Clark County Commission on Aging

0:00 (upbeat music) - Good afternoon. I will call to order this public meeting of the Clark County Commission on Aging. It is Monday, April 20th, 2026, and my name is Ellen Rogers, and I am the chair of the commission. Meetings of the Clark County Commission on Aging are held in a hybrid meeting room. This means that the commission members, guests, and members of the public have the option to attend in person or remotely. For members of the public attending remotely, other event participants cannot see or hear you unless you are acknowledged by the commission chair or staff and your audio is unmuted. I will announce the agenda items as we move through the meeting topics

0:59 in case you do not have the agenda in front of you. An opportunity for public comment will be at the beginning of the agenda following a few business items. We will start with a roll call of commission members who are present for this meeting. Commission members, please say here after I call your name. As a reminder to all of us, please don't forget to mute yourself when you are not speaking. Mike Anderson. - Here. - Julie Donovan is not here. Cass Friedland. - Here. - Donna Mason. - Here. - Kendon Masterson. - Here. - David Moss. - Here. - Ellen Rogers is here. So there is a quorum because we have more than five commission members. We have six commission members today. So we will now move on to the business items.

1:57 Your first item is approval of today's meeting agenda. I will take a motion for approval of the agenda. - So moved. - Second. - Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I will take a vote. So all in favor of approving the agenda for the meeting today, please say aye. - Aye. - A vote for all of those opposed to the agenda. Please say nay. Hearing no opposition, the motion passes and we approve the agenda for today. I will take a motion for the approval of the work session. Oops, I was supposed to say that the motion passed and we have approved the agenda, sorry. Moving on to meeting notes. I will take a motion for the approval

2:56 of the February work session and meeting notes. - So moved. - Second. - Second, thank you. What am I supposed to say? Sorry. So is there any discussion about the meeting notes for February, okay, I will now take a vote on whether or not to approve the February work session and meeting notes. All those in favor of approving the February 2026 work session meeting notes, please say aye. - Aye. - Any of those not in favor, please say nay. Hearing none, the motion passes to approve the meeting notes from the February 2026 work session. I will now take a motion for the approval of the March work session and meeting notes.

3:54 - So moved. - Second. Okay, is there any conversation about the March work session and meeting notes? I will take a vote on whether or not to approve the March work session and meeting notes. All those in favor of approving the March work session and meeting notes, please say aye. - Aye. - All those not in favor, please say nay. Hearing no nays, the March work session and meeting notes are approved. So we will now move on to the next item on our agenda, the general public comments. So we request that any comments that are made are completed within three minutes to accommodate time for all speakers. We also request that before you make your comment,

4:53 you state your name for the record. Are there any guests in the room that would like to make a comment? There are no guests in the room. For staff, for online guests, can you please provide instruction on how to make online public comments? - We do not have any online guests today either. - Okay, so commission members, any clarifications or questions on what you just didn't hear? Okay, this concludes the general public comment portion of this meeting. So we will now move on to our moderated discussion that will focus on mobility. Today, we are joined by guests from Adswa and Community in Motion, and I will be the moderator for the session. So I will begin by introducing our guests.

5:51 So I just have a quick overview introduction for our guests and for everybody on the commission. So in 2026, the Commission on Aging is exploring mobility in Clark County, and we're trying to understand the challenges that seniors face as they're trying to maneuver throughout the community and go about their daily lives. So in February, we looked at the comprehensive transportation planning process, and we all became transportation planning engineers. And now, this month, we are moving on to explore two of the goals in our strategic plan. So the first one is how to design transit options with people who are (indistinct) and then the second deals with how to increase transportation options in areas not served by transit lines.

