On Sept. 20, approximately 1,800 NYCHA senior residents came together at the New York City Housing Authority’s 8^th Annual Senior Benefit and Entitlement Fair, at Riverbank State Park in Manhattan, to learn about health resources and how to better manage their finances.

As part of the “Money Matters,” theme of the Senior Benefit Fair, NYCHA and its partners assisted seniors in making the switch to electronic payments. Geraldine Hardy, 73, and a resident of NYCHA’s Jackson Houses in the Bronx, said she was excited to learn about banking and the pending switch for all federal government payments from paper to electronic. “I’m on SSI [Supplemental Security Income] and I get paper checks,” Mrs. Hardy said. “I learned how important it is to have that changed before March [2013].” 

Other workshops provided useful information about ways seniors can protect themselves from identity theft, which is considered the fastest growing crime nationwide. The NYCHA event for seniors also included hands-on demonstrations of computers and iPads; help with understanding and enrolling in Medicare savings plans; free flu shots and information on food and nutrition.

Iraida de la Paz from NYCHA’s Gowanus Houses in Brooklyn made use of the free health screenings to her benefit. “I got my blood pressure checked and I thought I was fine because I took my pills, but it was high and I didn’t know it,” she said.

The goal of the fair is to educate and empower NYCHA seniors to make informed choices about health care and finances that can improve their quality of life.

By Heidi Morales 
Sept. 20, 2012