Senior
Spotlight
By John Toscano

Stupp Asks City, D.C. Lawmakers’ Help To Keep Fed Office Open

City Department for the Aging Commissioner Herbert Stupp has appealed to the city’s congressional delegation to intercede with a federal agency that is planning to close its New York City office, saying the action "will harm essential programs that successfully serve thousands of older New Yorkers."

The agency involved is the Corporation for National Service (CNS) at 6 World Trade Center in Manhattan. Stupp stated that CNS monitors all Foster Grandparent, Americorps VISTA, Retired and Senior Volunteers (RSVP) and Senior Companion Programs in the metropolitan area.

In his letter to all of this area’s congressmembers, Stupp warned that the proposed closing "would have a negative impact on services to the city’s seniors."

Stupp explained that the CNS office at the World Trade Center manages about half of the agency’s New York state programs and is responsible for a majority of the state’s volunteers in CNS programs.

Stupp added that his department currently oversees nearly $1 million in CNS funds to administer the Foster Grandparent program, in which older volunteers work with children who have special needs.

Rather than have this work done from outside New York City and state, Stupp pointed out, the New York City CNS staff is "best qualified to evaluate the creative and uniquely urban assignments that these thousands of older volunteers perform throughout the five boroughs."

COHEN GETS HOME CARE FUNDS: Responding to a request for support from an organization which provides companionship and other vital in-home support services for seniors, Assemblymember Michael Cohen (D–Forest Hills) succeeded in designating the group for a share of a $400,000 allotment that was placed in the 2000–2001 state budget for such agencies.

The local group involved is Forest Hills Visiting neighbors, established in 1972 and based at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. Cohen stated, "This program melds volunteer with professional staff in order to help older adults alleviate loneliness and isolation by providing mental stimulation and emotional security. What Visiting Neighbors does is to encourage physical independence for our senior citizens while increasing their quality of life." He described the staff as "caring, compassionate and knowledgeable individuals."

In a letter to Cohen, Visiting Neighbors Director of Community Development Laura Scharf pointed out that with the increase in the longevity of the senior population, calls to the organization for assistance "have increased enormously."

To reach Forest Hills Visiting Neighbors call Howie Square, coordinator, at (718) 268-7575.

McCALL HITS ADULT HOMES: Accentuating the Forest Hills Visiting neighbors’ claim that its service prolongs a senior’s desire to remain in his or her home rater than move to a nursing home, state Comptroller H. Carl McCall recently issued the results of an audit by his office which showed, he said, that "significant improvements are needed in the state’s licensing and inspection of adult care facilities in New York."

The state Department of Health has oversight over 529 adult care facilities with five or more residents, and the Office of Children and Family Services oversees the operation of 741 facilities with fewer than five residents.

Surveying these operations, McCall stated: "State officials responsible for the safety of adult care facilities do not regularly verify information before granting a license to operate, they don’t conduct inspections as required, and they don’t always respond to complaints on time. When people make a decision to place a loved one in a state licensed adult care facility, they should have the peace of mind that the state has met its responsibility for licensing and inspections."

McCall added that although state officials admitted to knowing of as many as 50 unlicensed adult care facilities operating in New York City and 800 such unlicensed facilities statewide, little is done to investigate.

Discussions with the state officials whose agencies were targeted by McCall’s audit shows, he said, that "there is agreement to address many of the problems we cited." In addition, McCall outlined 20 specific recommendations to improve the operations of the state Department of Health and the Office of Children and Family Services.