6:50 As part of our fireside chat, we would like to understand both how your organizations serve older adults and also what are the major challenges that you find these groups have in navigating their daily lives. In addition, we would love to understand the different challenges you see in the urban versus rural areas. So that's just something that is particularly interesting to us given our community. So we have two presenters today. The first presenter is Jarena Hatch from Community in Motion, and then the second presenter is from, is Christina Marneri. I always say it wrong, Marneris. And she is the Community Services Director at the Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington. So before we get started,

7:49 I'm going to read their two biographies and so we can get to know Christina and Jarena. Who knew that we would have two people with rhyming names for the day. So Jarena Hatch is a mobility manager with Community in Motion where she works to support accessible, reliable transportation and programs that enhance mobility, access and quality of life. She enjoys helping people gain understanding and access to local transportation options and planning efforts that serve residents and communities across Clark County, Washington. Christina is the Community Services Director at the Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington, also known as ADSWA where she leads program planning for more than 18 programs in overseas communications,

8:48 partnerships and business development. With 25 plus years of experience in the aging field, she is dedicated to strengthening community centered supports that enhance the independence of older adults. So I think Christina and Jarena both have short presentations for us and then we'll commence with the conversation. So Jarena, was Jarena gonna go first? I thought. (indistinct)

9:54 All right, now if I can only figure out the mute button. So I have, ours is just a standard presentation but it does talk a lot about mobility. Does that help? I am so sorry. All right, next slide. 'Cause I'm sure we all know what date it is. So Community Emotion is a nonprofit serving Southwest Washington. We actually serve five of Southwest Washington counties including Cowlitz, Wekiakum, Kwikatat and Skamania counties. And most of that is non-emergency medical transportation.

10:53 So that's helping people get to and from doctor's appointments. We provide accessible, reliable transportation to seniors, people with disabilities and people who have lower incomes. Our mission is to connect our neighbors to reliable transportation options that support healthy independent living. (laughs) How do I progress? Oh, just tell her, okay. Next slide. So the importance of mobility. People without reliable transportation face missed appointments, delayed medical appointments. Oh.

11:53 We went fast forwarded. - It's fun out here, okay. So you've got it. - Yeah. - Okay. - Difficulty accessing pharmacies and specialty care. Worsening chronic conditions due to lack of routine care. Limited job opportunities, especially outside of their immediate area. Unreliable attendance leading to job loss and reduced hours. And difficulty accessing pharmacies and difficulty attending training or education programs. And. There's the next slide.

12:49 People without reliable transportation face trouble getting groceries or household supplies. An inability to reach food banks and other community resources. Dependence on errands, or dependence on others for errands and essentials. Reduced social connections and community engagement. Feelings of isolation, frustration or depression. And a loss of independence and dignity. Next slide please. The impact of transportation barriers. Transportation barriers disproportionately affect individuals experiencing low income, seniors, people with disabilities and rural residents.

13:47 They can reinforce cycles of poverty from exclusion, from essential services and important activities. And even social activities are vital. Next slide please. So, we have several programs. We'll start with our specialty programs. We have a volunteer driver program called Volunteers in Motion. Those are volunteer drivers who, you know, sign up to help people with disabilities and senior citizens just get their needs met. You know, it's really hard to get a ride

14:43 to the doctor around somebody else's schedule. So, our Reserve-a-Ride program, which is another specialty program where we arrange pre-scheduled transportation for life sustaining treatments such as cancer and dialysis.

15:11 And other essential needs as funds allow. We have service for that program in Clark County and Cowlitz and Wekiakum County. Our North County Shuttle Service is one of our newest programs. And that happens to be available up in rural northern Clark County. Which, you know, that's my favorite. I just moved into Vancouver, but I lived in one of those areas. So, you know, I raised several children in that rural area. So, I know how hard it is to find transportation out there. Unemployment transportation, which helps people

16:08 with lower incomes or looking for work to get that travel expense helped with. So, like a bus pass or sometimes, depending on need, door-to-door transportation.

16:33 That's a referral-based program that's available in Clark County. Our Trip Resource Center helps people find available transportation options in Southwest Washington. That serves Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lewis, Skamania, Pacific, and Wekiakum Counties.

17:02 Then the non-emergency medical transportation program, which is transportation for Medicaid eligible clients going to Medicaid eligible appointments. And that's available in Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Skamania, and Wekiakum Counties. Next slide, please.

