Attendance: Philippe, Lew, Rod, Loreen, Mo, Momadou, Gregory, Tim

Greenfield Human Rights Commission
March 13, 2017 Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order at 6pm
Ben Claff, Dept of Public Health/Veterans Services
-Tim Niejadlik, Upper Pioneer Valley Veterans Services
-resources/referral source for veterans

-Federal, state programs and local contacts

-Mental health and substance abuse

-Rarely do veterans self refer

-Most often it is friends and families who refer

-Michael Lewis, director of Recover project
-Need to network to get service access

-Vets feel stigma to admit need

-Many forms of addictions
-Peer to peer model works
-Steady meetings
-Reduces isolation that is otherwise common

-Dave Felty, Mass Veterans Services

-Building rapport with veterans to prevent suicide
-Catching key words, noticing isolation
-Western Mass is generally underserved
-Helps with veterans who are in court system
-Homeward Vets, INC provides home furnishings
-Vets Crisis Line connects those in need with services and deescalates
-There is also Health Network specifically for women
-Phone referral works well
-Working on an app to speed up process
-Social media prescence

-Ben Claff
-works to train medical students on Vets needs
-Different definitions of veteran
-Best to ask “did you serve in the military?”
-provide web resources
-work with treatment centers
-resources can be confusing, so streamlining is the goal of crisis lines

-Ways to help
-advocate for long term care
-pass along information
-stay aware of signs
-Franklin County Resource
-advocate at VA meeting in Greenfield in August
-access to services is a human right

-Loreen sees that we are still managing care in an antiquated, 80’s way
-Michael Lewis insight
-numbers jumped with recent combat wars
-recovery and veterans needs often swept out of sight
-VA is overwhelmed without proper resources
-Vets and addicts both experience feeling of being different
-less than 9% have served

-Tim discussed need to integrate services and the challenges in the way.
-Crisis number going on GCTV

-Public comment
-Neighbor lawns signs available from Molly
-Rights of indigenous people should be covered
-Renting indoor space downtown for cooling center
-School committee has access to databases that could be helpful re: use of SRO
-Lew asked about status of memorandum of understanding
-New business
-Hunger investigations
-Obtained list of community meals
-Block ad ideas: vets, bullying, hunger
-Connect food bank to GHS and Senior Center

-Next meeting April 10th, 2017
-Possibility of future meeting at housing development.
-Motion to adjourn, Rod second, 7:40pm