Sunburst The Newsletter for Seniors United N ow The Voice for Seniors in Alberta Sherwood Business Center – Franklin’s Inn st #15 - 2016 Sherwood Drive, Sherwood Park, Alberta, T8A 3X3 1 Qua rt er 2013 Telephone 780-449-1816, Fax 780-449-1475 I ssue 28 Toll Free 1-855-786-8669 seniorsunitednow.com Email [email protected] What’s Inside? Notice of Annual General Meeting Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of President Report Pg 2 Alberta Seniors United Now Society will be held as Executive Director Pg 3 & 9 follows: Membership Renewals Pg 5 Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Chapter News Santa Maria Goretti Community Centre Sherwood Park - Strathcona County 11050 - 90 St Edmonton, AB Chapter Pg 8 9:00 AM – 10:00AM Meeting Registration St. Albert Chapter Pg 4 Edmonton Chapter Pg 5 Keynote Speaker: George VanderBurg Associate Minister of Seniors Awareness For the purpose of: SUN Volunteers Pg 7 1. President’s report Working for You Pg 6 2. Receiving and considering financial statements for the Communications Pg 10 year ended December 31, 2012 and the report of the auditors thereon 3. Electing directors; and Other 4. Transacting such further and other business as may AGM NEWS Pg 1 & 12 properly come before the meeting or any adjournment Revenue sources Pg 11 thereof Raffle – Winners Pg 4 Dated the 28th day of February, 2013 On Behalf of the Board of Directors Annual Membership Fees Lifetime Membership $15.00 individual $25.00 Couple $150.00 individual $250.00 Couple $100.00 Group/Affiliate organization N/A Group/Affiliate organization Memberships open to Alberta Seniors 55+ Non-voting Associate membership (under 55 years) or non-Alberta resident Sunburst 26 2ND & 3rd Quarter 2012 Page 2 of 12 Presidents Report: The fall of 2012 and the start of 2013 has been a time of welcoming new members from ASFPR and to get them all registered. We have also been busy with direct advocacy to the Government of Alberta on behalf of seniors. On November 1, the board wrote to the Hon. Fred Horne, Minister of Health expressing our concern and opposition to Alberta Health Services increasing long term care accommodation charges by 5%, effective January 1, 2013. This increase far exceeds the cost of living increase, the CPP and OAS benefit increases thereby eroding seniors purchasing dollars. SUN suggested that accommodation increases be tied to the Alberta cost of living increase. At the least, seniors would not have to face catch up increases. On December 14, a letter was sent to the Hon. Doug Horner, Minister of Finance expressing our members alarm over the underfunded pension liabilities. We are concerned that this could compromise our pension plans and significantly impact on seniors incomes. We have currently arranged a meeting with Deputy Minister, Department of Finance to have a preliminary meeting in preparation of our requested meeting with Doug Horner. On January 2, we again wrote to Hon. Fred Horne to express our dismay over the reduction/ capping of individual seniors hours of service. Need for home care services are increasing, yet Albert Health Services has moved to cap levels of service. This is a step backwards and will again force seniors in need to seek services from active treatment facilities rather than in their homes. The obvious outcome will be compromised active treatment beds for all Albertans. In November, SUN's advocacy committee welcomed Ken Smith, Brian Huff and Wayne Sorenson as members. Their background and experience regarding pension reform and fairness issues will be most helpful. The current issue of significant concern is the capping of homecare services. This issue could have a serious impact on all seniors. Your board will continue to monitor this issue and to respond directly to the government to pressure Mr. Horne to direct Alberta Health services to rescind this decision. I invite all members to attend our Annual General Meeting scheduled for April 24. Gordon Voth, President Gordon Voth, President Notice by Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors The nominating committee is seeking SUN members who would be interested in having their name, put forward for election to sit on the Board of Directors at the April 24,2013 Annual General Meeting If you are interested, please forward your name & contact information to the SUN administration office; attention nominating committee and you will be personally contacted. Sunburst 26 2ND & 3rd Quarter 2012 Page 3 of 12 Executive Director Report: John MacDonald This has been an exciting and very productive period for SUN as the information below will show but more important than that is the steady emergence of SUN as an important and genuinely accepted voice for Senior’s in Alberta. A recent meeting with Associate Minister of Seniors, the Hon. George VanderBurg has brought to a satisfactory conclusion the long journey for SUN to have Alberta enact Property Tax Deferment legislation. The