17:33 So, our volunteer driver program, it offers rides at no cost to the client. So, we offer free training. We do driver background checks, and we even offer the use of our agency vehicle. And there, we just lost the slideshow for a moment. Okay. But one of the benefits of the volunteer driver program is that they can help people stay engaged in their social environments. So, if they need to go to the crazy hat thing

18:32 or whatever, I hear about it all the time. I just don't ever get to go. But we do shuttles for special events and stuff like that as we have drivers available. - Jarena, when you're a volunteer driver, do you use your own car, or do you provide cars? - You can use your own car as long as it meets the requirements, which is clean, well-maintained, and insured. But we also actually offer the use of our minivans

19:30 or we have a larger vehicle that can seat more people and can actually seat two wheelchairs, and it has a lift. So, this helps a lot of people get access to their doctors, their pharmacies, the grocery store. And we have one client that she just likes to go get her hair done. Well, the salon is a social activity. So, it's a very important one for some people, too. Next slide, please. Okay.

20:30 As I mentioned earlier, Reserve-a-Ride is for people who are needing help with transportation to get to life-sustaining services. Dialysis can be three to four days a week, and that's a very sustained experience. It's a sustained period of constant needing rides, and so it becomes a very big burden on families. And that's one of the ways we're able to help alleviate some of that pressure is by taking on some of that transportation. And sometimes we're able to provide bridge services

21:29 for people who are needing access to a C-van, but it takes like three weeks, almost, to get processed with an application through C-van. So, sometimes we can help provide bridge services, filling that gap. Next slide, please. And I told you a little bit about the North County Shuttle Service. This map is a general idea of how much it covers. And one of the other benefits is that we're able to work to coordinate with C-TRAN for people

22:27 who want to use the current once they get into town. That offers door-to-door service in battlegrounds. So, it's a good option for people who live a little further out to be able to connect into town. Also, we can get people to some of the other local communities like local park and rides. You know, Yakult has one they're working on and a few other places, so, let's see. Yeah, most of the small cities in Clark County have one. Next slide, please.

23:22 I covered a little bit of our non-emergency medical transportation. Now, that one's specific to work with Medicaid. But, you know, for those who are on Medicaid, getting that couple of gallons of gas in your Suburban, because that's the only car still running, you know, it can help, you know? It was a lifesaver for me when I needed it. It helped me get my kids to the doctor, you know? And that's huge.

24:20 So, you know, and they do prefer to work with the lowest cost vendor. So, sometimes it is a bus pass. But, if you're not going real far, it works. And also, if you happen to be close to transit, it works. So, housing that's close to transit, medical offices that are close to transit, that kind of stuff is very helpful. Next slide. So, for accessing our specialty transportation services at Community in Motion, we ask that you call at least two full business days,

25:20 mostly because of the fact that it takes some time to get those rides set up. Most of our vendors, you know, they're pulling their schedules two days in advance so that they can check and make sure they can do those rides, make sure they have the drivers, make sure they have all the right information. And that's a lot of the why is we can make sure the details are correct. Next slide. Now, specialty and NEMT both have different hours. Some of that is because with the specialty program, sometimes we don't have as much

26:17 other people working on those programs. You know, we have one volunteer driver coordinator, we have one North County shuttle service coordinator, we have one employment specialist who also schedules reserve a ride. So, it's very specialized. But NEMT, they've been doing amazing. We have a really good crew there. They've recently gotten their hold times way lower. Like, less than 30 minutes usually. So, and that's obviously a good, a good thing.

27:15 These are some of our wonderful employees that you've seen in the last two slides. I have some amazing coworkers.

27:31 And they're all passionate about trying to help people find that transportation. Next slide. This is our standard call to action slide where we ask people to become volunteer drivers, to refer people they know who might need transportation assistance, to donate if they're able, advocate for transit if you're able, and safe transportation options, and collaborate and partner, which is one of the reasons why we're here. Next slide.

