THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602140144
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Representatives from more than three dozen agencies that work with the city's elderly met last week to form the Portsmouth Task Force on Aging.
The group will continue to meet monthly to identify needs in the aging community and to coordinate services. It also will provide members with networking, programming and cross-training opportunities.
``What I found when I first got into this area was that there was no place for people in the aging field to get together and meet and share ideas,'' said Viki Lorraine, a geriatric social worker with Portsmouth Family Medicine who helped organize the group.
The Task Force on Aging ``tends to be a great networking opportunity, a chance to meet people, to find out what's going on,'' she said.
Lorraine, an assistant professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, also is in charge of the city's first Senior Summit, to be held Wednesday at the Portsmouth Senior Center. Both the Senior Summit and the Portsmouth Task Force on Aging are being made possible by a grant from the Beazley Foundation.
The Portsmouth Task Force on Aging will be modeled after similar groups in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Norfolk's task force, at least 15 years old, addresses issues like long-term care, housing, elder abuse and legislation that affects the older community.
The Virginia Beach group, which started just three years ago, includes representatives from 157 senior organizations.
About 40 groups were represented at Portsmouth's first meeting, held last Friday at Portsmouth Family Medicine. Sevamp Senior Services, Portsmouth Health Department, Alzheimer's Association, Sentara Medicare Choice and local nursing homes were among some of the organizations represented.
``There's a lot of experience in this room,'' said City Councilman Bernard D. Griffin. ``Let's utilize it and do whatever we can to see that senior citizens are taken care of.''
The group will work in conjunction with the Portsmouth Mayor's Commission on Aging, a group of 20 residents appointed by the Mayor and approved by City Council.
``The task force can accomplish things that were never meant to be accomplished by a commission,'' said Phyllis Creamer, commission chair and director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program in Portsmouth.
Creamer sees the major role of the task force as having the ability to affect legislation.
``We will be able to have a legislative agenda that will not be along party lines but along benefit lines for the segment of the population that we serve,'' she said.
Between the commission and the task force, Creamer hopes to pull together service providers and residents who are interested in the welfare of Portsmouth's seniors.
``It certainly has been something we've wanted for a long time,'' said Creamer. ``I'm very excited about it and think that it has great potential.
``We'll be able to accomplish great things together that we couldn't accomplish without such a concerted effort put forth by a larger number of people.''
The group will meet at 8 a.m. on the second Friday of each month at various locations throughout the city. Next month's meeting will be held March 8 at the American Red Cross, 700 London Blvd. For information, call Viki Lorraine at 446-7400. by CNB