The Milton Senior Advisory Council (MSAC) reached a milestone Wednesday presenting the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between itself and the University of West Florida’s Center on Aging to “collectively champion efforts to increase the quality of the life experience of older adults,” according to the MOU document, during the MSAC meeting. The agreement represents the first step in the GuyThompsonCommunity Center becoming a nationally certified senior center, one of the goals of the MSAC. According to Richard Collins, MSAC member, there are no nationally certified senior centers in north Florida between Jacksonville and the Alabama border.
What does it mean to be a nationally certified senior center? According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), accreditation would mean national recognition as an accredited senior center, improving overall senior center operations, and enhancement of the senior center’s image as a national leader in the aging field, among other things.
Part of the accreditation process involves collecting local demographic information on seniors in a given area. Jimmie Melvin is the president of the MSAC and said UWF “can get a lot of data faster than we can. They have people that have to do intern work. That helps us ten-fold. If we had to capture that data, it could take years.” Acting secretary for the MSAC, Brenda Roland, added, “Just being connected with UWF says a lot.”
The MOU document lays out what the UWF COA will do for the MSAC. “The UWF COA will provide assistance services to the MSAC. Such assistance includes assisting with research related to the community needs of older adults and providing guidance with regards to current requirements for various certifications available for facilities that provide services to older adults.” It also lists making a UWF COA director or designee a MSAC member as well as cross promoting activities.
John Norton, director of parks and recreation for the City of Milton signed the MOU for the city at the MSAC meeting. He said, “Speaking for the city…this is one of the areas that we want to highlight, this community center to be a senior center…When we talk about GuyThompsonCommunity Center, we want it to be known as a senior center.”
One of the steps the city has taken, Norton said, was hiring Joe Paschal. “When we hired him, we knew what he was. He is a senior director.” Norton said so far Paschal created a senior bingo program growing from six members to around 40 members and still growing. Paschal said the bingo games needed prizes, so when the games started with so few players “we were spending more money than we were bringing in, but we’re at the point now where it’s self-supporting.”
Many seniors, Norton noted do not like driving at night and plans to continue growing options for senior activities at the GTCC. Other programs Paschal has in the works, Norton said are a movie night and dances.
Norton noted while the GTCC is a place for recreation, as a senior center education on topics important to seniors will be available. Fall prevention and fraud were areas he brought up for education.
Melvin said the GTCC will host a falls prevention expo September 24, the day after National Falls Day. She said “A lot of healthcare experts will be there…People can learn and enjoy.”
Furthermore, the council discussed providing education on medical an nutritional needs, computers, and the law. Norton said the very room the MSAC met in he wanted to see lined with computers the GTCC would split between adult education and usage for youth. Paschal said seniors currently on the job market find employers typically take applications and resumes through the internet and many don’t own a computer.
The next milestone on the MSAC agenda toward accreditation is collecting the demographic information with the help of the UWF. Looking long term, council members estimated between a year and a half to two years to become fully accredited. Along with this long term plan is the vision of a facility separate from the GTCC to be a self-contained senior center.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton, UWF unite for senior citizens