The Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center on East 93rd Street brings six lunches a week to homebound elderly residents from East 42nd Street to East 106th Street, with funding from the City's Department for the Aging (DFTA), Citymeals-on-Wheels and private fundraising. It is one of the oldest meals-on-wheels program in the city, started back in 1965 with delivery to eight homebound neighborhood residents. Today, meals are prepared at a catering service in Long Island City, and there are four vans delivering 375 meals Monday to Thursday, and two meals on Friday; the second Friday meal provides a cold Saturday lunch. While their current city contract funds 352 meals a day, the number of homebound elderly requesting meals recently climbed to 375. The Isaacs Center uses private fundraising to provide those additional meals, insuring that no elderly person in their geographic area who is unable to get out or prepare meals will go hungry.
"The homebound population is an absent population," said Beverly Jackson, Director of Senior Services at Isaacs Center." No one knows they are there."
Who are these invisible people? By eligibility requirements, they are over 60 and have a physical or mental disability which prevents them from leaving home or preparing meals. Most are in their late 70s and 80s. Over half are at least 80 years old and ten percent are over 90. Over fifty percent live below the poverty line with an annual income less than $8,240. The majority are women.
It is often the case that Isaacs Center staff members delivering the meals are the only contact a homebound person has with the outside world. In one recent incident, a client didn't respond when driver Joe Colazzo knocked on her door. He kept knocking until he heard a faint voice calling for help. The woman had fallen down and was unable to get up. Joe immediately called for assistance and the client was rushed to the hospital. She is now back home, doing well.
"Food alone won't meet all of people's needs," explained Beverly Jackson. "We want to cure some of the social isolation that many homebound people feel."
In the last year, the Isaacs Center has successfully involved about a third of their homebound clients in conference call activities where they can hear lectures or concerts, be involved in support groups, play bingo or participate in an exercise classÑall over the phone.
Their next initiative is something truly innovative: bringing Web TV to the homebound elderly. With a planning grant from the Isaac H. Tuttle Fund, the Isaacs Center will be providing five of their homebound clients with a keyboard, a Web TV box, and training in use of this equipment. The grant will also cover additional phone expenses incurred. Through this internet access, homebound clients will soon be able to connect with the Isaacs Center, other seniors, and the rest of the world through chat rooms, the web, email, and down the line, with the addition of a Web Cam, virtual home visits.
Lynda Sounds Off: Delivery Time Limits
One of the requirements of the City's Department for the Aging funding is that all meals be delivered within two hours. While it is understandable that the city wants to insure that the food is delivered in a timely fashion to remain warm and fresh, and that the nutritional content does not dissipate, this time squeeze often prevents staff members who are making the deliveries from spending even a couple of minutes with each client. "They want to see the client, make sure they are okay," said Beverly Jackson. "And to do this, they'd like to have a little more interaction. So would the clients." But that's frequently not possible within these time constraints.
Someone is violently attacked or pushed in front of a subway train, prompting outrage and alarm about dangerous people on the streets - many of whom, it turns out, sought help for their illness but were turned away. Laws are swiftly passed (Kendra's Law) and funding pours in to fill a portion of the mental health program gaps (Major Mental Health Initiatives); this also makes news, usually with a photo of the Governor.
Smaller headlines emerge about the continuing incarceration of the mentally ill, where 15,000 to 20,000 people with mental illness are estimated to be in the criminal justice system. And there is the item about the mentally ill man, Gideon Busch, shot and killed by police last August. Commissioner Safir defended the officers, saying they acted in accordance with proper procedures. Or the item about the mentally disturbed Queens man, Alan Zelencic, shot and killed by police a few weeks ago. The officers didn't realize he was mentally ill, report say; if they had, they would have waited for the specially trained Emergency Services Unit. At the root of all these headlines is the old story of the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill without community services to help them. There were 93,000 people in mental institutions in 1954; today there are under 6,000.
Absent from these headlines, though, are the people that go in and out of The Bridge, a day treatment program for the seriously mentally ill on West 108th Street, open 7-days a week, 365 days a year. About 250 people walk into The Bridge each day for activities that include daily living skills, therapeutic groups, creative arts and recreation.
According to Peter Beitchman, Deputy Director for The Bridge, deinstitutionalization was a disaster. "People were given a big bottle of pills and an appointment to go to an outpatient clinic. They were in the hospital for 10 to 30 years, with no independent living skills, and were expected to do well without support. They went into SROs or became homeless and went into shelters. It took the State many years to catch up. It still hasn't caught up."
What people at The Bridge found was most in need was not primarily the medical model of medicine and therapy (although that is certainly included), but the basics such as shelter, housing, income, food, clothing and safety.
"Once you take care of the basic needs," explained Beitchman, "by helping them get a beautiful place to live, a safe place, getting them social security or disability benefits or helping them get on welfare, having them participate in a psychiatric program, making sure they are stable through medication and closely monitored, once these basic needs are met, the next step is rehabilitation."
Rehabilitation doesn't mean a cure. "No one is cured of serious mental illness," says Beitchman. "But the effects and conditions that the mental illness creates can be effectively treated and dealt with." Rehabilitation means people gaining independence, perhaps moving to independent housing or reuniting with family and children. It can mean finding work.
