cv. so appreciate your brevity in your presentation. we have daniel redman and then we have emerald o'leary. >> thank you to the chair and the rules committee for this opportunity to speak and thank you to supervisors wiener, campos, and olague for sponsoring this important legislation. for the last two years i headed up del mar memorial initiative at the national center for lesbian rights. in october i will begin as an associate focusing on elder law. my cases included working with discrimination in long-term tear facilities and disrespect of life planning documents. i've worked with broad coalition on federal hospitals visitation regulations, spousal -- and finding ways to mandate cultural

training in long-term care facilities. i've put a strong emphasis in helping seniors to know their rights and prioritizing issues of lgbt, and transgender seniors. in 2011 i worked with planning for elders open house and transgender law center to create navigating the system specifically covering rights and benefits issues of california lgbt elders. in july i worked with the human rights commission affecting lgbt seniors. these must take center stage of the task force. i am particularly interested in investigating ways to expand access to life planning documents to low income lgbt seniors. this is a vital issue for our community. two-thirds of mid-life lgbt community identify family as -- the law center said they or

someone they knew had a life planning document disrespected. life planning documents remain out of reach for low income seniors. we must find that all of our families and seniors can determine for themselves who should make important decisions regarding medical care, finances and other fundamental matters. thank you very much. >> chair kim: thank you, mr. headman. next we have emerald o'leary and felicia elizondo. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you very much for putting up this task force. i come to you not representing any organization, but associated with a few. i've been grateful beneficiary of healthy san francisco in the last nine months, and also services from open house, and emotional support from a predominantly african-american lesbian gay transgender church, city of -- ucc in downtown san francisco.

so i have a background of many things, most of all i'm a senior lesbian, in desperate need of senior housing. and have a real appreciation without all the wonderful backgrounds of candidates here, of the things that can be done, and should be done. so i thank you very much for your task force, and i know it will do great things for us. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you, ms. o'leary. felicia elizondo, and frank strona. >> hi, and thank you for having me. my name is felicia elizondo. also known as felicia flames. i am a screaming -- and a diva. i am proud on what i have accomplished and have done in my life. a long time ago i thought i was unworthy until i came to

san francisco -- no, until i became hiv positive in 1987. i was given the -- hero award by -- of perpetual indulgence. in 2000 i was given the testimony award by shanti. and let me see. and i have worked for the -- i have worked for project open hand. i have worked for shanti. i have worked for lgbt community center. i've been involved with the san francisco -- court. i was misdebutant, royal crown princess, court member of the year, court best female dressed, i was given the humanitarian award for their thing. and let me see. i'm one of the survivors of the -- cafeteria riot. i'm just one of them. i'm sure there's many of them

but i'm the surviving one. in 2007 -- harris did a documentary of felicia and interviewed for the project history award -- have it ended. it's very hard to give a senior five minutes when they can take an hour. and one thing more. in 2012i been given the vanguard award for the transgender law center which will be done in october. one thing i really suggest that if it's lgbt, i wanted to be lgbt. i want no longer for the t to be silent. we want equality within our lgbt community. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you. next, we have frank strona and

helene wenzel. frank is not here, then helene wenzel and james illig. >> i am awed by your work on my behalf. i'm a solo practitioner. i do estate planning in elder law for 15 years in the greater bay area. i worked with horizons, new leaf and other organizations, relevant to our community, to bring vital information to the lgbt aging community as well as the lgbt younger community. my clients have been singles, couples, rdts, partners, married same-sex, couples from generation x to folks in their

