erie County went from low to medium this morning. That doesn't usually very much sO there is some sort of upticki in the community for covid. Our transmission rate is 13.7%. that. In'February we had our Federal VA: survey. We are waiting fort the formaireporrorwhar. concerns they have, but it went very well. It was in person. Ourl last 2 surveys for the VA were virtual so, it was nice to have them back inside the Home. fori them to discuss things with the residents, staff and the families. The third week in February we had Department of Human Services come ini for our Personal Care survey. They have not been ins since 20181 for an annual survey due to covid. We. just got their final report with five areas of concern, but that overall survey also went very well, and it was held in person, not virtual. We are waiting on our Department of Health survey, hopefully they will come ins soon and tour and see We do something here at the Homes through our Leadership ati the GAP which are called "Mock Surveys". They come in and review things to assist us ins seeing if there isa anything we can improve on. They were here last week, and their final report will also be coming to us soon. The Erie Water Authority continue to work the perimeter of our campus here replacing water lines. It Our unit D and E flooring project that was in process our last meeting, is completed. It looks wonderful Our PCU restroom shower renovations continue. We are in the last phase that started ai few weeks ago. We have a parking storm drain project that is going on out front int the visitors parking area. We just have the asphalt that needs to be delivered and placed. That will happen in April. There were several trees noted around campus that were questionable from a safety perspective, needing trimmed back or removed. We immediately called a vendor tol have them come out and take a look and there were several trees that were trimmed and at few that were removed. It was necessary, how things are, going as well. has been going on for quite some time. down there. That is going very well. they were very large and definitely a risk. Any questions? into a parking lot? Mr. Supak questioned the status of the old Commandant building. Is it historical or going to be turned Director Raymond responded; with the previous Adjutant General we completed an information paper on that. He actually wanted to raise it and essentially) yes, turning it into a parking lot and then covid hit. Since then, it hasn't come up on anyone's radars. Currently it's really) just there. Iti is not listed on the historical registry at all. Do/think we are going to get concerns if and when it comes time to demolish it? Yes, 1100% think we will, but it is currently not on the Adjutant Generals radar at the moment. Mr. Chambers questioned if residents are tested for covid when they go to a local hospital before they Ms. Spacht responded, yes. We have a testing protocol that we follow here when they return from the hospital as well. They are tested there, but we do additional testing when they return. come back? Senator Laughlin asked if the jobs were listed on Indeed as well? DirectorR Raymond responded, yes some of them dreif we boostthem,then, yes. Mr. Rose questioned concerning the staffing levels and wanting to remind everyone that we haven't been anywhere nearj full occupancy here for quite a number of years. 5) years ago, part of the NCU side was shut down for 2 years and then covid hit. The past 3 years the 700 hall on PCU has been unoccupied except to quarantine. So, from a resident's perspective when they hear about being short staffed and you look at the employees then look at the occupancy level, are we really hurting that bad? Ms. Spacht responded, from a standpoint of the renovations that have been going on, because of the phases for the restrooms we have soI many beds that we can only fill according to the regulatory guidelines, to make sure there is availability; for the residents that are here when we do have to close a restroom down. That number is 60.. So, we have to make sure we don't go over 60 until these renovations are over. We're at 52 right now. We are getting admissions on this side frequently. As soon as phase 5is done, 700 hall will go back to being open for admissions. As soon as the renovations are done, we are Mr. Rose responded when you count bathrooms, the individual rooms that have commodes, are those going back to try to get up too close to what our occupancyi is. counted towards the total? Ms. Knapp responded; no individual bathrooms are not counted. Mr. Rose. commented on his concerns regarding the trees. He stated that the residents love the trees here ont the property and also the critters that live in them. He stated he read the previous minutes which talked more about pruning the trees and possibly removing them, so the residents were very surprised when the lumberjacks came in and mowed down a lot of the trees. They completed removed the trees on the western side of the building. The tress provided a break from the wind, rain ands sun. He stated that this will come back to haunt us with the old windows on that side of the building. The facility will be looking into replacement trees int the very near future. The trees removed were a safety concern, as stated when the vendor came to assess the status of the trees it was not to remove but to prune the Mr. Rose also stated that the park in the back has undergone quite a bit of whacking as well over the past year or two unrelated to the bridge construction and in addition to the bridge construction. He would like for people to go see what has happened in the back themselves. He stated it was aA pleasant green space that was. secluded with the trees, and it hosted lots of wildlife and it was nice