NYC Gazette

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, Department for the Aging: Older adults love Mayor Adams. I want everyone to know that he's been visiting older adults across the city and every older adult club, and it has been a blast for them and I believe for him too. Good afternoon, my name is Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez. I'm the commissioner for the New York City Department for the Aging, and I'm pleased to have individuals here who've made this day possible. None other than our mayor, Eric Adams, our first deputy commissioner and our deputy commissioner, Mark Stewart, who also was instrumental in making this happen. As well as two of the providers in New York. But first, I want to get to the importance of this. Who really made this possible?

On this same day last year, Mayor Eric Adams, Deputy Commissioner Stewart, we sat in the front of City Hall and held a major event, again, announcing World Elder Abuse Day. And on that day, Mayor Adams, we were able to announce that our older adult elder abuse services were increased, doubled what we had before. That is because of Mayor Adams. He continues to be a strong advocate, as you all know, for public safety, but more importantly, for older adult public safety and we're really proud of that. Yes.

That wasn't enough for this mayor. Few months later, when he saw all of the action going on, he created the first in the nation, the Cabinet for Older Adults where he pulled together 20 agencies and said, "I'm looking to you to make sure that New York City is the most age inclusive city in the world, definitely starting with New York. I am looking to you to make sure that we have no barriers, there is no wrong door, because we are going to get stuff done for older adults in New York." That was Mayor Adams. And as a result of that Cabinet, New York City Aging and the NYPD forged a strong relationship, which is what brings us today. And with that, I'm going to introduce you, one of our greatest champions for older New Yorkers, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: We have an amazing commissioner, amazing team. And I remember my days as a state senator, I was one of the committee members for the aging committee, and I used to get all my ideas from one of the top leaders who was my mother. She would give me all of my ideas on what we needed to do, how we did the adult centers, how do we treat older adults. She would just write stuff down and I'll take it up to Albany and push it forward. But I was extremely encouraged when the commissioner sat down and talked about putting together just a committee of people to hear directly from our older adults. And what I learned, and I'm sure Deputy Commissioner Stewart, a former detective in not only the Police Department, but also in the district attorney's office, he would tell us how often older adults were abused, older adults had to go through neglect, older adults were the victims of financial crises.

We had a partnership in Brooklyn Borough Hall where we communicated with the banks to look at indicators when older adults was going through some type of financial fraud. We are clear in this administration with the leadership of our commissioner that it is about how do you allow people to enjoy the city and country that they built? It is wrong to spend your life in many professions of different capacity and then when it's time for you to enjoy it, you have to deal with a level of uncertainty. And that is not what we are going to do in this administration and we're going to be forward thinking in the process. Having a representative in each precinct that is going to specifically deal with the issues of older adults around neglect, abuse, or financial crises, is crucial.

This brings it on the ground level. There's a level of confidentiality that will be there so you won't have to deal with repercussions or reprisals, but you're going to have some of the best men and women who are going to investigate those things that are impacting you. And if we all acknowledge it, no matter who we are, we all are getting older. I got my AARP card many years ago, and I want to make sure the systems I build now would be there to protect me as I continue to move up in years. So we cannot thank you enough. I thank the entire team that have joined us. Councilman Marte has talked about this over and over again. And the beauty of this community, it lies in its diversity of this community. This community is extremely diverse and your cross-pollination of ideas, of commitment, of dedication, it's what's going to produce the product that we know we can produce in the city of New York.

And the numbers are startling when you look at the fact that 1 out of 10 New Yorkers over the age of 60 go through a level of abuse, neglect, or financial irregularities. And using this day as the World Abuse Awareness Day of older adults, it's a way for us to pause for a moment, gear up for the future. We spend this day to reflect what are the goals we want to accomplish in the future. So commissioner, your Cabinet for Older Adults fulfilled their obligation, lived through it. I was so pleased when you said you was going to stay with the administration and you continue to do some great things for the administration. So thank all of you for coming in today as we acknowledge the importance of this initiative. Thank you so much.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Since we started this program, we have had about 300 referrals a day with the partnership with NYPD. And more importantly, as Mayor Adams said, these liaisons, one in each precinct, will be able to be, not only your voice, but also will be our teachers. One of the things that we are doing with the 12 organizations that we currently fund under this administration to address older adult abuse in the community, is that they will be training us on what are the latest crimes so that we can then adapt our services and prepare ourselves to be able to address that. And so with that, again, I want to thank you first deputy commissioner, and I also want to thank you, Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart. It wouldn't have been possible without you. I am going to now introduce Mark Stewart to give us a few words on this initiative. Deputy Mayor.

