Senior Citizens Advisory Commission - Regular Meeting

Roll Call

Pledge of Allegiance

Changes (Deletions) to Agenda

Approval of Agenda

Compassionate Communities Initiative; When The Time Comes Pilot Program Update

Receive an update on the Compassionate Communities Initiative, When the Time Comes, and provide feedback to staff. The Senior Center acts as a vital community resource, providing information on a wide range of age-related topics, concerns, and needs. Senior Center staff provide compassionate support and guidance to community members navigating profound, often challenging, end-of-life and future care decisions during the weekly inquiries that occur at the Senior Center. Following an initial meeting with community member and death doula Taya Levine, and subsequent outreach to Senior Center members, staff presented an idea for a program that would support end-of-life planning and presented this concept to the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee in January 2025 for feedback. In February 2025, the Senior Citizens Advisory Commission adopted the Compassionate Communities pilot program as a goal. On April 28, 2025, the City Council held a full-day retreat to review and establish the City Goals for Fiscal Year 2025-26. At this retreat City Council identified the program as a goal with formal adoption in June 2025. The Senior Citizens Advisory Commission created a Compassionate Communities ad-hoc committee ("Committee") for this goal with a focus on developing a program scope, structure, and funding mechanism to provide resources, services, and assistance for end-of-life planning. The Committee includes staff Anna Grant, Active Adult and Senior Services Supervisor, Recreation Coordinator Yaquelin Buenrostro, community member and project lead Taya Levine, and Senior Citizens Advisory Commissioners Cindi Brown and Barbara Erickson. During an in-depth discovery and development process, the Committee validated community needs, sourced materials and resources, met with the Latino community to clarify specific needs, and explored funding resources, all of which led to a new program concept termed “When the Time Comes”. The three-service-center program concept seeks to provide peace of mind to participants who are facing end-of-life situations by: Empowering choices, Providing assistance in navigating the end-of-life journey, Providing guidance through the healing process. The Senior Citizens Advisory Commission received the “When the Times Comes” draft pilot program presentation at the November 12, 2025, meeting, and recommended to City Council that City Council endorse the launch of the program in January 2026. City Council received the Compassionate Communities Initiative, “When the Time Comes,” at the December 1, 2025, meeting and directed staff to launch the “When the Time Comes” pilot program. The next steps outlined in the program launch for the When the Time Comes include several key areas that are a part of today's update: Building Run My Village Software, Building Compassion Language and Messaging, Program Services and Offerings, Program cadence, Compassion Coordinator, Space, Hours. Building Run My Village Software: Research into software applications for the When the Time Comes program led to the discovery of a volunteer management tool called Run my Village. This application supports event and workshop management, provides member case management, automates the volunteer system, and enables financial tracking and reporting. Consultant Levine and staff Grant are working with City of Healdsburg Information and technology staff to build the RunMyVillage software platform to support program activities. Website design is estimated to take up to 60 days and should be operational by early Spring 2026. Building Compassion Language & Messaging: The creation of program messaging and brand images led to the program name; "When the Time Comes" and materials were created to support this brand such as a one-page informational flyer, business cards, purchase of the url "whenthetimecomes.com", and most recently a tri-fold brochure. The Healdsburg Tribune featured 'When the Time Comes' as the cover story for its January 15th edition. Consultant Levine wrote this initial piece, which we intend to be the first in a series focused on end-of-life preparations and education. These articles aim to educate the community and foster dialogue on death and dying. Program Services and Offerings: The Healdsburg Tribune's January 15th cover story immediately triggered a wave of inquiries from residents calling to join the program shortly after publication. The two most frequently asked questions of Senior Center users, and community members who read the Tribune article are: "When is the first class?" and, "Where can I sign up for help?" Program Cadence: Staff recommends a monthly program rotation based on the Senior Center's class calendar. Under this framework, the Senior Center will host one educational seminar followed by one compassion-focused offering, such as a grief or bereavement session. Between these scheduled events, the Compassion Coordinator will maintain dedicated office hours to provide direct guidance and support to drop-in program participants. The Compassion Coordinator: The Compassion Coordinator needs a space or 'Compassion Corner' at the Senior Center to meet with interested participants. This welcoming space will offer a relaxing environment with comfortable chairs, a lending library, and helpful branded resources. It will also serve as a home base for the Coordinator to host drop-in hours and connect participants to needed services. Staff is working to bring a Compassion Corner space to life by transforming the current lending library and puzzle area into a Compassion Corner by early Spring.

Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2026