to go back there in the summertime and almost forget you were in the middle of the city and the residents are not Ms. Knapp responded, she couldn'tspeak to the trees in the back but the ones inj front, when the vendor came in with the intention of pruning, they found that the trees were rotted on the inside and that is why Mr. Rose responded, that was okay, buti it should have been announced to the residents to ease the bitter pilli instead of seeing people come here and start whacking trees ande everyone is scratching their head wondering what is going on. The residents/fomilies/councli/fegulatory agencies will continue to be updated onj facility changes and updates via resident council meetings, emails, and letters. trees, unfortunately the trees were requiredt tob bermoadergeycaon, happy about that. they were removed. Mr. Rosedisozommented; on the issue of tearing down the old CommondoncHOlse: Hes stated that none of the residents were enthused by this. The idea was, floated about setting up an outdoor pool table like it would make everything okay, but it would not, and people must not understand the type ofweather we have here. He mentioned that there are a lot ofi new residents here nowj from over the past few years who aren't married to the Commandant's. House like the older residents, but at the time it was being talked about, there was no enthusiasm amongst the residents about tearing it down. He stated the Commandants House could have been put to good use in a number of different ways like covid testing, a nice welcome center, there are many bric-a-bracs around the Home that could be presented very tastefully there as a visitor center, alli it would require is the addition of a handicap ramp. Itcould also make a good areaj for the volunteers to come in and meet with our Volunteer Coordinator, there is also some office space that could probably be used in there the way the offices seem to be expanding. Director Raymond responded, part of the information paper that we had to provide to the Adjutant General at the time was based on cost because unfortunately, it's not just a handicap ramp. Iti is not approved for Commonwealth use. The wiring all needs repaired. Radon testing needs to be completedin the basement, there is asbestos and abatement that needs to be completed. Iti is not ADA accessible in any way shape or form. The areas inside are toot tight for any type ofA ADA access. Prior to BABA we looked at the renovation costs and it was about a half million dollars. Post BABA it's probably upwards of over one million dollars. So, the Adjutant General at the time did not want to keep it. Again, it is not on his radar at all at this point int time. Right now, iti is just there and vacant, however, it is not approvedj for Commonwealth use, and those are great ideas that we did float around at the time, and it was just not approved. COMPLIANCE REPORT Ms. Seibert provided report on behalf of Beth Werner: We are moving into ongoing compliance due to the new CMS regulations with regards to compliance committees. We are in compliance with the Department of Health new regulations. We had our. first quarterly compliance committee meeting and training on February 23d oft this year. Moving forward the quarterly compliance committee meeting will be held the same day as the Advisory Council meetings and that will meet the quarterly requirement. There are no open investigations with compliance at PSSH ati this time. The compliance officers are reviewing two contracts across the six facilities. One is withi the therapy company Benchmark and the other a company Vista Medical. The one open investigation that they're reviewing has to do withi the requirement that all nursing homes conduct exclusionary checks fora all staff providing and overseeing direct services. This practice has been inj place at PSSH and another one of our facilities. Iti isa cumbersome process, sO they are reviewing and monitoring how to implement a service called "Justifacts" and that process should be in place and will allow the six BVH1 to meet the Director Raymond commented, what those exclusionary checks are, anybody who is funded or partially funded through the Federal Government has to go through these exclusionary checks through various websites, through the office of Inspector General. It started in 2013 and we have been doing it here in Erie. Since then, Imoved to another facility so that facility is doing it now too. You physically have to go exclusionary checks for compliance. Intodlofthese websites and check every single employée, thereis then nomechanism to prove we did it,soascreenshoti is taken to prove that this is being done on a monthly basis. We are trying to get a software company to complete those checks for us. We are on the final stages of getting everything approved and corrected utilizing the service called. Justifacts. We currently use. Justifacts for our criminal background checks, so we are in the process of adding that piece to the existing contract that the Commonwealth already has. REPORT OF THE DEPUTY COMMANDANT We completed our facility assessment which allows ust to meet the CMS obligation. Iti isaz 27 page report that looks at all of the residents on the nursing home side, all of their clinical needs and support, as well as the ability we have to support them in case of a natural disaster type occurrence. We also reference the Erie County Disaster Plan to make sure that the Natural Occurring Events and the Risk Assessment that the Erie County Emergency Management team came up with, that we incorporate those findings into our Emergency Disaster Plan. Ifa anyone would like to review the report, let me know. Annually we do this for the Advisory Council report off but also as needed ift there is any Administration