Deputy Commissioner Mark Stewart, Community Affairs, Police Department: All right. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for being here. It should go without saying that respecting older adults is a matter of basic human dignity. It goes to the core of being a New Yorker. And yet every year, many in our communities from the age of 60 and older, experience abuse and neglect. But on this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the women and men of the NYPD are joining with our partners in government and the many community based organizations who provide programs and services for older adults to raise awareness about the important issue and to help stop elder abuse in our city. We want every New Yorker to know that if they need help, if their parents, their neighbors, or anyone in their community is struggling, the NYPD and New York City is there for them and has devoted resources and programs to assist. Every NYPD precinct across the five boroughs and every police service area covering NYCHA developments has a liaison designated to help and connect older victims with the many services that are available.

Every complaint report involving older adults is carefully reviewed, after which we reach out and we offer assistance. All liaison officers are also spending time in the community providing safety tips and keeping the public informed about our ongoing efforts to look after our older adults. So in partnership with the Elder Justice Network, which has been receiving hundreds of referrals from our offices, we are also connecting people to the essential and life-changing support that they need. As the population of older adult continues to grow, it is more than ever very important that we reaffirm our commitment to their care so they may age with a dignity, security and appreciation that every New Yorker deserves.

In addition to these efforts, I encourage our greatest force multipliers, our 8.8 million New Yorkers to join us in this critical work to be mindful of our neighbors or anyone who might be subjected to elder abuse, neglect, or even exploitation. The NYPD has been and remains focused on this work. It is a vital part of our public safety mission. We will never allow those who are subject to abuse to suffer in silence, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to eliminate these types of crimes altogether. Thank you very much.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Gracias, First Deputy Commissioner. Buenas tardes. Forgot to say that earlier. And Ni hao also. I forgot to say earlier. Thank you. Now I want to introduce the people who make this possible on the ground. New York City Aging does an incredible work, and there is nothing that I can do without an amazing team at New York City Aging. And part of that team are our community partners, our nonprofits who do this every day, who are in the community, who know the older population, who forge relationships and make every day possible that older adults can live with dignity and pride and live in the communities that they help build. And with that, I bring you Katherine Martinez, who is the executive director of Neighborhood SHOPP from the boogie down Bronx.

Katherine Martinez, President and CEO, Neighborhood SHOPP: Thank you. Thank you commissioner. And thank you Mayor Adams for allowing me to be here. Hola, como están todos? My name is Katherine Martinez. I'm the president and CEO of Neighborhood SHOPP in the Bronx, and we have been supporting older adults in this initiative in terms of producing and informing and educating communities in regards to ending elder abuse. So on this World Elder Abuse Day, I want to challenge each and every one of you. I mean, they've said it, they've talked about it, they talked about how important it is to ensure that we have this conversation. I think the biggest thing is to ensure that the information is spread and to know that each and every one of you are just as committed as we are. So educating yourselves on the topic of elder abuse and understanding what programs are out there because it takes a village, right? And we are that village. We are a community. Whether it's your neighbor, whether it's your friend, if you see something, say something, right? It's so important. I'm going to say this in Spanish. I'm going to try at least. [Speaks in Spanish.]

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Gracias, Katherine. Katherine is also part of the city's Department for the Aging, New York City Aging's Advisory Council. She is a very vocal and active member. I love it and then some days I'm not so sure I do. The other person that I'm going to bring up is another person that is no surprise to any of you because she's hosting us today. She's the president of the New York City Advisory Council for Older Adults and she is also the President of Hamilton-Madison House, which has intergenerational programs, has served this community, she was telling me since 1953. And she was just telling us that in this square block, there are over one thousand older adults and that's why this is considered a naturally occurring retirement community. And with that, I bring you another wonderful, phenomenal woman, Isabel. Thank you.

