A Social Enterprise with a Mission: Taking Care of Communities

COMMUNITY BULLETIN: INFORMATION MATTERS                      JULY 2020

Myrna D. Santos, RN/ Chief Nurse/ The Nursing Office for Communities

Greetings! Welcome toThe Nursing Office.Com Taking Care of Communities. (where Com stands for Communities and Communications) It is my great pleasure to announce that The Nursing Office.Com has developed programs to extend its health and wellness services to the community. 

The Nursing Office has opened its doors to serve communities in greater New York area. This is perhaps the first time that a Nursing Office will be made available to communities serving the minorities, ethnic groups and marginalized population of Richmond Hill and its neighborhood. This Community Bulletin will be printed monthly to serve as your official source of news, programs, services, events and other resources you need to live happy and healthy, while preserving your cultural identity, particularly during this time of COVID pandemic.

The Nursing Office is now OPEN, The Nurse is In “How may we help you?

 www.thenursingoffice.org

CONTENTS

Greetings

Special Feature

Events: Community Calendar

Questions & Answers

HelpLine/ Links/ Resources

Sponsors/ Collaborators/ AD

Editorial Board

A Universal Paradigm: Culture of Health

HEALTHCARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Community Health Centers: A Model for the Future 
of Healthcare Delivery

 

 America’s Health Centers owe their existence to a remarkable turn of events in U.S. history, and to a few determined community health and civil rights activists working in low-income communities during the 1960s. Millions of Americans, living in inner-city neighborhoods and rural areas throughout the country suffered from deep poverty and a desperate need for health care. The first community health centers were established 50 years ago. Today, there are more than 1,200 Community Health Centers serving 23 million people at over 9,000 sites located throughout all 50 states and U.S. territories. This forum will feature family physicians in New York City describing the state of health care delivery in community health centers today. As access to health insurance expands, with the goal of a universal single-payer system providing 100% coverage of the population, are community health centers a model for the future of healthcare delivery? 

 

www.pnhpnymetro.org

Take Care New York (TCNY) 2020 The Health Department is hosting Community Consultations in neighborhoods across New York City about Take Care New York (TCNY) 2020, the City’s blueprint for giving all communities opportunities for better health.  At each Community Consultation, the Health Department will outline local health inequities and community health concerns. Residents will rank those health indicators and participate in a discussion about key neighborhood issues and community resources that can support public health. The Health Department will report back to the residents about the ranking results.TCNY 2020 is unlike previous versions: its goal is to address the unequal conditions that have led to some New Yorkers living shorter  lives and in poorer health than others. This TCNY measures neighborhood conditions, including social factors like high school graduation rates and the availability of quality child care, in addition to traditional health indicators. This is because our health is very much driven by our environment, opportunities and relationships.

 See the full list of scheduled Community Consultations http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/about/tcny-comm-consultation.shtml If you would like more information, please reach out to Vidushi Jain, Community Engagement Coordinator, at vjain@health.nyc.gov.

Disparity in Community and Public Health Delivery

The Nursing Office initiatives against Disparity and Inequity in a highly cultural melting pot of immigrants as New York City, is based on the book “Challenging the Health Care Apartheid: Equality and Equity for People of Color, (A Report on The Community Health Survey 1994-1998. Raquel Z. Ordonez, MPA, Principal Investigator).The study, conducted under the auspices of The Coalition for the Advancement of Filipino Women, was supported by the NYS Department of Health, Office of Minority Health, and the U.S DHHS - Region II Office of Minority Health.

 

This system of delivery will involve a pool of human services network of grassroots organizations and all individuals from all walks of life committed to improving the status of women and their families and communities through:

  1. Family, spiritual, economic and political empowerment
  2. Youth support and leadership development
  3. Citizenship education
  4. Equity, equality in quality healthcare 

 

The Nursing Office (TNO) strives for fair and just treatment of all categories of people by creating opportunities and mechanisms to translate community resources and capacities into purposeful and meaningful actions. TNO shares with the Coalition for the Advancement of Filipino Women (CAFW) and the women and nurses of the world, a commitment to action to realize the common vision of a global community where equality, equity, justice development and peace reign.

 

EDITORIAL

IS HEALTH CARE A CIVIL RIGHT?

(An essay written for admission to the Master of Science in Legal Studies Program at Kaplan University, December 8, 2009)

"Only a social movement around health care issues will bring true reform."

 - Nancy F. McKenzie (1994), Introduction, Beyond Crisis: Confronting Health Care in the United States.

We are in the midst of the most contentious debate of our generation, a controversy that emerges every generation, that challenges the egalitarian foundation of American society, and signifies the continuing evolution of the American quest for equality and equity.