changes throughout the year and any significant change that we feel needs to bei incorporated into our Emergency Disaster Plan. Any questions? Mr. Rose asked ifv we had aj follow up on the misappropriation of resident's funds at PSSH? Director Raymond responded, the compliance team finished up theiri investigation for me and then I'm working with the Human Resource Department to determine anything further. The residents have been Senator Laughlin commented that he enjoys being on the Advisory Council and being able to attend in person when he can 5o that he can hear what is going on. He stated that the Adjutant General would be here on March 16th, and he will reach out to his staff to see if they can take at tour of the Commandants House to gain aj fresh perspective on it. He made notes about the 90%1 rule to see if he can reach out to Federal Legislators about that. It's important to show up and he is glad to be here. the Veterans' Homes are at the top of his list to make. sure they are taken care of. It's troubling to hear about the waiting list made whole. due to staffing issues and will do what he can to help out on that too. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL MEMBERS Mr. Chambers: The Commandants House I believe was last occupied in the early 80s when. John Driscoll was Commandant. He and his family lived there with five kids. Like Barb: said, it does not pass a lot of the codes and that's why there has not been money put into it except to just to keepi it structurally: standing The other thingl - picked up on was the discussion of the census and renovations. Years ago, they did renovations here and instead of cutting down on the population, they transferred the residents to other state facilities and as you get older you don't: accept changes, I'Il admit to that. Youl look at these residents and most of them are in their 70s and 80s and they! had to go to Pittsburgh, Hollidaysburg, and safe. some went out Easrancrrwastaumatc to them. Ithink what they did this time, just cutting down the number of residents until the renovations were complete was a good idea. Mr. Supak: Ij just want to thank everyone for everything that they do and are we, going to plant any trees? Ms. Spacht responded it was very distressing with the trees,! don't disagree. It was something that was unavoidable. We were hoping for more pruning. We are going to go out and walk around and see what we can do to replace some of the things if possible. Mr. Benacci: The Commandants House, know half a million dollars sounds like al lot of money, but can' we, get some Director Raymond responded; the Commonwealth can't do it that way. Because it's construction it has There has been a change to the real-estate tax exemption program, Ijust want to bring it to the floor.I was able to work with the Administration oft the Council to remove one oft the requirements of having to serve during a war time period. Which al lot of people confuse. You didn'tactually have to have boots on the ground, buty you had to serve during a war time period. Whichi is basically' WWII, Korean, Vietnam and the recent one was the Gulf War which ended on December 315t ofl last year because DOD: stopped handing out the National Defense Service ribbon. Sot that pretty much ends the war time period. So, any eligible veteran that was not eligible because of service period, Council removed that requirement for the County. That is Erie County only. Since the County is the taxing authority, we were able to remove that stipulation. Ify you have any questions, you can call us at the office ort talk to me after this. private investments or donations? to go through DGS. Mr. DiGiacomo: nepywempenE to push that up to the Feds, ww.see there's also al lot of private sectors pushing. Six months seems reasonable, you gave that number, that's whatl Iwill throw out. Ken Vybiral: Outreach opportunities are pretty limited this time of the year because of the winter hibernation. We were able to attend consortium on Tuesday, we are looking for some good things to come out of that. One of the areas that were highlighted was the Brody Garden Project. We will bet the proud recipients of one of these indoor growing towers. We are anticipating delivery here within the next couple of weeks. We've: seen the popularity and the excitement of our outdoor garden. We are looking forward to We are looking to do a recognition for our volunteers next month in April whichi is volunteer recognition month. April 18th is our: scheduled date. Also, ify you are affiliated with any organizations that are looking to do some volunteer help, please make sure you reach out to me to get those opportunities started. complimenting that and being able to offer an opportunity 365 days a year. Weveveemabetowetome thè community into the Home al loti morehere m7023-Onetnatwrapped up our 2022, our successful" Wreaths Across America program. It's been great to see how that program We also hosted our Four Chaplains Ceremony last month in February. It was nice to bring that back out Looking ahead, we will be doing our Vietnam Veterans recognition at the end of this month, scheduled Ido want to give recognition to Mr. David Price and his organization the Military Order oft the Purple Heart. Ify you look at the wall by the stairwell, you will see a new stain glass portrait that was generously has grown and the community support that has come out for that. into the community as well. We had a nice turn out for that event. for March 29th. donated by the Military Order oft the Purple Heart here in Erie. Thank you, Dave. OLD BUSINESS No old business to discuss. NEW BUSINESS Ar motion by Mr. Fry wasi made to change the date of the. June meeting from June gth to. June 14th to accommodate a Cold' War medal ceremony. The