Deputy Secretary Claude A. Allen, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with representatives from the city Department for the Aging and regional federal public health workers, visited Sunnyside Community Services on November 13. They met with staff, received a briefing about the organization, and then joined in dance and movement activities with participants of Sunnyside’s Social Adult Day program for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders.

The visit was arranged as a follow-up to the 19th annual Mayors Conference on Alzheimer’s disease, where Josephina Carbonell, Assistant Secretary of Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, delivered the keynote address. As a followup to the conference, the Department for the Aging arranged the visit to Sunnyside Community Services to demonstrate the effectiveness of this model program. The program provides therapeutic recreation to keep participants as active as possible for as long as possible. It also offers support to their families to help them keep their loved ones in the community for as long as possible.

For more information, call Nancy Lee Hendley at (718) 786-9273.

(L. to r.), center row: David Whyne, Sunnyside Community Services, associate executive director of community services; Rose Marie Borg, associate executive director of home care; H.H.S. Deputy Secretary Claude Allen; Judy Zangwill, executive director; back row: Annemarie O’Hearn, chair elect, National Adult Day Services Association; Ken Hankinson, Sunnyside Community Services board member; seated: Linda Whitaker, city Department for the Aging.