Initiated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this nascent social movement, when confronted by the AIDS pandemic, intensified into the AIDS community activism of the 1990s, which generated the Congress-mandated health care program, the Ryan White Care Act, a landmark legislation in health care -- nowhere else matched by any country in the world.

Local communities organized, multi-sectoral consultations with community and government agencies working agencies together formed channels through which the unheard voices were heard.  Broad coalitions crossing ethnic, color and class lines emerged around health and health care issues at the local, regional, and national levels.

A health care movement was born.

"If this new activism can become a true political movement among the coalitions representing those at multiple jeopardy with our health care system, it would be the 'civil rights' issues well into the year 2000, and will foster the conceptual core that can articulate adequate health care policy in the United States." -- Nancy McKenzie. (1994). xxvii.

Is a new health civil rights movement indeed emerging?  A most potent concept of health that is emerging is the idea that health itself is not confined to individuals, but the realization that formal and informal health care delivery systems, the economic, social and legal infrastructures are just as critical to individual health outcomes as the physical environment and climactic changes are.

Can this health care/civil rights movement indeed plant roots and grow in the American consciousness?  Can it become a commitment to foster and protect as a most fundamental condition, not only for survival, but also for greater quality of life -- enshrined in our Constitution as "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"

In what forms and structure, economic, social, political, legal, even moral,  could this healthcare-as-civil-right take?

In what ways can current and existing socio-economic, politico-legal structures adjust or be reformed, if not revolutionized, to address the health or health care needs of its citizens, protect the environment, and sustain the climactic health of our global home, Planet Earth?

To what extent can the ideal of social justice be achieved, institutionalized, or applied to the current streams of changing perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes on what or how health and health care should be?  Not just a plan, but action.  Not just reform but reality.

Such pursuit of this ideal has spurred a realization that, not only is health care an individual right but also a social civic right befitting civilized society, that glues and melds everyone's co-existence and is most essential to our survival and to our quality of life.  That such a right inherently requires, even demands responsibility and accountability from individuals, communities, and societies --- to sustain, protect, and uphold for generations to come.

On the personal level, I seek answers to these questions, a search permeating my life's path and career, albeit unwittingly at times. I only wanted to read and write deeply, so I started with English and Comparative Literature.  Then came teaching, research, community organizing and advocacy, which led me to women's rights and health care, immigration and related legal issues.  The interface between my experience in these social issues and my most recent professional work in legal immigration is the grounding upon which this program offered by Kaplan University Master of Science in Legal Studies, is deemed as both impetus and instrument in this personal journey.  Where solutions, answers shall be sought, nurtured, and furthered --- ultimately to be part of a legacy and contribution, not only to America, my adopted country, but also hopefully to benefit my native country and elsewhere in this world.

 

To paraphrase the late Robert F. Kennedy, many see things as they are and ask "Why?"  I see things as they ought to be, and ask "Why not?

Lutgarda M. Resurreccion

Celebrating Richmond Hill Communities

RICHMOND HILL CULTURAL PIZZA:                                            

 A Concept Closest to the Heart of Immigrants

 

Richmond Hill is a “rich” enclave in New York City’s central southern Queens County, which is known to be the most richly diverse community in the world. Almost all the countries on Planet Earth are represented in Queens County. Asians comprise 24% of the population, second only to Whites (35%); and are larger than African Americans (18%), Multi-racials (14%) and Other ethnicities (13%).  It is a place like no other --- foods, arts, languages, and cultures from all parts of the world are open and available to anyone curious enough to experience the myriad mosaic of sights and sounds, music & dance, arts & crafts that only multi-cultural diversity can offer.

 

PIZZA! Everyone likes pizza, hot or bland, meat & cheese or vegetarian, with fruits or plain --- every culture puts in its own flavor and condiments to make it taste like “home” or comfort food.   This cultural pizza of different nationalities and cultures of Queens County will be presented at this health fair & walkathon event.  

 

Mission: This Fair and Cultural Pizza will herald the day of putting our marginalized and underserved immigrant communities of Richmond Hill into a more visible position so that their true needs will be assessed and addressed as effectively using all resources available and inherent to their cultures and complement those that the United States can support them with.

 

Objective:  To attract, encourage, and engage people from different nationalities in Queens County to participate in the health fair and walkathon, to become informed of health care, social services, legal services & financial education opportunities in the neighboring areas of Richmond Hill, particularly through  The Nursing Office Community Center's Community building, Cross cultural exchange

Honoring local cultures and their heritage.

 

YOUTH LEADING THE WAY

Our sincerest greetings to you: The Nurse is In.

We are pleased to announce that there will be a Family Fun Day planned for the Richmond Hill Community on May 15, 2016 in Smokey Oval Park, Atlantic Avenue (Corner 125th St and 95th Avenue) from 10 AM to 5 PM. It will be a combined, Heath & Cultural Fair, Walk and Family Picnic. This Cultural Pizza is our unique way of celebrating the rich and diverse culture from all over the world right in our midst. However, it is home to one of the most underserved communities in Queens as well.