The Bridge came up with the first such vocational training program in the City, again in response to their clients. "They asked us: what else do you have for us," said Beitchman. "We said, what would you like. They said, well, how about work?"
There is a danger that politicians will hear the word "rehabilitation" and think that means people can be taken out of the mental health system. "People with mental illness may not be able to go to full-time jobs or achieve total independence," Beitchman explained. "Some clients can work at a full-time computer job but still live in a 24-hour supervised residence. In that area of their lives, they are not able to function as well. We work with a client to achieve as much independence as possible."
Lynda Sounds Off:
In response to the outrage over violent attacks and the previous budget cuts, Governor Pataki recently allocated $125 million to community mental health programs. One of the flaws of this initiative package, according to Peter Beitchman, is that the majority of money earmarked for residential programs is for unsupervised living. "Yes, it is supportive housing for the mentally ill," says Beitchman. "But the housing is the cheapest and the lion's share of it is virtually unsupervised." Supervised residential housing, such as The Bridge provides in nine locations, has 24-hour staffing and is geared for people just out of the hospital and in need of assistance with living skills, learning to take their medication, and learning to become independent. "These are more expensive," acknowledges Beitchman, "but there are not enough of them. And there are none being developed."
UPDATE (1/27/2000) - Kensico: "No Brainer"
The Environmental Protection Committee of the City Council passed a resolution on 26 Jan 2000 officially voicing their objection to the proposed expansion of Route 120 aside the Kensico Reservoir. Council member and Committee Chair Stanley Michels dubbed the issue a "no-brainer." Any construction, he concluded, would be a "clear and present danger" to the integrity of the reservoir which supplies 9 million New Yorkers with drinking water each day. Council member CarriĂ–n Jr. pronounced the project "ill-conceived" and "stupid." The resolution calls on Governor Pataki to direct the DOT to abandon the expansion, adopting the 'no-build' scenario in the DOT proposal. The resolution further suggests advancing only those improvements necessary to ensure traffic safety. Chairman Michels, a co-sponsor of the resolution, questioned Governor PatakiĂŞs action, given his generally green leanings and his active role in watershed protection. Response from the Governor yet to be heard...
The 1997 Watershed Memorandum of Agreement formalized cooperation between NYC, NYS and US EPA to protect the state's watersheds and drinking water. The Agreement secured $11.5 million from the City and $7.5 million from the State to purchase land in the Croton Watershed (and another $250 million in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, west of the Hudson) As recently as December 22nd, the City purchased a 16 acre tract near the Kensico Reservoir, which will serve as an additional buffer to protect the water supply.
These protective measures could face a serious setback if the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) has its way. The DOT has proposed widening Route 120, a commuter road with increasing traffic that runs alongside the Kensico Reservoir. Policymakers and environmentalists are concerned with the possible adverse effects on the Reservoir as a result of increased runoff and sedimentation, and loss of wetlands. Serious degradation of the waterĂ…s quality would require a filtration plant, estimated to cost $6 billion dollars to construct, and $150 million annually for operations. Though DOT has expressed willingness to accommodate concerned parties, they have yet to revamp their plan.
THE LAY OF THE LAND:
NYC Water Supply - Valuable background information on the size and breadth of our watershed and water supply system.
Regional Watershed Maps - Click on the boxes for a closer view. Also worth a glance is the DEP's history of the NYC water supply.
SOME FACTS: - The NYC water supply system provides 1.4 billion gallons of drinking water to almost 9 million New Yorkers every day. - The NYC watershed is comprised of 19 reservoirs in an area of almost 2,000 square miles. - The NYC water supply is divided into the Croton System and the Catskill/Delaware system. 90% of NYC's water supply is moved to the Kensico Reservoir before being delivered to customers in the City and Westchester. - The Kensico Reservoir serves as the terminal reservoir for six other in the Croton and Catskill/Delaware system. - The Kensico Reservoir holds 30.6 billion gallons of water at full capacity. |
Unified Watershed Assessment - The Department of Environmental Conservation's assessment of NYS watersheds, a prerequisite for receiving federal monies. The introduction provides a helpful overview of the quality of NYS waters.
Watershed Memorandum of Agreement - Signed in January 1997, this agreement between City, State, the EPA and environmentalists formalizes voluntary partnerships and local protection. Diehards should also look at the final rules and regs for the agreement.
"NYC Signs Purchase Contracts for Lands Near Kensico and New Croton Reservoirs" - Details DEC's acquisition of lands near the Kensico Reservoir as part of the Watershed Land Acquisition Program. Originally slated for development, this environmentally sensitive land will now be preserved as a reservoir buffer.
Statement on the Kensico - Dan Klotz, Communications Director at the NY League of Conservation Voters, explains why further development of the 9.9 square miles of the Kensico watershed is fraught with difficulties.
The Comptroller Weighs In - In a December 16 press conference, City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in conjunction with environmental advocates, denounced the Route 120 plan and vowed to take steps to stop its construction.
Transportation Alternatives - Says that expanding Route 120 is not only bad environmental policy, but bad transportation policy.
Natural Resources Defense Council - In the introduction to a lengthier report, NRDC warns that the Kensico and West Branch reservoirs are especially vulnerable to urban sprawl, and only a comprehensive pollution prevention program can ensure their protection.
The Friends of the Croton Watershed - A coalition of community and environmental groups who oppose the proposed expansion.