March 8 ORANJ Zoom Conversation

Residents from 12 communities participated in the March 8 Zoom conversation: Cadbury, Cedar Crest, Crane’s Mill, Crestwood Manor, The Evergreens, Friends Village, Harrogate, Medford Leas, Monroe Village, Seabrook, Oaks at Denville, Wiley & Winchester Gardens.

Sigh. It has come to my attention that I have not been paying attention to the comments on the Blog.  Comments are moderated and don’t get posted until I approve them.  Unfortunately, I don’t get any notification when there is a comment, so they just sit there forever. We do want your comments. Interaction is good.  I now resolve to keep the comments up to date. Promise!

Thanks again to Andy Kleppe for preparing the recap.

Maggie Heineman, Communications Chair, March 15, 2023.

RECAP BY ANDY:

1. Barbara Trought called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM remarking that ORANJ as an organization was getting back to pre-covid activities by having a Plenary Meeting in October 2022 at Fellowship Village to be followed up by the next in October, 2023 at Monroe Village.
2. The issue of charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) was discussed. It was suggested that each community report about whether it has some, how many, who owns them, are residents charged and if so how much.
3. Question sent to Barbara for the agenda: Are your residents concerned about the trend in the industry of consolidation of smaller communities into larger ones? Do the residents know about the trend and do they seem concerned?    Discussion at the March 8 meeting follows: Fellowship Village is now a community under the umbrella company, Fellowship Life, like the Springpoint & Erickson umbrellas. Fellowship Life now has four communities: Fellowship Village, Friends Village, Pines, and the House of the Good Shepard now renamed Riverwalk Village at the House of the Good Shepard.  [ FYI — The Executive Committee has been aware for some time that while New Jersey CCRC laws apply to stand alone communities, they don’t work when there is a “Parent” corporation over the “Provider” community.  Rick is suggesting legislation to remedy that.  As a step forward, Rick has suggested that each ORANJ community determine the legal structure of its ownership and the affiliation, if any, with other entities.  Rick has prepared a chart that contains much of that information. The information is public and will be made available on the ORANJ website for review by each community’s Resident Association.]
4. The ORANJ membership dues has been sent to each community. Let our treasurer Wendy Gansberg know if your community has any problems concerning that.
5. A discussion about the procedure for a resident to move from Independent Living to Assisted Living was had. This has been addressed by some communities and the suggestion was that those who have prepared such an explanation make it available to ORANJ which may condense them into a General Information Review.  Keep in mind that each community contract, of which there are many depending on the date of entry, sets forth a specific procedure so remember to become familiar with your contract.
6. Barbara ended the meeting with a sober reminder that as individuals and communities we need to be aware of industry trends locally & nationally, becoming involved to the extent we can and interact with the Board of Trustees of our respective communities to get what our contracts provide.
7. A reminder that that the 2023 Fall Plenary Meeting of ORANJ is scheduled for 9AM Wednesday October 18, 2023, at Monroe Village. ORANJ reps are meeting soon with the Monroe Village residents involved with the October, 2023 Meeting to review details.
8. Next Residents Zoom meeting will be on Wednesday April 12, 2023, at 10AM.
9. There being no further discussions the meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.