Property Tax Deferment Act was passed in the fall of 2012 and Minister VanderBurg informed SUN that his office was working out a few unexpected details but that seniors would be able to utilize this legislation in this tax year 2013. Details should be made public shortly as most municipal tax assessments start arriving in late spring (May/June). In addition we discussed Senior’s housing bringing to the Minister’s attention the SAFER program in B.C. to which we were told that a similar program already existed in the Capitol region. SUN indicated that this issue was not fully resolved and that they would continue to research it accordingly. When asked about the Independent Seniors Advocate the Minister indicated that this office was still planned but that it would be slower to implement due to the current economic reality. He also reiterated that the office would NOT be independent. SUN further discussed Alberta’s Supportive Living Framework and Home Care with the Minister which led to his office planning to look into some specific, SUN identified, concerns in care facilities. Lastly Associate Ministe r VanderBurg confirmed that he would indeed be SUN’s Key Note speaker at SUN’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 24, 2013. SUN has also been busy at our Chapter Level with arranging some very informative and challenging speakers for our Chapters. Presentations on Senior’s Benefits, both Provincial and Federal, a presentation on SUN’s Advocacy Initiatives by SUN V.P. Dick Tansey, a popular presentation by Carole Aipersbach on Wills, Estate Planning & Personal Directives and a presentation on Senior’s Drivers Licenses featuring Dr. Bonnie Dobbs the developer of the Simard MD Test on Assessing Driver’s Medically Induced Cognitive Impairment and the DriveAble organization who test Driving skills. In Alberta all drivers are required to be assessed with respect to their driving abilities once they turn 75 years of age. SUN engaged this issue in order to inform our seniors of the how, the when, and the why of this process and in order to clear up some problems being reported by our seniors with the assessment process. SUN will be meeting with the Minister of Transport to further discuss and clarify this process in the near future. In fact, Minister of Transport, Ron McIver, has indicated a desire to address our seniors around this entire issue and SUN will be organizing such an event to fit with the Minister’s schedule. Stay Tuned! This Driving issue is only one aspect of the Advocacy involvement that SUN engages in for SUN members. We have a dedicated Provincial Advocacy Committee headed up by SUN’s Vice President, Richard (Dick) Tansey, who, in turn, works with our Chapter Advocacy chairs to resolve members issues around transportation, accommodations, seniors benefits, income support, Health Care and Home Care concerns. At present your Executive Director has been volunteering his services to explore affordable housing options, the Life Lease concept and co-operative Housing projects under the direction of the advocacy committee and Mr. Tansey. Is all of this paying off? You bet it is. continued on page 9 Sunburst 26 2ND & 3rd Quarter 2012 Page 4 of 12 St. Albert Chapter… Quarterly Activity Summary Chapter meetings are held on the 4th Monday of each month at 1:30PM at the St.Albert Royal Legion on Tache Street. We do not meet in July, August and December. Our Executive strives to keep our membership informed on any progress on the local issues which include property tax, user fees, utility costs and transportation. We are continuing to monitor and report on important issues including changes to Health Care, seniors benefits and on any other important matters. In keeping with our efforts to provide informative speakers we acknowledge the excellent presentations in the following months: October 22/2012 – Doris Vandersteen - St Albert Housing Society - an excellent presentation of their work in Affordable Housing in St Albert November 26/2012 – Dennis Magnusson – Executive Director, Sturgeon Foundation – an informative presentation on the state of seniors subsidized housing in St Albert and area. January 28/2013 – Steven Khan – St Albert MLA & Minister Enterprise and Advanced Education – with an overview of his first term as an MLA and rookie Cabinet Minister tasked with a significant portfolio. Stephen’s presentation was quite informative with information on Alberta, Canadian as well as International initiatives either in place or being considered. February 25/2013 - Doug Horner – MLA – St.Albert – Spruce Grove – Minister of Finance Please join us at our upcoming Chapter meetings 1:30 PM @ Legion on Tache St. St.Albert March 25/2013 Topic: Round table discussion with St Albert City Councilors April 22/2013 Topic: TBA May 27/2013 Topic: TBA June 24/2013 Topic: TBA July/August – no meetings Your Chapter Executive is working for you and welcomes any questions, concerns or ideas you might have.