28:28 And here we have the question and answer section. - I'll just ask a question, we'll see where that goes. Thank you so much, Trina. I just was wondering, how do volunteer drivers typically find their ways to you? Are there organizations that help scooch people toward you as volunteers? - Sometimes. I know that a lot of the organizations we do work with, if somebody is looking for a volunteer, or if somebody's looking for a way to volunteer, most of the organizations we talk to need them in some way.

29:21 But, I know the Chamber of Commerce has helped us with some of that. Most of, I'm sorry, I just had a moment. I know there are several agencies that are helping us, but I don't know all of them, and we do have some referring partners in the employment program, so that helps. - I have a question, this is Donna. How many volunteer drivers do you have, and do you have enough? - We always want more drivers. We currently can cover about 50%

30:20 of the ride requests we get. I do know that we have some recruiting activities planned, mostly to bring awareness to people that we exist, 'cause the agency is officially hitting its 80th birthday this year, this month. And we're one of Vancouver's best kept secrets. - So are we. This is Mike. When you take someone, let's say to dialysis or cancer treatment, the driver needs to stay there the whole time? - Well, not necessarily, because dialysis can take several hours.

31:16 So if it's just a short appointment, that would be great, but for dialysis, it's not necessary. - So then you have to arrange two rides there, and then back somehow? - Usually, yes, it's a round trip. - Okay, and then how are you funded? How does this get paid for? - Most of our programs are funded through grants. We do receive some small donations. We have one person that sends us like $20 every month. It's the sweetest thing, but she knows she's helping.

32:11 But yeah, most of our grant funding would be through C-TRAN and Washington State Department of Transportation. That's the most of it, the majority of it, yeah.

32:38 - Does anybody else have any questions for Jarena before we move on to Kristina? We'll come back to you, Jarena, don't worry. So Kristina is going to let us know a little bit about EDSWA, I'm not even gonna try and say it anymore. - Takes up half the time just to say the name, right? - It does take up a lot of time to say it. And then we'll have questions, so thanks, Kristina. - Well, thank you so much for the opportunity to come and share from our perspective some of the transportation and mobility challenges that older adults experience here in Clark County. Similar to Community in Motion, as you all know, we serve a five-county service area, Clark being our urban county and the other four counties being rural communities. And so as you can imagine, the transportation needs, while there are some things that they share in common, there are definitely some things that are unique

33:37 either in the rural counties or the rural sections of Clark County. So from our perspective, we wanted to acknowledge all of the great resources that exist between Community in Motion as well as CVAN. And we are also in the process of exploring transportation services for and with our advisory council. And so one of the resources that I learned a little bit more about last week includes Cowlitz Indian Tribe Transit. And so I was always aware that they serve Cowlitz County and that it's open to those beyond the tribal members. And so I'm happy to share that they also provide transportation here in Clark County. And their rule of thumb is they serve 20 miles east or west of the I-5 corridor. So I do wanna kinda share that one. I think that's not as well-known as CVAN in Community in Motion. So I just wanted to share that resource.

34:36 I'm not sure if it's just kinda fading in or out or do I just need to come a little closer maybe. Maybe that's what it is. So as you heard Jarena talk about the resources that are available in CVAN, those are great. And I also want to acknowledge that older adults experience a number of barriers that might impact their ability to use those great services. And so I wanted to spend a little bit of time talking through some of those. That can include clients who may need assistance that are moving from home. So maybe they aren't able to get out of home and move to... Internet guru often tells me person in chair, not the computer. So one of their issues might be actually just being able

35:32 to get out of their home to the mode of transportation. So just being mindful of that. Sometimes depending on the ride resource that they're accessing, it could be the length of time that it takes, right? So if they're getting picked up at 9 a.m. to go to their 10 o'clock medical appointment and they don't get home until afternoon, that's a long time for someone who might be medically fragile to just be out of home and operating. So that's another thing that they may have concerns about. And then CVAN may not be appropriate for folks with certain medical conditions, just depending on what their health situation is. And so maybe they're physically able to get to the bus stop, but their health issues may not be an ideal situation to be in public transit. And then clients might miss their rides

36:30 because their appointments take longer than expected and the driver isn't able to wait for them to return. So similar to your question of arranging those one-way trips to and from home, that can be an issue for folks sometimes.

