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NEW YORK - Now, when you go to market in La Marqueta in El Barrio on Tuesday, like Margarita de la Rosa, 61, you can sit if you get tired. You can also enjoy apple cider while attending information sessions on nutrition, or you can hear a singer sing ballads of the past.
De La Rosa, who has lived for 25 years in El Barrio (East Harlem, Manhattan) was one of 20 elderly people on Tuesday who attended the "Senior Tuesdays Marqueta." The initiative, which is held the second Tuesday of each month, is part of the Aging Improvement District, a pilot program of the City and The New York Academy of Medicine that seeks to make East Harlem the city’s first district designed for the elderly.
Thus, the day of shopping in La Marqueta, carried out for the third time this month, is one of the actions implemented to make life easier for the 17,742 people over 60—52.2 % of them Hispanic—living in East Harlem.
According to Ruth Finkelstein, Vice President for Health Policy at the Academy of Medicine, East Harlem was chosen to begin the pilot program by the large number of older people in poverty living in the area, who often do not speak English and do not receive social benefits allocated to them.
"They did a study and found, for example, that people felt that there were not enough benches in the street. They then bought folding chairs and distributed them to area businesses," said Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, who noted that in the more than 50 shops that have joined the initiative, older adults can also, for example, obtain a glass of water if needed.
De La Rosa thinks it is necessary to increase the number of services for seniors in East Harlem. "The other day, in my house, I fainted. If I had been on the street I would have fallen to the ground because there are no benches," she said.
Pedro Juan Ortiz, a 77-year-old Hispanic living in the neighborhood for 58 years, also believes that there are "missing a lot of things" to turn the area into a district more friendly to others like him. "They should put bathrooms on the street for those with diabetes," he added.
And although the Aging Improvement District was created two years ago, for 2011 it is planned to include other services such as allocating hours for older adults to use the pool at Thomas Jefferson Park and ensure the incorporation of laundry rooms in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings intended for the elderly.
"We are working with the post office to have lockers assigned exclusively for the elderly," said Finkelstein.
According to Finkelstein, they are are currently making efforts to repeat Aging Improvement District Program in the Upper West Side neighborhood in Manhattan and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org
Reporters: to arrange interviews with NYAM medical and urban health experts, contact
Andrew J. Martin, Director of Communications
212-822-7285 / amartin@nyam.org
The 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture - The Affordable Care Act: An Insider’s View
Featured Speaker: Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
November 19, 2012 - The NYAM Section on Health Care Delivery welcomes Sherry Glied, PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will deliver the 2012-2013 Duncan Clark Lecture on "The Affordable Care Act: An Insider's View."
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The New York Academy of Medicine with support from the New York State Heath Foundation released a new report, Federal Health Care Reform in New York State: A Population Health Perspective.
This report identifies opportunities that build on both the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) and New York’s ongoing efforts toward improving the health of its 19 million residents.
Read press release
Read report
