Senior citizens are most likely to have a “nest egg,” own their home, and/or have excellent credit—all of which make them attractive to con artists.

People who grew up in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were generally raised to be polite and trusting. Con artists exploit these traits, knowing that it is difficult or impossible for these individuals to say “no” or just hang up the telephone.
Older Americans are less likely to report fraud because they don’t know who to report it to, are too ashamed at having been scammed or don’t know they have been scammed. Elderly victims may not report crimes, for example, because they are concerned that relatives may think they no longer have the mental capacity to take care of their own financial affairs.

When an elderly victim does report a crime, they often make poor witnesses. Con artists know the effects of age on memory and count on elderly victims not being able to supply enough detailed information to investigators. In addition, the victims’ realization that they have been swindled may take weeks—or, more likely, months—after contact with the fraudster. This extended time frame makes it even more difficult to remember details from the events.

Senior citizens are more interested in and susceptible to products promising increased cognitive function, virility, physical conditioning, anti-cancer properties and so on. In a country where new cures and vaccinations for old diseases have given every American hope for a long and fruitful life, it is not so unbelievable that the con artists’ products can do what they claim.

Telemarketing Fraud
If you are 60 or older—especially if you are an older woman living alone—you may be a special target of people who sell bogus products and services by telephone. Telemarketing scams often involve offers of free prizes, low-cost vitamins and health care products and inexpensive vacations.

It’s very difficult to get your money back if you’ve been cheated over the telephone. Before you buy anything by telephone, remember:

• Don’t buy from an unfamiliar company. Legitimate businesses understand that you will want more information about their company and are happy to comply.
• Always ask for and wait until you receive written material about any offer or charity. If you get brochures about costly investments, ask someone whose financial advice you trust to review them. But, unfortunately, beware—not everything written down is true.
• Obtain a salesperson’s name, business identity, telephone number, street address, mailing address and business license number before you transact business. Some con artists give out false names, telephone numbers, addresses and business license numbers—verify the accuracy of these items.
• Before you give money to a charity or make an investment, find out what percentage of the money is paid in commissions and what percentage actually goes to the charity or investment.
• Don’t pay in advance for services. Pay for services only after they are delivered.
• Always take your time making a decision. Legitimate companies won’t pressure you to make a snap decision.
• Don’t pay for a “free” prize. If a caller tells you the payment is for taxes, he or she is violating federal law.
• Never send money or give out personal information such as credit card numbers and expiration dates, bank account numbers, dates of birth or social security numbers to unfamiliar companies or unknown persons.
• If you have been victimized once, be wary of persons who call offering to help you recover your losses for a fee paid in advance.

If you have information about a fraud, report it to state, local or federal law enforcement agencies.

Q. My wife and I recently moved into a retirement community. I’ve noticed a lot of people I’d call alcoholics in this community. Do seniors drink more in these places?

A: I could find no information that demonstrated that residents of retirement communities drink more. However, these developments are, by nature, more social. So, perhaps you’re just seeing more drinking. With more drinking, you’ll always find more people who don’t handle it well.

Alcoholism is a serious problem among seniors. Here are just a few statistics that tell the story:

About 70 percent of hospital admissions for older adults are for illness and accidents related to alcohol.
About half of older adults in nursing homes have an alcohol problem.

Older adults lose an average of 10 years off their lives because of alcohol abuse.

About 80 percent of doctors misdiagnose alcoholism as depression in older women.

The highest growing rate of alcoholism is among 75-year-old widowers.

About 10 percent of patients over age 60 who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are actually suffering from brain damage caused by alcoholism.

“Alcohol abuse among older adults is something few want to talk about or deal with,” said Charles Curie, former administrator of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Too often, family members are ashamed of the problem and choose not to address it.

“Health care providers tend not to ask older patients about alcohol abuse if it wasn’t a problem in their lives in earlier years,” he said. “Sometimes the symptoms are mistaken for those of dementia, depression or other problems common to older adults. Unfortunately, too many older persons turn to alcohol as a comfort following the death of a spouse, a divorce, retirement or some other major life change, unaware that they are markedly affecting the quality of their lives.”