36:49 And then it could be, depending on the healthcare condition, they may need to get care in Portland. And so many of our transportation options, their jurisdiction is just Clark County. So figuring out that transportation from Clark County into Portland can be a challenge for folks. Many of our clients have to travel from the Portland metro area to specialty care. And then clients who have frequent medical appointments may worry about the uncertainty of transportation. So again, those individuals who might be going for dialysis care, because that's regular and persistent and ongoing, just having that confidence that they're gonna be able to access that transportation service that they need on a regular basis could be a concern. It could be that previously their spouse, their partner, their adult child was able to take them from appointments and maybe they're no longer able to do that.

37:47 And so finding a reliable, consistent mode of transportation that's available for them. Perhaps they used to drive themselves, but they no longer are able to do so. Maybe they have financial means, but they don't have actual practical means to continue to drive and so forth. So that could be a barrier. And then although a client is enrolled in caregiving services that provide some transportation support, there's limited number of hours. So again, if they're utilizing their personal care hours for transportation, depending on how many hours they have available to them, they may have to prioritize, 'cause maybe they need to preserve some of those personal hours for things like bathing or meal preparation and so forth. So that might be another barrier. And then it's just sometimes it could be maybe just the length of time it takes them to get from their home to the bus stop, say, just, and then especially living in the Pacific Northwest.

38:47 You know, it takes you longer to walk from home or from wherever you're leaving from to your bus stop, and it's pouring down raining. That could be another barrier for folks. And then just the issue of having to address whether it's safe to continue driving, that can often be another issue. And then as Jarena indicated, oftentimes funding is the barrier. Sometimes we have the infrastructure built, but there's just not adequate funding to provide the transportation needed, or the number of volunteers that would allow you to provide, again, the depth of transportation services needed. And then sometimes there can be safety concerns, because sometimes we think, oh, why don't you just call a Lyft? And so certainly as someone who's familiar with using it, one, you've gotta know how to use the technology to order, how to pay for it, and then to understand if it's a safe situation.

39:46 I always talk about my experience when I was in, I think it was in New Orleans where our driver showed up intoxicated. So yeah, it's the first and last time that I've experienced that. But again, you gotta be willing to navigate that and feel comfortable in advocating for yourself, and that might not come intuitive for some older adults or adults with disabilities. And that's not to say that those aren't really great opportunities and solutions, but again, those could create barriers for some folks. Next slide, please. Next slide, sorry, I'm ahead of myself. So I also wanted to just talk about, from my perspective, what are some of the service opportunities that we could explore? And that might be expanding stretcher

40:46 and bariatric wheelchair transport in the area, just increasing the number of providers who are equipped and willing to offer that type of service. Last minute and after-hour transportation services. During our prep call, we talked about how we're seeing discharge from the hospital in the evenings and on the weekends, and the limited amount of transportation services available for individuals who may not have family members or friends who can transport them back and forth. And then subsidized transportation for middle-income older adults, because it can be pretty expensive paying for transportation back and forth, especially if you've got a situation like dialysis where you're going frequently. Enhanced door-through-door assistance, so that person who can come into the door, help you get from your chair to your wheelchair,

41:44 out the door, and then into the vehicle would be great. And then transportation for essential non-medical needs. I think most of our attention and focus is on that medical transport, and understandably so, because that's the most critical. But people need to be able to go in and participate in social engagement, and do things like go to the salon and get their hair done and so forth. Those are all meaningful activities that we participate in, and that I think most of us would want to continue to participate in throughout our lifespan. And then education and coordination with medical clinics about what is the transportation available, and helping to plan for that. I've had, within our advisory council, two concerns shared about what does that look like when someone's being discharged and there isn't a resource, right? So just better coordination.

