Laura
03-07-2008, 08:58 AM
from SiLive.com http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/for_agency_that_aids_staten_is.html
For agency that aids Staten Island seniors, a crippling budget cut
by Staten Island Advance
Thursday March 06, 2008, 5:52 PM
Three times a week, a helper shows up at Philip Gorsky's Staten Island home to cook, clean and take care of such tasks as changing the batteries in the smoke alarm -- simple things the 69-year-old on a fixed income can no longer do as he undergoes treatment for lung cancer and must remain tethered to an oxygen tank 24 hours a day.
"I never envisioned this at 69," said the Annadale resident and former restaurant owner, who has grown to depend on a case manager to connect him with transportation to and from the doctor, affordable medication and disabled furniture in his home. "Let's put it this way: She did everything I couldn't do. Without her, I would have been sitting here whistling. I wouldn't have had access to all the services that have made my life almost livable."
But the case manager he has grown to trust is among more than a dozen people losing their jobs at the St. George-based Community Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc. (CASC) after the city opted not to renew the not-for-profit's contract to provide services for some 500 Island seniors.
Starting April 1, two other agencies -- the Jewish Community Center and Volunteers of America -- will take over the case management work that CASC has performed for years.
While the agencies have pledged to maintain consistency in care for seniors and plans to hire case workers from CASC and place them with their previous clients, the decision dealt a blow to the Staten Island agency, which, since it opened its doors in 1974, has been a touchstone for borough's older population.
CASC will continue to operate its senior centers, provide transportation and perform a variety of other geriatric services, but it will lose about 20 percent of its budget with the evaporation of the case management contract.
-- Contributed by Deborah Young
For agency that aids Staten Island seniors, a crippling budget cut
by Staten Island Advance
Thursday March 06, 2008, 5:52 PM
Three times a week, a helper shows up at Philip Gorsky's Staten Island home to cook, clean and take care of such tasks as changing the batteries in the smoke alarm -- simple things the 69-year-old on a fixed income can no longer do as he undergoes treatment for lung cancer and must remain tethered to an oxygen tank 24 hours a day.
"I never envisioned this at 69," said the Annadale resident and former restaurant owner, who has grown to depend on a case manager to connect him with transportation to and from the doctor, affordable medication and disabled furniture in his home. "Let's put it this way: She did everything I couldn't do. Without her, I would have been sitting here whistling. I wouldn't have had access to all the services that have made my life almost livable."
But the case manager he has grown to trust is among more than a dozen people losing their jobs at the St. George-based Community Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc. (CASC) after the city opted not to renew the not-for-profit's contract to provide services for some 500 Island seniors.
Starting April 1, two other agencies -- the Jewish Community Center and Volunteers of America -- will take over the case management work that CASC has performed for years.
While the agencies have pledged to maintain consistency in care for seniors and plans to hire case workers from CASC and place them with their previous clients, the decision dealt a blow to the Staten Island agency, which, since it opened its doors in 1974, has been a touchstone for borough's older population.
CASC will continue to operate its senior centers, provide transportation and perform a variety of other geriatric services, but it will lose about 20 percent of its budget with the evaporation of the case management contract.
-- Contributed by Deborah Young