A few definitions:
Alcoholism is a disease with four symptoms: a craving or compulsion to drink, the inability to limit drinking, high alcohol tolerance and physical dependence.

Alcohol abuse is defined as drinking that causes problems in your life, such as failing at work, getting arrested for drunk driving and hurting someone physically or emotionally. It does not include strong craving, loss of control or physical dependence.

Moderate drinking means consuming up to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women and older people. A standard drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

The American Medical Association provides the following list of physical symptoms to diagnose alcoholism. If an older person shows several of these symptoms, there is a high probability of alcoholism.
• Bruises, abrasions and scars in locations that might suggest frequent falls, bumping into objects, physical altercations or other violent behavior
• Cigarette burns on the fingers
• Flushed or florid face
• Jerky eye movement or loss of central vision
• Damage to nerves causing numbness and tingling
• Hypertension, particularly systolic (the first number)
• Gastrointestinal or other bleeding
• Cirrhosis or other evidence of liver impairment, such as swelling in the lower extremities and other signs of fluid retention
• Psoriasis

“I like the games and the people,” said 86-year-old Harry as he placed an “R” on the plastic board in front of him. “And other places don’t have Scrabble.”

Harry, like many of the seniors in the JCC game room, declined to give his last name. He was one of three main Scrabble players, and the only man who showed up to compete that Monday. The rest of the room consisted of women, most playing canasta, some loudly and some so concentrated they constantly shushed in the general direction of the ruckus. Not long ago, bridge was also popular in this space, but those players long ago forfeited their table in favor of a quieter spot.

Monday canasta at the Jewish Community Center.

On this November afternoon, the low winter light of the large, pale-green-
carpeted room resonated peace as the sun’s glow softened the angles of the harsh square card tables. By 3:30, just half an hour before the room closed to players, the energy pushed higher until the short, round ladies with cropped hair and bright red and purple jackets sitting closest to the door gave in and stopped caring if people were talking.

In the center of the room, at one of the other six tables, Irene, 83, made her move. “K-A-T: kat,” she said, simultaneously spelling the word “tank” on the board.

Next, Louise, their star participant who also plays the viola in the orchestra at St. Luke’s, added an “S,” forming “stank.”

“Is that really a word?” questioned Harry, as he reached for the official Scrabble dictionary. After serving in the Navy during World War II and working as a Supreme Court Clerk, he doesn’t let anything fly.

“A stank is a pond,” replied Louise, 64, as she peered into the dictionary, her glasses lightly balanced on her nose.

“It must be a stinky pond,” chuckled Irene.

Next to the one Scrabble table, a gaggle of older women gossiped, threw down cards and wrote down numbers.

Created in 1939 in South America, canasta has many variations across the world. It gained popularity in the 1950s, the same era in which Scrabble made it big and the era in which many of the women now playing at the JCC were just starting their families.

For this particular table, it appeared that winning was just a bonus—the real pleasure was seeing the group. For pure excitement, they also attend Tuesday’s mah-jongg tournaments.

About six years ago, the JCC started offering mah-jongg classes. The interested parties have since grown from about eight people to the 70 players registered today. Every Tuesday, the room fills with women, many sporting close-cropped silver hair, sparkly jewelry and fashionable clothes.

“If you aren’t nice or high-maintenance, please don’t come,” said Rhonda, her advice seconded by the nodding of heads and gentle laughter.

As the group of ladies leaves to have a drink and a nibble at a Japanese restaurant across the street, the three Scrabble players remain happy in their own world. Louise, the youngest of the faction, won this round, but she has the advantage of practicing the game on her smartphone.

Still, Harry grinned and pointed to Irene. “She’s famous, you know, because of the hurricane.”

And even though she didn’t win this round of Scrabble, the white-haired woman looked at me and smiled. “It’s because I am a force to be reckoned with.”