42:43 I know that they're aware of what the resources are, but I think there have been a couple of instances, and I think that's gonna grow, about how to connect people to transportation that meets their needs. In our situation, we had a council member who was put in a pretty unique situation 'cause she didn't have access to all the details until later, and so I think just being mindful what that looks like. Next slide, please. So transportation resources, I shared a little about that, but I wanna just expand on what's available through C-TRAN. They have a great training program where if you're just trying to learn how to access the bus system, they actually have ambassadors, trainers who work with you to walk through that, and then they have what they call C-TRAN Heroes, which is a pass that provides free bus transportation

43:42 to veterans and active duty personnel. C-VAN for paratransit, so those individuals who might need a greater level of assistance in accessing transportation. Washington Department of Licensing for Disabled Parking Application, just being mindful of that as an option. I think as we age, sometimes we don't think about, like, maybe that's something we need to explore that helps us to maintain our independence for a longer amount of time. The VA Medical Center, we're talking about that transportation needs from Clark County to Portland, and so that's exactly what that shuttle service does, is it helps vets get from Clark County into Portland to the VA center there in Portland. And then I spoke a little bit about Cowlitz Indian Tribe, and then there are other resources, just like written resources or electronic resources,

44:40 for example, assisting individuals examples of transit that you might, or resources that you might be able to access. Next slide, please. I think when we wanna understand what can we do, another key component is advocacy, both with the planners and the municipal settings, organizations like yourself, organizations like ours, where we are keeping in front of decision makers, lawmakers, funders, what are the needs, what would be helpful, what solutions do we have in place, and what it is that we need to augment those services. I think as we continue to see the population age in place, the services that we have in place are gonna need greater funding, and historically, I can tell you I've been with our agency

45:36 for over 17 years, and a number of our funding is flat, but the need continues to grow in terms of number of people who need services, and the depth of services that they need continues to grow, and so at a certain point, we're gonna hit our max capacity, I would argue what transportation services were already there, and so just being the voice, the persistent voice that says, hey, what's going on here, I'm hearing this, when plans are being written that we are sharing that, and I'll do a shameless plug, right now we're writing our plan, and so there's an opportunity for folks to share their feedback about transportation, but about other services that they're seeing a need for, but I think we wanna do that across the planning, our planners within Clark County. Next slide, please.

46:28 With respect for what we can do to help older adults, that would include our Aging and Disability Resource Center, which you all are very familiar with, it's the opportunity for people to call in and ask about what resources are available, and then we do have a small senior transportation program, it's the program of last resort, so there are no other resources available that someone can access, and it would be for individuals who don't have access to Medicaid transportation, and again, while the program allows us to do more than medical transport, most of what we do is medical transport, 'cause we have to prioritize medical over everything else, and so again, those are the resources that we have available within the agency to support transportation. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

47:26 - Other than C-TRAN, is there any other public transportation in the fighting area that you tie in with? I'm not familiar with what's going on in Cowlitz or Waukeum or Skamania. - So in terms of Waukeakum County and Skamania, Cliquotet, in Cowlitz County, there are public transit in each county. For example, Cliquotet County Senior Service, or actually, I think it's Mount Adams Transportation Services, they often have contracts with both Community of Motion as well as us to provide transportation services, or Skamania County Senior Services provides transportation. Cowlitz has a couple of different transportation resources, including the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, is it Twin Cities or River Cities Transit, and then Waukeakum on the Move, those are some of the public transportation options that are available.

48:25 I don't know if you're aware of additional. - Gorge Transit, which is actually a network of transit systems through the Gorge. They actually can even, for lower income populations, they even can give you a free bus pass. However, they're also extremely affordable. You can buy one pass for all of those systems, and they work on both north and south of the Columbia River. (audience laughing) - This is Cass. I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, because there's just, there's so much.