90's, i also did lgbt work little did i know i would be doing elder lgbt work very quickly. i've addressed many different organizations, churches, community groups, and shared what i know about aging, and about the law, about advanced healthcare directives. i've done them for groups where i've brought my notary book and handed things out for free, quote unquote. i'd like to share more of that with the greater san francisco community in any way that i can. mr. redman mentioned the need for educating, and we also need education and availability of -- documents. i see close of hand unfortunately, people of lgbt persuasion whose families have stepped in and taken over in situations that they had no reason to be in, except that legally they had a right to it. so, again, i'm honored to be

here. i'd be very happy to work alongside of the committee if i'm not of the committee. and i thank you very much for your time. >> chair kim: thank you so much, ms. wenzel. next we have james illig and then jazzie collins. >> good afternoon. my name is jim illig and i am a lgbt senior, resident of district 9. i've worked with lgbt seniors my entire professional career in san francisco starting with the medical center, continuum hiv surfaces and project open hand but more importantly from your perspective is you're looking for people with experience with community planning bodies, policy bodies, dealing with the public, arriving at consensus. i just completed eight years on the health commission, including three years as its president, and a year as its vice president. before that i served on two planning bodies, created by this

board of supervisors, the living wage task force that i chaired, and the nonprofit contract streamlining task force. both of those task forces were like this one proposed, time limited with the specifics -- recommendations and i'm looking forward to bringing you policy suggestions. one in particular that i mentioned at the last hearing, department of public health has an excellent process of assuring competency by requiring every service provider to certify their cultural competency every year. i think that would be a simple way of getting at who knows what they're doing, with which group, and how well are they doing it. i ask for your consideration to this appointment. >> chair kim: thank you. also, thank you for your years of service on the health commission. really important body here in the scoin o city and county of

san francisco. >> i'm not going to reiterate what's already on my application. however i will say that i have did public service for two and a half years with west summer planning task force to look at planning and rezoning in the western half of south of market. also served four years on soma as advisory committee chair where -- my relationship we had three town hall meetings to find out how can the community stabilize poorly income community. i'm not going to continue with that but highlight that my -- skills -- i know how to get things done. i know what leadership is about. i've been in leadership roles. i'm willing to sit down and listen to others. what make good task force members, someone that's able to listen. and not allow anyone to influence me with my decision how i vote yes or no.

that's the part -- that's why i would love to sit on this task force, and to get back into public service for my community because us baby boomers need somebody to speak up for us who will be turning 60 within 10 years according to department of aging services but i will be turning 60 in less than 10 years. i will be happy for you to consider me as -- on the task force. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you. jerome coffee and jorge rodriguez. >> good afternoon. thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee. my name is jer home cuffey. i woke up one morning in june of this year and realized i was 60. i'm from new york. i moved here in 1996. i have a degree in psychology from union college from 1974, and in 2009, i graduated from national ho holistic school of

massage with physical therapy. i maintain a california state license, i have a private practice under the name -- under my hand by jerry, which i preev to be called and i work closely with the chiropractors and owner to provide a holistic approach to health maintenance at two different locations, soon to be three. i perform chair massage for yoga for devotion, department of emergency services, a few hours per week, provided charitable chair massage at local lgbt organization such as sf -- collective in the castro, lgbt center, market street and perform charitable massages at immune enhancement project. they're a nonprofit traditional chinese medicine integrated

holistic approach solving medical issues. since 1997 to 2009 i worked as a financial investigator doing many different things regarding terrorist funding et cetera, doing 65, 75 hours a week and realized this was very stressful. i no longer could do it. i've been hiv positive for 21 years now and glad to say that the therapy has allowed me to transcend into the massage therapy field. i work with lgbt seniors on a day-to-day basis. i thank you for your consideration. >> chair kim: thank you, mr. cuffey. next we have jorge rodriguez and kathleen hentges. >> i am jorge rodriguez here

from district 9. i work there in the hiv clinic. i have been working with hiv community for the past 17 years. i have been very much involved among all the tasks that we do for our clients in getting political asylum for our clientele. i'm also part now of the gay lgbt aging committee sponsored by -- i was also appointed by the mayor to their hiv task force which i served for about three years. and the good thing about the program is that you are there and you see so many people that are still doing so well with the medication, as they do, they are still aging, and w see that thee are other factors that are

affecting them like some people -- about isolation, aging, situation with housing mainly. and that's some of the things that i think i can bring up to the task force. thank you so much. >> chair kim: thank you so much, mr. rodriguez. kathleen hentges. then we have kaushik roy. >> i been a certified financial planner for the last five years and been in practice as a planner for the last 10. i specialize in middle to upper middle income families with approximately 40 to 50% being lgbt community. i'm also an accredited domestic adviser. i lived on the east coast and volunteered with sage, the

