COA board discusses 2022 goals and plans
St. Joseph County Commission on Aging’s 2022 goals and organizational plan were discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the advisory board.
Executive director Pam Riley began by highlighting projects completed in 2021: website redesign and reinstatement of annual employee reviews.
As for 2022 goals include:
Community benefit
Plans for this category include a digital registration system for improved convenience and efficiency for nutrition, life enrichment, volunteers, and more.
This will be measured by:
Purchase of My Senior Center software.
Kiosk and scanner registrations and check ins will allow the COA to move from a manual process of recording participants to a quick and easy digital process.
Customized reports will allow the COA to track the level of activity of every program and event happening in the centers. This will allow COA to make educated decisions regarding adjustments to current programs and adding new programs. The software will also allow the COA to push out updates/alerts to participants in the event of cancelation or closure.
Also in this category, COA plans to develop partnerships and garner support from local groups, agencies and businesses.
This is measured by:
Gaining sponsorship from two additional area businesses (or agencies) for COA programs.
Scheduling at least two speaking engagements per month to educate residents, businesses, healthcare workers, and community leaders regarding the services and programs provided through the COA.
Lastly, COA will promote a healthy community of older adults through services and partnerships.
Measured by:
Increasing attendance at wellness/fitness offerings by 10 percent.
Educating health care providers about services and programs the COA offers to older adults and partner with them to promote health and wellness.
Complete the multi-use courts from the Patronicity Campaign.
Expansion of evening and weekend exercise classes to support health and wellness for the 60+ demographic who are working. These classes are open to everyone 60+ and their spouses. Currently, COA exercise classes are free.
Quality
In this category, COA will maintain a person-centered approach for all service offerings.
Measured by:
Expansion of choice for clients that use COA services. Each department will implement at least one change to expand choices:
Nutrition: Self-production of all meals by September 30, 2022. This will allow for even better nutrition, more menu selections, and reduce costs.
Life Enrichment: Offering evening and weekend exercise classes.
In-Home Services: Segment types of services and hire aides who may only want to provide one type of service instead of all three services. This will allow the COA to reduce the waiting list.
People
COA will improve delivery of service to older adults by developing and implementing a continuous improvement plan for COA staff.
Measured by:
Improve recruitment and retention to eliminate the wait list for services.
Annual employee reviews to determine personal and professional goals and implement a plan to achieve goals.
Quarterly staff development focusing on climate and culture.
Sustainability/Transparency
COA will continuously update and implement the long-range capital improvement plan.
Measured by:
All capital items will be included in the COA budget each year and a five-year plan will be given to the county administrator.
Complete a list of fixed assets with a life expectancy for each item.
COA also will maintain a COA board that is representative of the community it serves now and in the future.
Measured by:
The current and future board will represent a balance of geographical area, gender, age and ethnic diversity.
Growth
Lastly, COA will report an increase in the number of older adults served in St. Joseph County.
Measured by:
Increasing the number of participating older adults registered with COA, which is currently at 4,000. Of the current 4,000 members, 2,800 are actively participating and 1,200 are registered but not yet participating. Multiple membership drives will be held throughout the year to achieve the goal of increasing participating members to 3,300.
Use of grass roots marketing efforts to include educating the community and key stakeholders (i.e., hospitals, physicians, rehabilitation facilities, human services organizations, churches, schools, service organizations, SJCTA and municipalities) about the benefits of COA membership. This will be accomplished through public speaking, outreach, marketing collateral, website and social media marketing, participation in community events and fairs, and radio ads.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: news-St. Joseph County Commission on Aging-2022 goals