As we look at the barriers leading to the inequity to health and other resources, the lack of knowledge related to language and other cultural factors impacts and prevents the new immigrants from navigating the maze of systems to these resources.

As health is a human right, it is our duty to ensure that health becomes available to all. We need to provide a culturally sensitive solution and this is where our youth become our best resource. We are looking at our students to become leaders in helping our immigrant communities to become the perfect liaison between their families and the resources available to them. This will not only promote closer family ties but empower students to become good leaders in the community.

This intercultural and intergenerational approach is our first step to a healthcare delivery that is effective and affordable solution for our most diverse, underserved community of Richmond Hill.

Let us be partners to this civic resolution. We invite Richmond Hill and its students to this event in any capacity as Volunteers and Leaders in this wholesome event while having fun with their families and friends. 

Myrna D. Santos, RN

Chief Nurse

Richmond Hill Love Letter is a storytelling, art, and oral history program that is strengthening local community by highlighting all there is to love about Richmond Hill, Queens! This series presents free workshops and community events from April-October 2016, leading up to a big culminating celebration in November 2016.

 

Produced by the Five Boro Story Project, Richmond Hill Love Letter aims to increase neighborhood pride and transform strangers into neighbors. In addition to storytelling, art-making, and writing workshops, Richmond Hill Love Letter will include facilitated discussions that explore neighborhood history and assets, examining positive and negative attributes of the greater Richmond Hill area, and envision the changes we hope to see. Sharing local stories provides a connection to the past and a platform for planning the future, helping neighbors move forward with a shared understanding of our neighborhood.

 

Richmond Hill Love Letter has two components:

1. From April to October 2016: Community activities, including story circles, community discussions, and art-making and writing workshops in local libraries, community centers, and parks, will deeply engage participants with our neighborhood and neighbors. At select workshops, participants are invited to bring in Queens memorabilia and photographs for inclusion in the Queens Memory archives at Queens Library’s collections.

2. In November 2016: A culminating event will showcase performances by community members of true life stories, poems and other art inspired by Richmond Hill. It will be an ode to the neighborhood like we’ve never seen!

 

Richmond Hill Love Letter is made possible with the support of the New York Council for the Humanities and Citizens Committee for New York City.

Reaching Out to Communities:Health Fairs

Health Fair, Smokey Park, Richmond Hill, NY, (Summer 9/20/15)

Reaching out to Schools

Our Communities' Cultural Mosaic

Special Services

 Aging Immigrants

Administration on Aging (AoA)

The Administration on Aging (AOA) is the principal agency of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services designated to carry out the provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (OAA), as amended (42 U.S.C.A. § 3001 et seq.). The OAA promotes the well-being of older individuals by providing services and programs designed to help them live independently in their homes and communities. The Act also empowers the federal government to distribute funds to the states for supportive services for individuals over the age of 60.

 

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml

http://www.aoa.gov/

 Homelessness

Offering a comprehensive portfolio of services and programs, New York City addresses the issue of homelessness head-on, always meeting its legal and moral obligations to assist those in need. All New Yorkers should be proud to live in a City that prevents homelessness to the fullest extent possible, and one that remains focused on helping families and individuals transition back to homes of their own.

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dhs/index.page

Elder Abuse

Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services

The Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services manages the operation, administration, and assessment of the elder abuse prevention, legal assistance development, and pension counseling programs funded through the Older Americans Act and leads the development and implementation of comprehensive Adult Protective Services systems in order to provide a coordinated and seamless response for helping adult victims of abuse and to prevent abuse before it happens. Also implements and coordinates innovation and demonstration activities, and develops standards to improve delivery and effectiveness of such services, and provides support for the Elder Justice Coordinating Council.

 http://www.nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml

 

Immigrant Families

Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

Building on its Charter mandate, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs promotes the well-being of immigrant communities by recommending policies and programs that facilitate successful integration of immigrant New Yorkers into the civic, economic, and cultural life of the City.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/imm/html/about/about.shtml

 

Women & Children

Help and Assistance:

For more information 1-877-4DAD411 [1-877-432-3411]. The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse is a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance.

Community Resources

Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce

Forest Hills Asian Association

Roadway New York

NYDIS

APICHA

Department of Health

ACF/ Barbara Andrews

PPSEAWA

United Nations

Neighborhood Technical Assistance 

Activities & Programs

Events (Community Calendar)

Our Initiatives: Healthy Living

Political Action

Social Responsibility

"Ask not what America can do for you, but what you can do for America." ~John F. Kennedy

Our Collaborators