Isabel Ching, Executive Director, Hamilton-Madison House: Wow, thank you. I guess I'm going to say, my board of directors is here, so thank you. That's my performance evaluation. So welcome. Thank you so much. Welcome to Hamilton-Madison House at the Alfred E. Smith House and to Jim's Gym. One of our board members helped us redo the whole gym here for our community. So welcome, mayor. I'm very pleased to have you here. We're very excited to have our mayor come. Thank you, Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez, for always supporting our communities, particularly aging communities. I think without their help and support, our communities would not be where we are. Having healthy and livable apartments for our communities is very important.

I have a script, but I'm going to go off script. Sorry, it's just I think you've heard a lot from our guests. And thank you again for our first deputy commissioners and deputy… How do you say that? Okay. Thank you deputy commissioner. Sorry about that, but thank you very much. No, I think it takes a village, but it takes really a lot of commitment from a lot of people, volunteers. I do want to do a shout out for all of our staff here who really work very hard. Can we just give applause and have them raise their hands? All of you volunteers.

But this work is so important because we want to make sure that people are safe in our communities. It is very important because I've been doing this for the last 27 years, and this is just the thing that we need is these partnerships that go through every eight inter-agencies and that everyone's on the same page. I want to say thank you very much. This work is very important and welcome to Hamilton-Madison House. And I'm going to leave it to the other guests to say other things. Thank you very much.

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Thank you. I want to give out… We got one more thing DJ's coming with. Just sit tight. Yep, yep, yep. One of the things that the Department of Aging is doing is that what we learned when there's an emergency situation at your home, that oftentimes when first responders come, they have to find some of the basic items that you have, as in your identification, your medicine, your name, your emergency contact. So we created a card that you hang on your fridge that if an emergency responder comes, it's automatically there and is ready for you to display. And so we want to make sure we give you one now that you could have in your home. So if there's ever a time you need EMS police to come, you don't have to search around for that information. We have any? Okay. And so we want to make sure we… Who's having a baby?

So we want to make sure we give you one now, so that you can see and fill it out and share it with your loved ones and family members. Okay, thank you, DJ. So this fits, it's a magnetic back. It goes right on your fridge and it asks you your full name, your emergency contact number, your primary care doctor, any chronic conditions, allergies, and medication. So this way, the EMS or the police that come, they know to look at your fridge and it would be right there for a media notification. Okay? [Inaudible], thank you so much. You needed something? Yes. Yes ma'am.

Volunteer: My name is Agnes.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Volunteer: And I am a volunteer here at Hamilton…

Mayor Adams: Come to the mic.

Volunteer: I am a volunteer here. My name is Agnes.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Volunteer: And I'm a volunteer here at Hamilton-Madison House. I started here October 3rd, 2022. It is an honor to meet you. Forgive me.

Mayor Adams: That's okay.

Volunteer: But I am a senior myself. I'm 58 years old.

Mayor Adams: Okay.

Volunteer: And I must tell you, it has been an honor for me to be here with this wonderful group of seniors here.

Mayor Adams: Nice.

Volunteer: They have actually, please be quiet please. And they have actually taught me so, so much. They taught me how to really accept my failures, how to accept help, how to give help, and how to accept other cultures. because to be honest with you, I didn't know how it was going to work out with the Asian community. But you know what? I'm here and I must say they have taught me how to really love other people.

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it.

Volunteer: And you know what, thank you, Hamilton-Madison House. I would like to present this stuffed animal. This is actually not for you.

Mayor Adams: Okay, what?

Volunteer: This is is for your mom.

Mayor Adams: Okay, but my mom transitioned.

Volunteer: Oh, I'm sorry.

Mayor Adams: No, but you know what I'm, I'm going to name it Dorothy, after my mom.

Volunteer: Okay. This will be in honor of her.

Mayor Adams: Oh man, that's really nice.

Volunteer: And we really appreciate you being here.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Volunteer: And I'll talk to you about something else later.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you.

Volunteer: Thank you very much. Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm a hugger.

Mayor Adams: Go ahead.

Volunteer: Thank you Mayor Adams.

Commissioner Cortes-Vazquez: Thank you Agnes. Thank you, mayor. Our event has come to an end.

Original source can be found here.