JUlrich

Calling all AARP members who attended school–yes, that means all of you. Please donate school necessities and/or cash to the Sacred Heart Backpack Drive and brighten the day for deserving youngsters. Besides the normal school items, there is a special need for NEW backpacks (no red or blue!), scientific calculators, safety scissors, USB flash drives, hand sanitizer, tissues, and $20 shoe gift certificates. Check with the store manager and tell him why you are buying school items and he/she may give you a teacher’s discount! Items must be collected this month. Brownie points for those who buy lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand–it’s all about passing on a good feeling to our fellow citizens no matter their age. Mind-blowing facts to follow next month on our super-duper volunteer David More! Happy summer!

PLEASE BE SURE TO PUT THIS REPORT IN THE PURPLE ENVELOPE EACH MONTH! THANKS.

VOLUNTEER HOURS REPORT: NAME______________________________________MONTH: ___________________

ORG_______________________________________________________ TOTAL HRS THIS MO._____________

ORG_______________________________________________________ TOTAL HRS THIS MO._____________

ORG_______________________________________________________ TOTAL HRS THIS MO._____________

ORG_______________________________________________________ TOTAL HRS THIS MO._____________

“ASK US ABOUT STAYING HOME” (FREE SERVICE) (right in our meeting room before the meeting!)

This service is an opportunity to meet with an in-home care specialist and a home therapist to ask your questions about staying safe and secure in your own home. Get information on activities of daily living, diet, how to search for good quality in-home care, what questions to ask your doctor, fatigue, pain, hygiene, management, balance issues, and much more. No appointment necessary.

This is the latest I have on the few things in front of the Legislature before they pass the new budget:

SB 323 (Hernandez) – Nurse Practitioners to be able to practice to the full extent of their training – Hearing will have been on June 16, at 9 AM I hope everyone was there in red shirts giving their support. As of this writing, I won’t have an update as to what the outcome was/is, but will have it for you next time!

ACR 38 (Brown) – Caregiver Task Force to examine issues faced by family caregivers – This is up in Senate Human Services on Tuesday, June 9 at 1:30 PM. No word yet as to the outcome. I will update you in the August Newsletter.

SB 675 (Liu) – Transitional Care requiring hospitals to notify family caregivers of a patient’s discharge and to provide instructions regarding post hospital care – the CARE Act has passed the Senate and heads to the Assembly. No hearing date has been set yet.

State Budget Update – The legislature passed a budget on June 16th. The Conference Committee had been working all week. AARP has weighed in on a few items that reflect what emerged from the Assembly or Senate Budget Committees. They are as follows:

1) AARP supports the 3.8 million dollar budget augmentation for the Caregiver Resource Centers (CRCs). This will ensure that unpaid family caregivers receive the direct core services necessary to keep their loved ones at home.

2) We are also urging the legislature to adopt the enhanced funding formula for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program from the Assembly Budget recommendation. Regular Ombudsman presence saves the State of California money by detecting and resolving complaints before they escalate into regulatory violations and crimes requiring the involvement of higher-cost agencies such as law enforcement and licensing agencies or causing serious harm to facility residents requiring medical services thru the Medi-Cal program.

3) We are also asking them to adopt the Assembly Budget proposal to restore the COLA provided to Social Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) recipients starting January 1, 2016, with a cost of $33 million General Fund. SSI/SSP provides modest income support to the most impoverished seniors and disabled adults. At a minimum, this allows many to avoid total destitution and homelessness, and to age in their own homes and communities with independence and dignity.

4) We support the proposals in both committees to restore the seven-percent reduction in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) hours. IHSS not only enables seniors and persons with disabilities to age in place, but it may also provide caregivers with necessary respite to run errands or go to work. There are a few more items for which AARP is giving its support, because they will allow seniors and people with disabilities to age in their own homes and communities with dignity and independence. But I am running out of space here and will update and give you a full report in the next newsletter.

GIFT, Giving Individuals Fabulous Theater, is a nonprofit organization which brings theater to individuals—many of whom are unable to experience it otherwise. Since the start of 2013, GIFT has performed for local health centers, assisted living facilities, and children’s hospitals. GIFT performs a variety of short musicals, plays, and scenes for residents at these facilities, who are unable to attend theater productions and may have never seen a live production. Entirely run by students, GIFT has worked with over 100 performers, technicians, designers, photographers, marketers, and directors between the ages of 11 and 20. The passionate students that are a part of GIFT have come from and perform all over the Bay Area, including, but not limited to Campbell, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Los Gatos, San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View, and Belmont. Connected through outside theater groups, schools, clubs, and friends of friends, these students all come together with one common goal: to use their talent to give to others. GIFT has been commended by the county of Santa Clara for its volunteer work, and has been featured in the San Jose Mercury News, The Valley Catholic, and other local newspapers. GIFT has performed for hospitalized individuals ranging from ages 2 to 107 and has produced specialty productions in conjunction with Villa Montalvo’s ArtSplash festival. Additionally, GIFT has raised over $12,000 for local charities including the Sub-Acute Saratoga Children’s Hospital, Free the Children, local church programs, foster care therapy programs, food drives, and more.

Meeting Reminder

July 21, 10:00 a.m.

Room Q80

Social Time 9:30 a.m.

Campbell Community Center

Please bring books to share and Treasure Chest items. Leave food, clean clothing and linens, and canned food for Sacred Heart outside the meeting room on the bench. Please do not bring garage sale type items for Sacred Heart. Bring your items for the GI’s into the meeting area.

Lunch after meeting:

The Garret, 1777 S. Bascom, Campbell

408-559-7930

Program: Giving Individuals Fabulous Theater (GIFT)

We’re having a luncheon fundraiser on Tuesday August 18th after our meeting from 11:30 to 4:00 (to spread out the crowd) at the new Veggie Grill at Westgate Shopping Center (old Century location). Bring your family and friends and identify yourselves as AARP diners with the ticket from the flyer, which will be available at the tour table July and August. We will receive 50% of sales! The money raised will pay for a banquet room at a nice restaurant for our new January luncheon. If you cannot attend we would appreciate your help by placing a donation in the box at the tour table or you can send your donation to me. Let me know if you have a suggestion for a restaurant with a banquet room. And remember, we don’t need a green card to go out of Campbell! Be sure to pick up a flyer at the tour table and take to the Veggie Grill after the August meeting!

You may notice that this Dispatch looks like the older ones with me as Editor. That’s because I am Editor this month and I don’t have the same program as Maribel. We are sorry to report that Maribel’s father passed away and she is going to the Philippines for services. We have also decided that since our membership is down and we are padding the mailing list to come up to the required 200 copies for the bulk rate, I will be e-mailing the newsletter in color to the members who have given us e-mail addresses. This will save us over $400 per year. But don’t worry. It will be sent by blind copy so no one will have access to addresses. The rest will continue to receive a hard copy. If I don’t have your e-mail address, you can e-mail it to me at mar2hruby@sbcglobal.net. A hand vote was taken at the June meeting desiring a better venue for the annual luncheon. It was decided to avoid the holiday season and move the party to January 2016. So we are having a fundraiser to help pay for it. See the article below for details.