A few years ago, one of the residents of a West Side senior center began to sell their neighbors an alternative to Con Edison.

“They began to sell to them a different kind of lighting company,” said Micki Navarro, director of the Manhattan Valley Senior Center. “Well, it was all a scam. And they had to put a deposit down to get this.”

It wasn’t until one of the seniors mentioned it to one of the center’s social workers that they were finally able to start tracking the crime and looking for the scammers. By then it was too late.

“We traced it to somebody we couldn’t really trace,” Navarro said.

This isn’t an anomaly. Many elderly New Yorkers know the traditional safeguards to prevent pickpockets and burglaries. But, because they prey on trust, scammers can be much harder to avoid.

According to Ken Onaitis, head of the elder abuse department at the Carter Burden Center for the Aging, many scammers target the elderly, who can often be lonely or vulnerable.

Ageism is another reason scammers seek out senior citizens. Some see seniors’ physical or mental limitations as an invitation to go after them. Navarro said scammers target some elderly victims because of mental issues like depression, Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“Those people who commit the fraud, they know all of this,” she said. “They prepare. They do research and watch. They watch their prey and they attack when they know it’s the right time.”

Because scams can happen in person or by mail, phone or computer, there’s no sure-fire rule to avoid scams. But common sense is the best way to keep out of the crosshairs of con artists.

“If an offer sounds too good to be true,” Onaidis said. “It probably is.”

Here are some common scams to be wary of:

• While the mail is still used, email and computer-based scams are more common today. Never give out your social security number, bank information or other sensitive information over the Internet unless you absolutely trust the source on the other end. Even then, it’s good to make sure you verify as much as you can and never give money to people you don’t know.

• Phone scams are also common, according to Onaitis. Some scammers call dozens of people a day trying to gather sensitive data or sell fake products.

“The main thing is that if you get someone on the phone requesting information, trying to get information out of you, just hang up,” said Onaitis.

• According to Navarro, another common scam is those who wait until seniors receive social security money. When seniors go to withdraw money from ATMs, some people follow them home and try to sell them things.

• Make sure you feel comfortable with the person on the other side of the door before you open it. If someone says they are in a position of authority, always ask them for identification.

Navarro said that many seniors grew up when door-to-door salespeople were much more common. Some scammers take advantage of that trust to enter people’s homes. “They don’t know who they’re letting in,” she said.

The first thing anyone should do if they feel scammed is call the police in the precinct in which the crime happened. Many people are ashamed to admit they’ve been had.

Beyond the police, there are resources like the city’s Department for the Aging and community organizations like the Carter Burden Center, which help people respond to scams and go to court if necessary.

Still, prevention is much more simple than the cure. People should take simple steps to keep all personal information private and never give money to people based on a promise, because once scammed, it can be very hard to get the money back.

“Usually when the money’s gone, the money’s gone,” Onaitis said.

The Upper West Side, home to a large and growing population of older New Yorkers, is morphing by design into one of the more age-friendly neighborhoods in the city. According to information that the Department for the Aging released in February of last year, 41,648 people over the age of 60 live within the boundaries of community district 7, with 13,608 of them age 75 and older. That population accounts for almost 20 percent of the entire community district and is the reason the Upper West Side has been designated one of three Aging Improvement Districts in the city (the others are East Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn) as part of a pilot program of Age-Friendly NYC, sponsored by the mayor’s office, the City Council and the New York Academy of Medicine.

A study of the Upper West Side conducted by 20 community organizations, including senior centers, churches and cultural institutions, found that the things seniors most want to see improved are often small changes that make it easier for them to remain part of their community.

Gertrude McDonald is using her knowledge of politics to fight for senior centers. Photo by Adrian Susmano

“[One] big issue is to be able to sit when you go shopping,” said City Council Member Gale Brewer. Her office recently surveyed grocery stores in the area to assess their senior-friendliness and released a pamphlet detailing which stores offer seats, shopping assistance, single-serving portions of meat, discounts, access to bathrooms and other amenities that seniors find help greatly with getting their shopping done. Brewer said connecting seniors with vital information and with each other should be a prime objective of improving the neighborhood.