49:22 There's such a need, and our population, aging population is growing. So I guess what I want to say is that we know many of the variables, or many of the things that keep aging adults from being able to get to where they need to go, whether it's socialization or medical stuff, right? We know that, and then we have incredible organizations such as yours that are kind of trying to put your finger in the wall, in the well, as the water is pouring through, right? Is there a place, not necessarily in the United States, is there a place that somewhere in the world that has it right, or that is thinking ahead, knows that these are, the population that's having these issues, and that we can't

50:21 just do these sort of filling in the gaps? - I can't point to one particular community, but I think what it comes down to is thoughtful design, right, and so I see that with the city of Vancouver and Clark County, oftentimes projects are laid out really well. So it's always tied to money, but at the end of the day, sometimes if we plan well, then we're setting ourselves up for the future, right, and so part of it is, can we design a community so that the things that people need to access on a regular place, there are hubs, right, and so transportation isn't as critical. You know, granted, we can understand that sometimes for specialty care, people might need to come from Vancouver into Portland, but in general, can we think about our neighborhoods in a more comprehensive way, so that they're walkable communities?

51:19 You know, how easy is it to get to the grocery store? How easy is it to get to community engagement? When I look at the Vancouver waterfront, the accessibility there that you can easily ride your bike there, you can easily navigate with a wheelchair. As a family, I can pack up a picnic and go enjoy the waterfront. I can go to one of the restaurants if I have economic means to do that. So those are some ways that we can think about thoughtful design. There are things like in European countries where they think about how housing works, which again, can tie into transportation. So you might have a residential care situation in which you have elders living there, but you also have a college student who's living there, so maybe the college student gets free room and board, and in exchange, they can either go run errands or drive the elder to the services that they need. So I think it can be things and solutions

52:17 outside of the traditional more funding for the transportation infrastructure that we have, but looking globally at how are we designing our communities and being thoughtful about that process. - Do most of the retirement centers, we've got retirement centers everywhere now, do they provide their own transportation for their residents, or are they also some of those residents depending on your services? - So the expectation, my understanding, because I don't deal primarily with residential care, but my understanding is they are responsible for that transportation, whether it's providing social engagement, transportation, which you'll see that often, or whether it's helping someone return from hospital to home, ultimately their responsibility. But then you have to move past that and understand what are the actual transportation options.

53:16 So for example, in Skamania County, if you're discharging someone late in the evening or on the weekend, even if they could pay for it, is there a transportation provider who's staffed and able to go and receive that patient and deliver them safely back to home. And so there's what people are responsible for, or what organizations are responsible for, and also what is the infrastructure that's available. We know in general that as we look at being age ready for the aging boom, that we, there's just not adequate workforce, whether it's for personal care, whether it's transportation services, there's just, there's a need for additional workforce. - This is Cass again. Do you think that, excuse me,

54:12 that if we placed greater value in folks who could do driving, support folks going to places. In other words, we think about respecting educators. We think about showing respect to different segments of our society. And volunteerism oftentimes seems to be something that is, well, it's really neat and cool that you're doing it, but how does it make you feel? You know that you're helping someone else. Is there a way that we can place more of a substantive value in the role that a person will play in helping our aging adults get to places, whether it's through paid work, right, or whether it's, I don't know, some sort of system, and it's not thought about, oh, you're a volunteer and you're helping. I mean, this is the difference between life and death in many cases.

55:08 And I feel like laying it sort of on the saying, well, we hope we're gonna have volunteers, amazing force of people who are coming out, but does society know this? - From my perspective, I think there is absolutely an opportunity for us to rethink the value that we place on individuals globally that are serving our elder populations or vulnerable adults or children, right? So while I hear less about it in terms of people who provide transportation services, certainly you've seen a lot of concentration and thought behind those individuals who are providing personal care, but I think you can extend that to all of the services that are serving those vulnerable people, whether it's an older adult, an adult with disability, or a child with special needs. It really comes down to how do we value those individuals

56:07 and how do we value the people who provide that care? So I would agree that there's definitely opportunities for us to rethink that and really honor those professions, those helping professions that are really helping our communities to stay in place and healthy and well.

