Carmel senior conference drew larger crowd; preliminary survey shows gaps in service awareness

The Commission on Senior Living met Oct. 22 at Carmel City Hall to review results from a senior services conference held Oct. 10 and to discuss preliminary findings from a follow-up survey.

Commission on Senior Living Chair Carol Applegate said the conference earned an overall evaluation score of 3.9 on a 1-to-4 scale and drew about 150 attendees, up from roughly 55 the prior year. “We had a scale from 1 to 4, 4 being the highest, and our overall score was 3.9,” Applegate said.

The review matters because commissioners and staff plan to use the conference feedback and the survey to set priorities and shape educational programs for older residents. Applegate said sponsorships helped cover costs and left funds for future work: Cardon donated $3,000, a law firm and other sponsors contributed, and Jimmy John’s provided part of the food. Applegate reported roughly $5,000 in sponsorships and said the event returned about $4,000 to the commission’s fund for future activities.

Monica, a staff member who prepared the survey analysis, presented frequency distributions for each question and described differences between the conference pilot and the larger survey sample. She said the current response rate is about 6 percent, a figure she characterized as common for this type of outreach but lower than desired. “I would like it to be a little higher, but the problem is money, of course,” Monica said, referring to the cost of an additional mail campaign.

Monica flagged several substantive findings commissioners asked the commission to consider: the pilot’s community-rating measure (previously about 80 percent very good/excellent) fell to 62 percent in the larger sample; about 89 percent of respondents reported they own their homes; and roughly 95 percent of respondents reported owning smartphones. At the same time, many respondents answered “not sure” when asked about awareness of local resources for transportation and other needs, which Monica and commissioners said points to an awareness gap even among residents who currently have adequate access.

Commission member Anna Stump and others recommended that committee chairs meet in working sessions with Monica to request specific cross‑tabulations — for example, responses by age, ZIP code, income or homeowner status — that could reveal where outreach or program development is most needed. Monica said she can produce such slices on demand during working sessions.

Applegate said she and staff have discussed closing the survey and assembling a public report. She noted she had spoken with staff member Milaz Bostani and the mayor, who both signaled support for moving forward with the existing data. Commissioners agreed to hold committee working sessions rather than a public meeting in November and December, and to return to a public agenda afterward to present goals and next steps.

The commission also discussed vendor capacity and registration challenges at the conference and asked the communications committee to draft a vendor registration template for future events. Commissioners said they would use the survey results to prioritize focused public educational sessions, each connected to one topic area rather than broad “open complaint” forums.

Next steps: staff will finalize a summary report, schedule working sessions for committee chairs with Monica to request additional analysis, and prepare a public-facing report and targeted educational events based on the survey findings.