Council on Aging updates: transportation grants pending, counseling expansion and memory-cafe partnerships

Council on Aging staff briefed members on multiple program updates, including transportation, counseling and dementia-support partnerships.

Transportation: Staff said they have largely exhausted available grant funds and are awaiting word from MassDOT on a grant application for just under $50,000 to continue the Go Go rides program; demand for trips—particularly to Boston-area appointments—remains high.

Counseling: The Council's short-term counseling program (an eight-session model) temporarily had no wait list after recent outreach and intake calls; staff proposed a budget request to increase clinician Jess Rice's hours to 30 per week to meet growing demand for counseling.

Memory and volunteer services: The Community Connections program (replacement for Friendly Visitor) now runs under clinician Jess Rice and matches volunteers for visits and errands. Staff also described a small handyman offshoot matching volunteers to low-risk household tasks. The Needham Community Council is providing office hours, and Stephanie Nock, who interned with the Council and now works for the Community Council, is running a dementia-care partners program that will provide consultations and pop-up memory cafes.

SHINE/Medicare counseling: A SHINE coordinator said the program had a slow month after Medicare open enrollment but continues counseling work; the SHINE grant contract was received and budget work has started.

Next steps include awaiting MassDOT's decision on the transportation grant and routing a staffing/budget request for counseling to the town budget process for consideration.