oldest nonprofit in the country. my interest is both personal and professional. my father was a gay senior living in san diego. while he was fine financially he was socially isolated. even though san diego had many services for seniors there were no city or nonprofit services geared toward gay seniors which was important since he was still in the closet in many aspects of his life. on the professional side i have spent enormous amount of time around discrimination, the systemic discrimination faced by the gay community is magnified in retirement and i fear the large number of people pushed into poverty and -- services will be quite large as baby boomers retire in greater numbers. i feel my understanding of the financial and tax issues faced by the lgbt community may be of service to this task force. in addition my time at stage and experience with my father taught me financial security is not the only problem facing gays seniors. i would like to see elder abuse

issues, housing and social welfare addressed. these issues affect outline seniors but they have unique challenges when applied to the lgbt community. i want to help the city prioritize, be able to recommend small changeses to existing services when needed and recommend big improvements when wanted. >> chair kim: thank you. we have kaushik roy and then kim schoen. >> good afternoon. my name is kaushik roy. it has been my privilege to be the executive director at the shanti project which is one of the city's oldest nonprofit supporting people with hiv aids and cancer. it's with great enthusiasm that i respectfully request you to consider my appointment for the task force. in many ways, the task force is both a refletio reflection and n on the work i have been doing.

2400 clients we serve each year are now lgbt seniors and we expect it to continue to grow. at the heart of the shanti model and at the heart of the san francisco model of care there lies a holistic lens through which we see the people we support. it's not enough to just take care of one or even just some of the aspects of an individual's life. because we are all so much greater than just any one facet. and this particular lens is going to be imperative for the task force's success. when i was thinking about what i might want to say i was reminded of a dinner i had earlier this summer with a shabti supporter and i said as i often do it's really simple, the heart of shanti is that no one should have alone when they're really sick. the supporter gently corrected me and said no one should have to be alone, period. and i think that's one of the

great legacies of our community of san francisco, the way we strive to ensure that no one is invisible, that all voices are heard and i think this task force and the objectives are great illustrations of this endearing trait. this is what i've dedicated myself to do and hope i have a chance to do for the task force. thanks for your time. >> chair kim: thank you. we have kim schoen and larry saxxon. >> my name is kim schoen, i've been a nurse practitioner for over 30 years, a master's in psych nursing and a master in primary care nursing. i have been working with older adults as director of central city older adults for over 10 years. i provide direct care and see firsthand the mental health substance abuse and housing issues faced by lgbt seniors. we provide home visits and i see firsthand isolation. i would like to bring my understanding to help the

physical needs of the lgbt community. i am very concerned for clients who have cognitive issues as well and i would also -- i'm a very practical person. and i would like to advocate that the recommendations that come out of the task force be practical and take advantage of the strengths of the city. thank you for your consideration. >> chair kim: thank you, ms. schoen. we have larry saxxon and lawrence michael costa. >> good afternoon, madam chair, members of the rules committee. i'd like to come at this particular process from a heart felt perspective. i'm not representing any organization. i am an aging queen. i'll be 60 years old next month. i have been blessed to have a partner who will be 67 next year. we've been together for 32 years. we've adopted a young son who will be 17 this week, as a

matter of fact. and from the experience -- perspective was one of the first african-american social workers to work in the aids field, through a creative agreement between the department of social services and the san francisco aids foundation. and that was when no one wanted to work with people with aids. we didn't even know how the virus was spread. but we did what we needed to do anyway. i come at this particular honor, and i do see it as an honor from the same heart felt perspective, as a practicing buddhist, you are judged not by what you want, but what you do on behalf of man and womankind. i have had many -- too many occasions to walk down castro, nowadays, and feel like a dinosaur. i think there is a great deal to be offered to young people now, with the wisdom that we, that