David Gillcrist, the executive director of Project FIND, which runs three senior centers on the West Side, is also pushing new programs that help the elderly figure out how to live better in their communities. He is hoping to implement a program in partnership with the Columbia School of Occupational Therapy called lifestyle redesign.

“It’s a look at what makes you independent. For example, accessing transportation; what elements are involved?” Gillcrist explained. Counselors talk with seniors and break down tasks that may seem daunting—traveling to the grocery store, for example—and figure out, step by step, how they can accomplish everyday objectives.

Gillcrist is waiting on word from the Department for the Aging on whether or not the Project’s Hamilton Center, at 141 W. 73rd St., will be designated as an Innovative Senior Center.

“It would mean we would get roughly half a million dollars to expand our programs,” said Gillcrist. “We proposed to have an evening program and in that way we hope to attract people, older adults who work during the day and cannot take advantage [of the daytime classes]. We would also have more of an emphasis on interactive entertainment, musical programming.”

They would also run a once-a-week legal clinic to help seniors deal with “end of life stuff that people pay hundreds of dollars to have done [like wills], but it would be free,” said Gillcrist.

Free programming is an important element of catering to older adults in the community; 32.5 percent of seniors over 65 on the Upper West Side live at the poverty level, according to the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity gauges, and many more live not far above that line.

Stephan Russo, executive director of Goddard Riverside Center, which operates social service programs on the Upper West Side and in Harlem, said one of the biggest obstacles many seniors face is not knowing about the benefits that are available to them. Many are not computer literate and can easily feel disconnected from the world—a finding echoed in the Aging Improvement District study. Russo would like to be able to identify and connect with seniors who could use the help that the city and state offers.

“How do you get those benefits that are out there for older adults into their hands? How to expand the home delivery meals program to people who are homebound? Our experience going out to the community is that there are people who are out there who need them,” Russo said. “I think food insecurity is an important issue.”

Brewer agrees that even with the many programs in place for seniors in the neighborhood, more can be done to reach the entire population.

“There are more and more frail elderly. They don’t want to say anything. We try to do as much outreach as we can,” she said.

“New York City is a wonderful place to retire,” said Russo. “The dilemma is how do you balance the needs of the well elderly [who are physically active and financially secure] and those who have a tremendous high need.”

The other articles in this section first ran in City Hall, our sister publication, looking at some of the issues facing elders in New York City as the city’s population grows older. These articles first appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of City Hall. To read more, visit cityhallnews.com.

NEW YORK CITY AS A WHOLE

Elder population: In 2009, more than 39.6 million people 65+ live in the United States.

The country’s elderly population is growing quickly because of baby boomers. The country’s 65-and-over population increased from 35 million in 2000 to 40 million in 2010, and is expected to grow to 55 million in 2020.

The country’s 85+ population increased from 4.2 million in 2000 to 5.7 million in 2010, and is expected to grow to 6.6 million in 2020.

There are 3.4 million people over 65 in New York State.

The greatest number of the state’s elderly, 1.3 million people, is concentrated in New York City.

That is equivalent to 13.4 % of the state’s total population.

That is a 7.8% increase between 1999 and 2009.

In 2009, New York ranked 10th out of the 50 states in high poverty rates among its elderly.

In 2009, over half of the country’s elderly population were concentrated in just 11 states.

New York State has the 3rd largest population of people over 65 in the country, although the growth in its elderly population year to year is among the slowest compared with other states.

Twenty-two years ago, Myrna Shapiro opened up her local Long Island newspaper and discovered an ad for classes she could take at home over the phone. Since Shapiro was confined to a wheelchair, she immediately decided to try it.

“I started taking one or two classes and I got hooked,” the 75-year-old said.

