Letters

Senior services should be a top priority in town

Now that the town has hired Monica Pagani as the Senior Services Senter case manager, it is important that Los Gatans know what the case management program is, with continuing press to sustain public knowledge of this vital service.

I believe that the primary mission of the Senior Services Center is to keep frail and homebound elderly independent in their own homes, for as long as possible. It takes no forcible arguments in support of this for the cost of institutionalizing those, who are physically or mentally unable to function on their own, is borne by all of us, not just the families of the individuals concerned.

I worked at the Council on Aging on the Alameda in San Jose for about a year during the late '80s. Knowing that I came from Los Gatos, they re-assigned me to the Los Gatos Senior Coordinating Council for a limited time.

When my apprenticeship was completed, the town was supposed to pay me, but, about then, the town decided it could no longer fund a Senior Services Coordinating Council, and I was recalled to the Council on Aging.

One of my functions here was community outreach. So I became friends with the Los Gatos Weekly-Times columnist, Robert Aldrich, who used my leads and information I gave him for articles on the SCC activities.

One glaring exception was public information about the SCC case manager program. The public had not a clue then, nor does it have a clue now. Yet, this is the single most important reason for the existence of a Senior Services Center here.

We had two case managers then, both of whom worked 20 hours a week. They handled about 90 cases of frail/elderly in the Los Gatos/Saratoga/ Campbell area. Unfortunately, the one subject that was never really covered by the newspaper was case management.

When the town stopped funding the SCC, the director and both case managers left the community.

As a result, the frail/elderly served by the case managers found themselves visited by persons, one after another, who knew little about them; rather discomfiting, bewildering and morale-impairing after enjoying long-established intimate relations with case managers who know all about you and understand you and your needs; when one agency after another came in, took over and then resigned, in favor of another agency, as was once reported by Sandy Sims in a Weekly-Times article.

There is a cemetery headstone somewhere that reads: "What you are, I once was. What I am now, you will become." None of us escapes the inevitable result of aging, if we live long enough. What we do, or don't do, for the elderly among us will be meted out, in turn, to those who follow them. If you are a baby boomer, this means you.

I was reared in the Midwest, and I recall the movie about a baseball team that came walking through Iowa cornfields to a baseball diamond to play a game, in response to the statement, "If you build it, they will come." What will it take to build a viable Senior Services Center to which our seniors will come? I don't know.

Vern Hansen
Campbell

Track coach made parents aware of decision

We were disappointed by the April 25 Los Gatos Weekly-Times article about the supposed track/ administration friction at LGHS. It is obvious from reading the article that your reporter was more interested in portraying Coach Harmatz in a poor light than in relaying the facts.

As parents of a student who runs track at Los Gatos High School, we can assure you that students and parents are well aware that Coach Robinson has been terminated. We may not agree with this decision, but it is clearly understood. This information was given to us by Coach Harmatz, who was, of course, upset at the loss of a valuable coach. Chioke Robinson continues to work with interested students (as a personal trainer) off-campus after-school hours. He does not, as your article stated, coach students on campus.

We know Coach Harmatz to be a dedicated, caring coach. He is totally supportive of the track program at LGHS and has been instrumental in its success. We can only think that your reporter misinterpreted what Coach Harmatz said, or that she took selected sentences and printed them out of context. Your reporter needed to clarify her information before printing it.

Since we, as track parents, are aware that your reporter's portrayal of Coach Harmatz is inaccurate, we must assume that your reporter erred in her interpretation of the information. It is disappointing that the Weekly-Times would intentionally give such a "spin" to this story. Let's not lose track of the point of sports at LGHS...to support our young people in their athletic endeavors.

The principal, Ms. McCulloch, and Coach Harmatz are united in their desire to make the focus of sports coverage at LGHS be the accomplishments of our young athletes rather than personalities and personnel issues. To this end, we should support the coaches who give so generously of their time for the good of our young people.

Maria Simon, Bill Hoeft
Los Gatos

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