56:39 - Both of what you're talking about requires that the people you serve reach out to you. There have to be people who are not able to reach out to you who need what you provide. Do you have the resources? Do you even know who they are? Was there a way to find out so that you can reach out to them to help them sort of get started once they, once they get started, they might be okay once they get started? - Mm-hmm, yeah. You know, you hear us, all of us say we're the best kept secret, right, whether it's Commission on Aging, Community Motion, or ATSWA. And so it does take intentionality of doing outreach. We've done that very mindfully with you all. You know, five years ago, we didn't have a dedicated position for outreach. We do that now, and so we can do more of that. Prior to me coming here, I was at one of the local

57:38 manufactured home parks sharing information, and so we are very mindful of getting out to those communities who might need us most. We leverage social media, the websites, having our staff out in community. If there are, for example, community events happening, we'll have folks there to host resource tables. But at the end of the day, the need is greater than our capacity to do outreach, right? When you're talking about, you know, like I think about our family caregiver program, right, it's a great program, there's a wait list for it because the need surpasses what we have funding for. Could I go out and do more outreach? Yes. Could we serve more people? Not right now. We can put you on the wait list, but we can't serve more people. So I wish we lived in an ideal world where there was enough funding, enough outreach staff to go out and get the word out to everyone.

58:36 But we need to do, there's more work to do around outreach, and there's more need than resources. And this is Cass, and again, who's your responsibility? I mean, you're doing incredible work, stretched in all directions. And is that your responsibility? Is it a larger community responsibility with, you know, in some ways, too? I see it as a shared responsibility from my perspective, right? Those individuals who need support, and when I say those individuals, long-term care, let's make no mistake about it, long-term care is provided in the majority by family caregivers. That is our long-term care program in the United States. And so we need their voice at the table about what is it they still need. We need people who are decision makers,

59:35 who are advocates, who are volunteers, who are people who need the service. We need all of them advocating and moving in that direction. One of the great things about having an expanded older population is it will lend more voice. And I also think that when our baby boomers are coming into that, they are used to asking for what it is they need and want. And so I'm actually really looking forward to that generation coming in and having a stronger voice of what's going on with the services and how we plan for aging in place in this country and in this community. Having said that, too, one of the things I often share is I'm really proud of the work that Clark County does. It is a highly collaborative community of aging network professionals. And these are, for the most part, I encounter people who are very mission-driven and wanting to advance the work that we do.

1:00:33 And we have the pleasure of working with an advisory council who are excellent advocates for their community. So to your point, Cass, yes, there's plenty of work for all of us to do. And we need to just keep putting our drop into the ocean.

1:00:56 - Tarina, do you have something to say? - I just kind of want to support what was just said. We all have barriers of some kind in transportation. But it is, I think it's achievable to connect the entire county, to connect the entire region, and to plan for transportation for everybody. I think it's possible.

1:01:53 - Do we have any other questions? Susan, did anybody join us? No. So I just really would like to say thank you to both of you. I think you gave us a lot of insight into what the challenges are that people are facing and the idea that social commitments are almost as important as a medical commitment. I mean, those are also really important and that we have to be aware of all of these needs that people have for being connected, whether it's connected to your doctors or connected to the Red Hat Society luncheon, if that's what it is. So I just want to say thank you and thanks for some insight into what are the challenges that you're seeing in your organizations. Is there anything that you would want us

1:02:52 to kind of take away from this meeting? If you want to give us a one minute takeaway, that would be awesome. - I would just say the opportunities that you have to lend your, within Clark County to lend that, I think you're really knowledgeable in what the needs are. And so I think any opportunity we have to influence decision makers is an opportunity to take and to move forward. - I got nothing else to say that's better than that. - Thank you very much. Thank you both for joining us today. (audience applauding) Okay, so nobody joined us online. This will be available online

1:03:51 if anybody would like to watch it again. Okay, so we still have some time. Looks like we're running short, running, we're running behind, running ahead, sorry. So do we have any final questions? Are things, okay, then I guess this will wrap up our fireside chat agenda item. Christina and Jarena, thank you very much. We really appreciate your taking the time to come and spend with us. So this wraps up our agenda. That's our entire agenda. So with nothing left on the agenda, we will be here same place.