Dorot, which runs University Without Walls, offers about 160 classes over the telephone to students like Kathy Leeds.

Provided by Dorot, an organization that has helped the elderly since 1976, the program she joined was University Without Walls. They offer about 160 courses each term on subjects across the board, including opera, poetry, film, finance, art, and religion.

The first class Shapiro took mimicked today’s book clubs, where the participants read and discussed a four books over time, all without actually meeting in person. Nowadays this might not sound so novel, but University Without Walls started in 1989, when online video chatting didn’t exist and the conference call wasn’t a common thing.

“The genesis of the program is figuring out a way to create a community for seniors who have a hard time getting out of their house, whether they are bed-bound, need assistance, or because of the weather,” said Bonnie Jacobs, Dorot’s director of education. “People know they are expected to be on the call—if they aren’t, people are concerned.”

The process of the program proved simple. Each class gets a facilitator for about 10 to 12 students. The price is cheap, around $12 per course, and they don’t give out any homework or tests. Once signed up, on the appointed day and time everyone calls in and the course becomes an interactive discussion. Or karaoke, like the “Sing-Along Broadway” course led by Leo Schaff, an actor and songwriter.

Another way the itinerary becomes interactive is through books that Dorot ships to the students, like the one used in “The Modern Portrait,” a course on objects in the Museum of Modern Art taught by Diana Bush, an education specialist at MoMA.

“Trying to make a connection over the phone is so different than lecturing in a gallery,” said Bush, who has been giving art courses with the organization for four years. “But the most rewarding thing is how much I learned through our discussions.”

The “Old Books, Rare Books” seminar is taught by a rare book cataloger from the New York Public Library; the “Poetry Co-Op” is run by a poet and former New Yorker writer, and “Folktales of Sukkot” features discussions with a rabbi.

For Ricki Saady, University Without Walls has deepened her connection with her religious community. At 52, Saady is one of the younger students, but since she is homebound with chronic fatigue and severe asthma, it has helped her stay active and kept her going. For 11 years she has participated in discussions about the Torah, Jewish mysticism and biblical studies and has facilitated courses on different people in the Bible like King David and Jacob.

“It’s been a lifesaver, the program,” she said. “It’s helped people that can’t go to schools to take courses and I have also developed a lot of friends through it.”

Shapiro said she too has clicked with a few people and developed long term friendships based on shared interests and chemistry through the courses.

Over the phone, naturally, Shapiro said, “I am very grateful to Dorot because it has provided a wonderful outlet for me and I only have good things to say about everybody.”

Compiled by Megan Finnegan

Bernice Silver likes to say she’s “game for anything,” and who can argue after she got into a kayak for the first time in her 97-plus years on Saturday. Silver had a little help from her friends at NYC Friends of Clearwater Inc. who, with the Downtown Boathouse at Pier 96, organized her maiden kayaking voyage on the Hudson River. Silver, a puppeteer, songwriter and environmentalist, had sailed on the Clearwater vessel many times, but had never been in a kayak before. The Boathouse says Silver has set an age record for kayakers—at least as far as the 56th Street pier goes.

Bernice Silver.

Q. Whenever I drink a little too much wine, I find that I wake up at night and my heart seems to race for a while. Can wine do that?

A. The short answer is yes. But first, it sounds as if you haven’t told a doctor about this. You should—immediately. What you’re describing could be atrial fibrillation. The risk of atrial fibrillation increases with age, particularly after 60.

Atrial fibrillation—also called AF or A-fib—is the most common form of irregular heartbeat. It is an abnormal heart rhythm originating in the atria, the upper chambers of the heart. The rate of impulses through the atria can range from 300 to 600 beats per minute.

Because the atria are beating rapidly and irregularly, blood does not flow through them as smoothly. This makes the blood more likely to clot. If a clot is pumped out of the heart, it can travel to the brain, causing a stroke. People with AF are five to seven times more likely to have a stroke than the general population.