motion was carried, and date was changed to. June 14th. Mr. Stan Baker NCU Resident Council President thanked everyone for being here and congratulated Mr. Rose mentioned that it is difficult for the PCU resident to speak to the NCU residents' concerns due to being two different environments. Mr. Rose was, glad that Stan Baker and other members of the NCU Mr. Rose stated that the official DMVA website and Facebook page fort the Home needed some love. He stated al lot of things on there were not matching up to the reality of the situation. The Facebook page has us situated on 26 pastoral acres of prime Bayfront property with pictures dating back 15-20 years. The page also says that there is an outdoor patio that the residents can relax on overlooking the bay and enjoy watching the sailing ships come in. He stated that has never been the case since he has been here. it was done away with when the new boiler rooms got put in. Whoever takes care of that should get some input from the Home. The facility social media pages will be reviewed and updated Mr. Rose stated that he wanted to talk about the volunteers and howi important they are to the successful programs that we have at the Home. He stated that they are shy and like to come in and do what they do and go home and do not like the spotlight but asked a few to come today to help put a face to them for the Council. Mr. Rose thanked them for coming in and all that they do. Mr. Rose spoke of the clothing room located on PCU. Itisar resident administered program. They set the hours fori it and keep the tidiness oft the room. Darryl Berlin has been running the room fori the past7 years and doing a fine job. They also have the support of volunteers from the community like Doris and Gerry Svitek. The clothing room supplies everything from winter coats down to socks for al lot of residents who can't necessarily afford those items. Mr. Rose thanked Doris and Gerry for their efforts Senior Leadership at the home for doing such a wonderful job. Council attended. with: supporting the clothing room. Mr. Rose spoke to the library on PCU.Hewanted' to draw attention to the plaque on the wallinthe library for Gerald Dean Mulkey and her 30 years of volunteer service at PSSH. He stated for the past7 years the library has been disorganized. Ken reached out to Cathy Crawford and. Jim Brown to help support the library. They were able to bridge the gap of thei former librarian to keep things organized and everything from falling apart. Mr. Rose thanked Cathy for everything she does to help support the Mr. Rose brought up a concern from the previous minutes regarding the internet. He stated he thought people may have been left with the wrong impression and wanted to clarify. The residents have never had' Wi-Fi in the PCU building. The staff and Administration have' Wi-Fi throughout the building. He stated the residents can get the interneti ift they subscribe through Spectrum. Ifthey open an account, they can get thei internet turned on in their room and the Home will help them with that. Spectrum has a program for lowi income individuals to get the rate down to around $301 for thei first year. He stated we had old computers here that were never hooked upt to thei internet that had many card games on them that the residents enjoyed however, the last oft those computers died out about 5 years ago. He stated it's been 4 years now since 6 computers were provided to the Home. The person who donated the computers also provided the internet. The computers sati for about a year. It wasn't until a conversation with the previous Director of Veterans' Home was had before the installation of the computers was granted. One was placed in the library, twoi int the canteen lounge and one across from the nursing station in the small resident lounge. The donator again stepped forward with providing the internet and cabling. He stated the ongoing problem with the computers and internet is always pornography and the machines were shut down again. They were eventually brought back up but offline for residents to enjoy simple card games and things of that nature. He stated in October or November of last year an Army veteran with cyber security experience volunteered to help setup the computers. With Cheri's permission, an inline that filters internet signals coming into the Home was installed. Iti is a control in addition to the parental controls as well and the computers were once again able to be used before Christmas. It has been working and everything looks good so far. Currently there is no WIFI on the PCU wing of the campus. Internet used ont the PCU is hard wired and for facility operations. NCU has WIFI but is used for facility operations. Commercial filtered WIFII is in process for approval across all 61 homes. Mr. Stan Baker commented that he has oner 40 years' experience as a computer engineer in Silicon Valley for several large corporations, the Navy and Army National Guard in California, if he can assist in anyway, he would like too. He understands the situation with the pornography and the last nursing home he was in had aj filter that worked quite well. Mr. Rose. said they were looking to recruit a resident who could administer the monthly updates and the anti-virus software that is installed and would love to Mr. Rose spoke about the garden project and introduced Mike Bailey, a master gardener at Penn State. Ifyour familiar with the soup kitchen over there, they raise al lot oft the crops themselves. Mike helped us out about 6 or 7 years ago when the NCU was closed downi for construction and the residents wanted to restart the garden. Mike came in and gave direction on what to do with the small space that we had. The garden is now starting to generate excitement amongst the residents. They