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June 2007 Newsletter In This Issue:
The Department celebrated May's Older Americans Month with two signature events, Age in Action and the annual recognition and awards ceremony for participants in DFTA's Intergenerational Work Study Program (IWSP). Both highlighted the tremendous contribution of our City's elders to the spirit and vitality of the City. Seniors participating in the IWSP exemplify the transmission by elders of their experience and wisdom to younger generations - a transmission critical for a healthy society. In celebrating their "giving," along with the "giving" of high school youth involved in the Work Study Program, we honor all seniors and their contribution to the intergenerational exchange that keeps society going. The elders who participated in Age in Action not only demonstrated their unquenchable spirit, their creativity and curiosity, but many also showed off their cultural heritage in costume, dance and music. In this diverse City of ours, these elders are keepers of precious traditions. We thank them for sharing their heritage with us and for celebrating their pride in being Older Americans at Age in Action. Please email or write to me at any time. I look forward to hearing from you. Also, call 311 to learn about the Department's services for seniors or read more at nyc.gov/aging.
The Big Apple Circus's Joel Jeske emceed the main stage at Age in Action. The "NETSational Seniors," the Senior Dance Team of the New Jersey Nets, kicked off the program to enthusiastic applause, bringing to Age in Action the same talents and inventiveness that have wowed Nets audiences. The Senior Dance Team was followed by the NYPD Band, and the New York City Housing Authority Choir.
Another hit was the Senior Art Gallery, displaying a variety of outstanding oil paintings, ceramics, crochet, knitting and quilting selected from more than 75 entries. Judging the Gallery entries was Elders Share the Arts' participating artist, Frederic Spione. First, second and third place winners received trophies and all were presented with commemorative ribbons.
Presented by the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) and its charitable arm, the Aging in New York Fund, Age in Action is an annual event. It has grown steadily to become one of the largest municipally-sponsored healthy aging initiatives in the country for people over the age of 60. Age in Action 2007 sponsors were Affinity Health Plan, Empire City Yonkers Raceway, Forest City Ratner Companies, HealthNet Medicare Programs, Rosemont Press, Secure Horizons, and Touchstone Health.
Intergenerational Work Study Program Celebrates 20th Year
On hand to salute the partnership between the Department of Education (DOE) and DFTA, and the young and old participants in the program, was DOE Chancellor Joel I. Klein. Commissioner Edwin Méndez-Santiago welcomed the guests. Awards were presented to Sheena Dolcy of Millennium Academy for Student of the Year (see photo); Lilian Christmas for Senior of the Year; Marilyn Levy of John Bowne High School for Teacher of the Year, and Alisa Danon-Kaplan of Hebrew Home for the Aged for Supervisor of the Year. Noting that the program motivates students who might not otherwise thrive, Teacher of the Year Levy commented in a telephone interview, "If we could clone this program in other fields, it would be a better world." Receiving scholarships at the Luncheon were Daniella Gonzalez, Health Opportunities High School, winner of the Michael A. Scarfia, Jr. four-year scholarship; Sheena Dolcy, Millennium Art Academy, who won the Fort Greene Senior Citizens Council Scholarship recognizing the contributions of the ISWP Student of the Year; and Sophia Figueroa, Edward R. Murrow High School, winner of the first Margaret Rivers Scholarship established on the occasion of the 20th anniversary for a student to pursue a career in geriatric health care. In celebration of the twentieth anniversary, several aging network partners also provided monetary awards to recognize the academic and service achievements of outstanding students. The Fort Greene Grant Square Senior Center gave an award to Jimmy Aponte. Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility presented its award to Jerard People. Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Center recognized Alicia Pineda-Coatl, and the Senior Citizens League of Flatbush honored Shanice Dixon.
