To receive our monthly eNews as well as event notices and other updates, just enter your email address.
Take a moment to learn more about NYAM's activities and events.
The neighborhood that is often mentioned as a sorry first in early death and disease can now proudly claim it's numero uno as the city's best place to grow older.
East Harlem is New York City's first "Aging Improvement District" - part of a global initiative to help urban dwellers age well and more easily in cities.
More than 100 local businesses have signed on so far, providing ways to make their stores, restaurants and businesses friendlier to older customers.
Early successes include providing a simple folding chair so older customers can rest while waiting on line; rearranging items on store and library shelves so seniors don't have to reach or stoop, and putting larger print on signs and menus.
The New York Public Library began offering twice weekly computer classes this summer for older adults; and seniors now have their own summer exercise hours at the Thomas Jefferson Park pool, as part of the initiative.
"East Harlem has always been looked at in a negative light and I wanted to show there is a lot of creativity, vision and ideas that can be generated here," said City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-East Harlem), who helped fund the project with a modest $15,000.
"We can serve as a model for other neighborhoods in the city."
The "Age-Friendly NYC" program began last year with the World Health Organization and 35 cities around the globe. New York's project is run jointly by The New York Academy of Medicine, the mayor's office and City Council.
Dozens of discussions were held with East Harlem seniors, who were not shy about saying what could improve their daily lives: A place to sit and rest when they were out shopping; a laundry room in their city housing apartment buildings; swimming pool hours set aside just for their age group.
"Most quality-of-life issues are quite fixable and don't cost very much money," said New York Academy of Medicine President Dr. Jo Ivy Boufford. "But older New Yorkers have never had an organized voice and access to decision makers. You can't go wrong when you are hearing what they say about what they need."
Such initiatives can't come too soon for graying New Yorkers.
In East Harlem, there are nearly 12,000 people between 60 and 74, and almost 6,000 who are 75 and older, according to census figures.
The city's population of older adults is also expected to increase by 45% between 2010 and 2030, when one in every five New Yorkers will be over the age of 60.
At the Aguilar Library's computer class this week, eager students wearing reading glasses hunched over keyboards and practiced signing onto their new Gmail account.
"It's wonderful," said Anthony Regester, 65, an appliance engineer who learned how to sign up for Social Security benefits online. "When I heard about this class, I said, let me try because I want to keep in touch with people and the world."
Maria Casiano, 59, added, "You can't really ask your children or grandchildren to teach you, because they look at you like you are too slow. This is great."
In addition, merchants have found that catering to older New Yorkers is good for business.
Every month, Kevin Walters, the owner of Creole Restaurant on E. 118th St., hosts "For the Love of Jazz Senior Luncheon," where a live jazz band plays Duke Ellington and music from the 1940s and 1950s.
"Many older people in the neighborhood come in and sit here for hours after lunch, so I decided to offer something they would love," Walters said.
"It's smart business and it also makes you feel good to see people so happy," he said. "These people have money, and if you give them an opportunity to feel comfortable, they will come over and over again."
Getting into the (age-friendly) act
In addition to the efforts in East Harlem, the upper West Side and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn are getting into the age-friendly act.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer's office recently published the Age-Friendly Upper West Side Grocery Guide (www.nyam.org/agefriendlynyc/).
The New York Academy of Medicine is also working with the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (cibsbedstuy.org) to develop an aging improvement district. The next community meetings will take place Sept. 6 at 11 a.m. and Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. (Spanish only) at the Maria Lawton Senior Center, 400 Hart St., Brooklyn. (718) 452-7474. To learn more about Age-Friendly New York City, contact Dorian Block at (212) 822-7200 or at www.nyam.org/agefriendlynyc/.
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."
Learn more »
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