Infrequent and brief episodes of AF can be triggered by overindulgence in alcohol, caffeine and food. Doctors sometimes call AF “holiday heart.”

However, some of the most common causes of AF are high blood pressure, a variety of heart problems like coronary artery disease, chronic lung disease and pulmonary embolism, which occurs when an artery in your lung becomes blocked.

In at least 10 percent of AF cases, no underlying heart disease is found. In these cases, AF may be related to alcohol or excessive caffeine use, stress, certain drugs, electrolyte or metabolic imbalances or severe infections. In some cases, no cause can be found.

Among the commonly used tools to diagnose AF are the electrocardiogram (ECG); Holter monitor, a small external recorder usually worn for one to three days; and a portable event monitor that enables a patient to record an AF episode.

Many people live with AF, problem-free, for years. However, chronic AF can cause problems. Besides stroke, there is the danger that clots can travel to other parts of the body (e.g., kidneys, heart, intestines), causing damage. AF can decrease the heart’s pumping ability by as much as 25 percent and AF, combined with a fast heart rate over a long period of time, can cause heart failure.

AF symptoms include a racing or fluttering heart, fatigue, dizziness, feeling faint, chest discomfort and shortness of breath. However, you can have AF without experiencing symptoms.

Initially, medications are used to treat AF. There are also medications to prevent blood clots.

If initial remedies don’t correct or control AF, a procedure such as electrical cardioversion may be necessary. In this procedure, an electrical shock is delivered to the chest wall to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

Then there are devices such as an implantable atrial defibrillator, which delivers low-dose therapy to convert AF to a normal heart rhythm.

Patients with chronic AF not relieved by medication or procedures are candidates for surgical treatment. Many of these approaches can be performed with minimally invasive endoscopic, or “keyhole,” surgical techniques.

If you would like to read more, order a copy of How to be a Healthy Geezer at www.healthygeezer.com.

By Marley Gibbons

New York City in the summer can actually be a wonderful place to be. People head out of town on vacation, the lines are shorter, the days are longer—the frantic pace seems to slow down a notch. There are outdoor programs, activities and spaces to enjoy. But with the season comes, at times, unforgiving heat that can be dangerous to the health of senior citizens.

Adults 50 and older are at a higher risk for heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke because of the physiological changes that occur with aging, according to the American Geriatrics Society. The elderly are more likely to have chronic medical conditions that change the way they respond to heat and are more likely to take medication that prevent their bodies from temperature regulation through sweating. For more information about the signs and risks of heat-related illnesses, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website (www.cdc.gov).

A cool down station at the Manhattan Valley Senior Center. Photo by Caitlyn Bierman.

During the hot and humid summer months, it is very important to keep in touch with your neighbors, checking in with each other on a daily basis. Everyone should make sure to hydrate with non-alcoholic, caffeine-free beverages and wear light clothing and high-SPF sunscreen.

If you don’t have air conditioning or are itching to get out of the house but stay out of the heat, there are plenty of places to keep cool uptown.

When the heat indices reach 95 degrees Fahrenheit for two or more days or 100 for one day, the Office of Emergency Management issues an evening announcement of a “heat crisis.” The OEM then works with the Department for the Aging and the New York City Housing Authority to activate “cooling centers,” air-conditioned spaces that will be open to the public on the next day of fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk conditions.

Manhattan has 62 Department for the Aging senior centers, Salvation Army community centers and other public spaces that double as cooling centers on scorching days. Check the OEM website after a heat crisis is announced to find the center closest to you, and make sure to call ahead to get their hours of operation.

Two West Side senior centers always welcome folks who need a cool place to sit and have a cold drink, even when it isn’t an official EOM heat crisis. Encore Community Services at 49th Street and Broadway serves lunch free of charge and offers activities such as tai chi and painting classes. Anyone can participate in physical therapy, dominoes, arts & crafts and yoga at the Manhattan Valley Senior Center on 106th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.