Regional Conference Addresses Workforce Needs of Aging New Yorkers
DFTA was one of the organizers of the Conference, and is a founding member of the Network, which represents area agencies on aging from the southern region of New York State, as well as long term care facilities, non-profit and community-based organizations, and educational institutions. NY-SAAN has placed the aging services workforce shortage at the forefront of its agenda. Caucus workshops offered recommendations for the development of policies, programs, legislation and resources to address workforce needs in southern New York State where almost 2.2 million people sixty years of age and older live, accounting for just over two-thirds of the state's older population. Said DFTA Commissioner Méndez-Santiago, "For years, the fact that we will not have an adequate workforce to meet the needs of our aging population has been viewed like global warming, too far off in the future to worry about now. NYSAAN hopes to generate our own 'Inconvenient Truth' momentum and to provide the leadership to develop real responses to the many development, retention, retooling and retraining issues." Rick Moody of AARP moderated a morning interactive session between audience members and panelists Michael Burgess, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging; Frank Burns, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration on Aging; Carol Rodat, New York Policy Director of the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, and Sandra Timmerman of MetLife Mature Market Institute. Following a keynote address by Robyn Stone of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, eleven caucus workshops engaged attendees in examining the impact of workforce shortages from a variety of perspectives.
DFTA/NYCHA/NYPD Join Forces to Help Alzheimer's Patients As an outgrowth of its ongoing collaboration with the NYPD to help ensure the safety of Alzheimer's patients who wander, the Department for the Aging is now contacting the families of seniors reported missing to the NYPD. DFTA offers the family information about resources as well as assistance linking to community services when the missing senior is found. Since this new outreach program started on April 16th, DFTA has contacted more than 40 families. "The response varies from families who don't call back to the ones who are so grateful for the information you want to bend over backwards to help them," says Robin Finley, Director of DFTA's Alzheimer's and Caregiver Resource Center, which makes the calls after receiving a daily report from the NYPD Bureau of Missing Persons. DFTA and NYPD Housing Police are also collaborating on an initiative with NYCHA to educate tenants and tenant leaders in NYCHA buildings about the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and about community resources. The goal of the informational sessions at NYCHA sites is to arm residents with the information they need to recognize when a neighbor is struggling with Alzheimer's and to help caregivers who don't know where to turn for services and resources. In the three years of this joint initiative, DFTA staff members have reached more than 644 individuals through presentations at NYCHA tenant meetings. The project started because the New York City Housing Police, which has an on-site presence at many of the buildings, was expending a good deal of its time and manpower resources helping to find residents with dementia who had wandered away from home. With little knowledge of Alzheimer's disease and no knowledge about its management or available community resources, the NYPD approached DFTA and NYCHA, seeking a joint solution to the problem.
Changes to New York State's EPIC Affecting Current Enrollees
The change is effective July 1, 2007. All enrollees will receive letters in May or June explaining how the changes will affect them based on their situation. Fee Plan enrollees will receive free Medicare drug coverage because EPIC will pay the monthly premium up to $24.45, which is the average cost of a basic Medicare plan. Most of these seniors will be required to continue to pay their quarterly EPIC fees. Deductible Plan enrollees will be required to pay their Medicare drug plan premiums. However, EPIC will provide premium assistance by reducing their annual EPIC deductible. To make it easy for seniors not already in a Part D plan, EPIC will automatically enroll them into one of the basic Medicare drug plans that best matches their drug needs and allows them to continue to use their local pharmacy. Enrollees with retiree or other health care coverage that would be adversely impacted will not be required to join Medicare Part D, and should contact the EPIC Participant Helpline at 1-800-332-3742 (TTY 1-800-290-9138). The EPIC Helpline is also available to answer any questions about how EPIC and Medicare drug coverage work together. DFTA's walk-in sites are also available to answer seniors' questions about the EPIC Program.