have survived, can learn, as is the case in the jewish community. we need to talk about the holocaust that we've gone through, as a person of color, and i'll wrap this up. we particularly, african-americans need to take on our community, in an open way, take on our churches in a an open way, to help educate them not from a confrontal perspective but from a loving perspective. so what i'd like to offer is my service in any way that i might be able to. and whether i'm appointed or not, i will be willing to serve in any capacity i can. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you, mr. saxxon. we have michael costa and then lawrence nelson. >> thank you. i really appreciate this opportunity to speak. i'm mik michael costa. i got a masters in public policy

from university of michigan and spent most of the last 30 years designing, implementing and evaluating innovative programs in the healthcare area. as someone who just turned 60 a few months ago i'm looking forward to another 30 years of doing that. and most of what i've been doing and continue to do is involved in increasing access to affordable coverage. and unlike most i'm a -- i think i would be the wonk on the task force. i've had the opportunity to actually get involved in implementing innovative programs, pilot program in manhattan on the west side of manhattan from the west village up to the upper westside that was targeting lgbt who didn't have access to healthcare. and also i helped bring -- steven market, which are two drugs which have become important to our community, especially as hiv has become a chronic disease.

and that involved basically thinking of innovative ways to get public and private partnerships which i think is important for the task force to consider, how can we develop workable programs in tight economic times, that actually we can get the private sector to participate in. and i found a good deal of experience in that area and i look forward to continuing. i also think in terms of what i'd like to do is specifically it's very clear is that for the foreseeable future aging in place programs will be necessary to deliver services to people in their homes so they can stay at home for as long as possible. and that's something that i want to get involved in on the task force. i'm a long time board member at alice toaks and rales realize we live in a complex city and i want to bring a practical point of view to the task force. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you, mr. costa. we have lawrence nelson and then

marcy adezman. if we do not have either applicant, maria cora -- marcy, okay. is it misspelled on the agenda? >> it's he ha edellman. it's an honor to be here today, supervisors, and i have to say how -- well this is really historical. i have spent my entire adult life working on making the lives and issues of lgbt seniors visible. and understood. and this is -- and so i have presented, over the last 12 years, at various committees, hr -- human rights commission, dass and so on. to finally have an lgbt seniors

task force to me is a historical moant here in san francisco, where really we can finally put together a group of people who can -- and this is an area i'm interested in -- utilizing the best data and the best information that the city and -- can provide, to craft policy and programs that are fiscally sound, and effective, in creating a healthy -- creating healthy, long-lived lives for the lgbt community. so i know you have my application, and my over 30 years of advocacy, and education in the field of lgbt aging so just say that my areas of interest would be on the collection -- the city collection of data on lgbt seniors and lgbt aging issues. i think that we need to consider

policy changes there, and policy around housing and access to services. thank you very much. >> chair kim: thank you. we have next, maria cora and then marilyn hayward. ms. hayward. and then after ms. hayward, we have mark burns. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is marilyn hayward. thank you for establishing the task force. i'm a member of the community that this task force is charged with addressing. i'm over 65, and a lesbian. i've been in san francisco since 1968. and i've been very active in a number of organizations, or have been supportive of the work of a number of them, most active now,

as a volunteer with open house, participating as a member of the panel that helps to provide cultural competency training to service providers. early on, i was a volunteer with the black coalition on aids as a support person. and just have a broad interest in the issue, personal as well as general interest in the issues of aging. of course a strong interest in establishing lgbt-friendly senior housing, but just health and wellness, overall. thank you. >> chair kim: thank you. i was going to ask where you were a school librarian? >> in san francisco public schools, but also in the

community college districts in the area, a number -- >> chair kim: which schools? >> if they were elementary schools a number of them because we had four or five, did a lot of story-telling, library skills. >> chair kim: thank you. >> where were you -- >> chair kim: i served on our school board previously. we have mark burns and then michael smith. >> good afternoon. my name is mark burns and i have a deep professional and personal passion for service delivery. as a person with delivery, a 27 year survivor of hiv, a nonprofit professional and a very active community member i believe i would bring a number of assets to the task force. i'm 55 years old, lived in san francisco for 17 years, and i reside in hayes valley. i'm deputy director of a major contractor to dass and human services. we provide t