really enjoy the fresh vegetables that come off the vine. We get quite a bit of comments from visitors, staff and family members. He stated the kitchen has gotten onboard with it, the garden does not produce enough to supply the Home with the food, but it does provide a garden fresh variety of vegetables that the kitchen library. Jim could not be here today. have Mr. Bakers help. is able to bed creativewithrincertaindishes. Mr. Rose thanked Mike forairhiseffortsims supportingthe Mr. Rose spoke about the Wreaths Across America Ceremony. He asked thati ify you've never heard about thei first' Wreaths Over America Ceremony, thaty you ask Kent to telly you about it because iti is worth hearing. He stated it was al little bit ofa' "Christmas Miracle" and for those who have seen what it has become today will really: appreciate it. Iti isheartwarming' for me and my fellow residents here who many of us hadi friends who died out there, it's heartwarming to see them remembered especially garden project. around the Holidays and to see the level of support we have out there. Any questions? Ms. Spacht responded, we are: still working on the commercial Wi-Fi, which will bej for the entire campus fort the residents. That will also have aj filter, it's been a work a work in progress for quite some time. Wi- Fiin this building, like Will said, fort the volunteer that provided that to us was great, this building does not have Wi-Fi, iti is hardwired. because of the age oft the building. Down at the nurse's station where the nurses pass the meds, their computers are hardwired there. We don't have Wi-Fi throughout the building Senator Laughlin responded, William, I've been listening and what I'm gathering here is from the veteran's side of this, the Home is focused on quality of care, keeping the residents safe and healthy, but the enjoyment of living here side of it, maybe there hasn't been as much focus, right? Mr. Rose responded, yes. The concerns of the Administrators of the Home do not necessarily the same concerns of the residents who live here. the Administrators of the Home have to deal with state regulations and follow the laws, but it doesn'tj jive with what the residents want. Senator Laughlin responded, Iwas listening to you, andl llike to garden and be able to go out there and pick aj fresh cherry tomato and eati it right off the plant. It means al lot to me. MEspaaAmepsay-awchomdstsaN. ofour residents picking the cherry tomatoes and aspirating. This is what/ Ir mean about, sometimes the concerns of the Administrators of the Home aren'tnecessarily what the residents want. The home is responsible for the quality of care, keeping the residents safe and healthy and their quality of life. Our focus must be ont the balance of the two, no more efforts with one overt the other. Within a community: setting such as ours we need to remain mindful ofi implementing programs that support both the more independent residents andi those who need assistance. Administration must allocate the resources to meet the needs and interests of all the residents not just a few. The regulatory agencies have surveyed both the quality of life and care andi found the facility in full compliance. They based that determination oni interviews with multiple residents and family members. They read the documentation where residents are asked what they like to do and what activities they want to participate in. They observed that group and one on one events and interactions and reviewed the participationrecords: They noted what was being shared at resident council meetings over multiple months. They reviewed the activity calendars for not just the PCU but also the NCU and noted the far greater number of supported interactions over the requirements from DOH and DHS, on the average there are 3-6activities planned per dayi including weekends as well as off campus trips and activities that are supported. here, buti iti is something being worked on for the residents. Every activity request can be reviewed" to determine resident participation and staff availabilityto schedule an activity requested, however if the request is isolated tot far few resident benefits or takes necessary manpower away from routine maintenance that can only be sustained. otherwise with such commitment the request may not be granted at that time but will be re visited ati intervals. Resident interest can falter at times and thus any program implementation must consider how does it remain held if the residents who offered to attend and support the effort change their mind ori interest? In order not to disappoint even one resident with cancellations that would be necessary the planning and discussion ahead of time makes the difference. And at times passing oni ideas until al later time if possible. If there is a request, we cannot often support a suggestion of an alternative can be offered. For example, if one loves to garden and the extended garden on campus is not enough for them to get their hands in the dirt there are Erie community gardens in walking distance to campus they As much as we desire to accommodate every resident "ask" we recognize in a community living environment such as PSSH which is highly regulated a tradeoff tol living here may require family and friends to support individual interests. In the absence of having such support the recognition1 that there Mr. Benacci thanked Mr. Rose for coming and giving the Council a better perspective from the resident's point of view. It helps the Council to be able to ask questions for you where they can. can support. may be at times the need to pass on some ideas. ADIOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 10:37AM The next Advisory Council Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at 0900. Buy Ery Roaist