DFTA Testifies on Senior Center of Tomorrow Noting that centers need to grow and change to be responsive to the new needs of a much more diverse and active older population, DFTA Deputy Commissioner Caryn Resnick discussed different approaches to help centers adapt at a City Council Hearing on April 26th. Ms. Resnick emphasized that centers need to play a key role in promoting healthy lifestyles and giving seniors the know-how to better manage chronic conditions, reduce the risk of falling and improve nutritional, physical and mental health. She also encouraged centers to be more consumer-conscious and employ a customer service model that gives seniors more choice in everything from lunch options to program activities. "It's important to ask seniors what they want from their center, how they can contribute," Ms. Resnick said. "Many seniors have valuable professional and personal experience to contribute to their center." Lastly, center programming needs to foster and support not only a sense of social connection - centers' traditional forte - but also a sense of focus, purpose and mastery. "Building on their traditional functions, centers have the capacity to be restorative and inspiring places as well as homes away from home," she said, noting that creative activities, newspaper and book discussion groups, and other such programs could appeal to boomers just entering their senior years as well as to current members.
Program Spotlight: New Dorp Beach Friendship Club, Staten Island
Following lunch prepared by a chef for the occasion, the "scheduled" part of the afternoon begins. More dancing! Playing everything from rumbas, tangos and waltzes to line dances on his electronic keyboard that makes it sound as though he has a full band, musician Carmine "G" sparks the energy bouncing around the room. "I don't know how they do it," says Leonora Vaccaro, Director of New Dorp. "They keep going all day, and they love it." Asked whether it's just the younger seniors who enjoy the dancing, she laughs. "Absolutely not! Some of the old ones make the young ones look like they can't move!" For more than twenty years, this Saturday program has been supported by the Staten Island Borough President for all older Staten Island residents. Some of the 85 to 90 participants each Saturday are members of senior centers, but some are not. In addition to a full lunch, participants celebrate special holidays including Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day and Father's Day. They get a well-earned break during the summer, but are raring to go once fall begins.
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On a beautiful and warm May 9th, approximately 10,000 seniors gathered in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, to celebrate Older Americans Month at the Department's Age in Action Festival with an array of activities showcasing their talents, energy and vitality. Throughout the day seniors enjoyed performing on the main stage, competing in dance contests and participating in health screenings, games and trolley rides.
A new feature at this year's Age in Action was a Technology Center. The Department's information technology staff and members of Older Adults Technology Services helped seniors learn how to log on to the internet, search for senior health related information, access email, and use Microsoft Word. Seniors were able to use 15 wireless laptops for hands-on experience.
Joining Commissioner Edwin Méndez-Santiago to greet the seniors were Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell, Social Security Administration Regional Commissioner Bea Disman and regional administrator for Medicare, Charlotte Yeh. 
More than 300 students, seniors, faculty, administrators, site program staff and alumni celebrated the 20th anniversary of DFTA's Intergenerational Work Study Program (IWSP) at a Recognition and Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on May 25th. Since its inception as a partnership of public and private stakeholders, the IWSP has brought New York City youth together with seniors to build bridges between the generations. High school youth who participate in the program serve seniors in senior centers, nursing homes and home care settings. Seniors reciprocate with their friendship, mentoring and role modeling.
On May 24, the Department participated in a conference entitled Preparing for the Elderboom: Strategies for Success through Workforce Development and Advocacy. The conference explored ways to address the dire shortage of a workforce to care for New York State's expanding aging population. More than 250 aging network service providers and other stakeholders attended this conference, organized by NY-SAAN, the New York Southern Area Aging Network.
DFTA's 45 Medicare Information and Enrollment sites have been trained on a recent change to the New York State Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Program (EPIC). The change requires EPIC enrollees to join a Medicare Part D drug plan as a condition of eligibility. EPIC will provide Part D premium assistance to all enrollees so that no one will be disadvantaged by this new requirement. Seniors can be assured that EPIC will continue to provide supplemental coverage for drug costs not covered by Medicare, including deductibles, co-payments, non-covered drugs and coverage gap. By using EPIC and Medicare together, seniors can save more on prescription drugs.
Thirty Saturdays a year they dance up a storm at New Dorp Senior Center on Staten Island. Seniors from all over the Island start streaming in around 9:30, bagels and other breakfast goodies to share with their tablemates in hand. While some play cards and others catch up on the week's events in small conversational groups, most start dancing. And this is hours before the "live" music is scheduled to start! Taped music brought in each week by a participant is sufficient to move people onto the dance floor, and to vary the repertoire, there is a donated juke box.