On the East Side, the Lenox Hill Senior Center on East 70th between First and Second avenues is open seven days a week and offers educational classes, transportation services and activities for seniors. The senior center at Saint Peter’s Church on 53rd and Lexington plays movies, holds dancing and language classes and provides meals. The Department of Aging website has a senior services search engine to locate services by typing in your zip code.

But even less extreme heat can leave the elderly in danger of heat-related illnesses, or of extreme boredom in confined air-conditioned living rooms. The Hansborough Recreation Center on 134th between Fifth and Lenox avenues has an indoor pool and you’ll find an outdoor Olympic-size pool at Highbridge Park on 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Check out the New York City Parks Department’s website to find a pool in your neighborhood. Take caution, though—a frigid pool, bath or shower is a great way to cool down, but quick, extreme temperature changes can lead to dizziness or headaches.

A quiet way to spend the day cooling down is to find a comfortable place to sit and read a good book. The New York City Public Library locations on West 100th, West 115th, West 124th, East 58th and East 96th streets are all air-conditioned. Check online for daily activities and more locations around the city.

Catch a movie in the cool darkness of a theater or do some window shopping in an indoor mall like the Shops at Columbus Circle or Rockefeller Plaza, which is underground. Shopping malls offer a way to get some exercise walking around in an air-conditioned environment. The city abounds with air-conditioned museums and galleries as well.

Summer in the city has its heat-related challenges, but it sure beats shoveling the snow and salting the sidewalks.

Helpful links:

Office of Emergency Management cooling center locator:
www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/home/home.shtml

Department of Aging Senior Service locator:
www.nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml

New York City Parks Department public pool locator:
www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/pools

New York City Public Library locations:
www.nypl.org/locations

Office of Emergency Management’s heat-beating tips:
www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/hazards/heat_tips.shtml

By Alan Krawitz

For Manhattan resident Tammy Lawrence, her health monitor is much more than a good idea; it provides her genuine peace of mind.

“I just had a mild heart attack last week, and having the health buddy medallion with me to notify medical personnel immediately was very comforting,” said Lawrence, 74, who has a heart condition and also lives by herself in Midtown.

For Manhattan resident Tammy Lawrence, her health monitor is much more than a good idea; it provides her genuine peace of mind.

Recently, Jewish Home Lifecare (www.jewishhome.org), which provides a range of home-care and adult day-care services in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester, expanded its geriatric care services to include technology-based home health-monitoring services that can help seniors track chronic medical conditions, properly dose medications and get help in case of a medical emergency.

Lawrence, who began wearing the health buddy device around her neck after suffering a scary fall in her apartment, said the best part of the monitoring system is the knowledge that a medical professional is always available to help. “The program utilizes nurses 24 hours a day and that is very comforting for someone who lives alone,” she said, noting that a friend in her building had originally starting using the health buddy monitor. “The entire program is amazing and it’s something that everyone should use.”

The personal health monitor can be used to track vital health statistics, including blood pressure and weight, and then deliver that information to a Solutions at Home nurse, who can then determine any potential problems and review the information with the elder and the caregiver.

The program’s emergency response system incorporates technology that can call for help if it senses that the senior has fallen.

“Behind all of the technology is real, live people who care deeply about seniors and take their health and safety very seriously,” said Patricia Mulvey, geriatric care manager for the Solutions at Home Program.

Mulvey explained that the program helps families to continue maintaining seniors living at home, rather than nursing homes or assisted living facilities. “We have nurses and social workers that are available 24 hours a day if necessary.”

Other newly expanded services include geriatric care management, which can help with everything from wellness evaluations and medical history to neighborhood safety issues.

Geriatric managers typically help families hire service providers, such as home health aides for home care, maintenance, meal preparation and other services. In addition, care managers schedule medical appointments, accompany seniors to office visits and also coordinate with physicians and other health practitioners on financial and legal services.

Moreover, certified aides provide personal care and assistance, in addition to supporting families in their role as caregivers. “For many seniors, just knowing that someone is there to monitor their health is a comfort,” Mulvey said.