By GREGORY ZELLER //
A leading regional nonprofit is continuing to find innovative ways to assist at-risk Long Island seniors living alone.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is over, its effects linger – especially in the winter, when new strains of the coronavirus disease emerge, accompanied by influenza and other nefarious health risks.
Social distancing remains a top defense. But this presents different hazards for many Long Islanders, particularly seniors cut off from food, medication and other paramount resources.
Enter Safe at Home for Seniors, the United Way of Long Island’s five-year-old health and safety program targeting seniors in the towns of Islip, Babylon, Brookhaven and Huntington.
Working in partnership with its network of agencies, the Deer Park-based 501(c)3 organization dispatches Bilingual Community Navigators to assist seniors isolated from their families or caregivers – helping with grocery shopping, ensuring residences are equipped with the proper safety measures (grab rails and smoke detectors, for instance) and scheduling healthcare appointments, including COVD and flu vaccinations.
Theresa Regnante: Anti-isolation operation.
The program launched in 2020 under dire circumstances, with COVID casualties piling up – especially among senior populations. Today, with many elderly Long Islanders eschewing assisted living and choosing to remain in their homes, and especially with COVID and the flu in the winter air, “the senior population continues to face significant challenges,” according to United Way of Long Island President and CEO Theresa Regnante.
“Safe at Home for Seniors is part of United Way of Long Island’s commitment to supporting our elder neighbors by collaborating with local agencies and townships across Long Island,” Regnante noted. “This program ensures that seniors remain safe and cared for while aging in place, even when isolation presents additional hardships.”
Even with the worst of the pandemic behind us, the resources provided by Safe at Home for Seniors are “essential,” according to Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter, and its services “critical.”
“While the pandemic affected all of our lives, it has had a particularly profound impact on our beloved seniors, many of whom depend on in-person care and services,” Carpenter said in a statement. “The Town of Islip is proud to partner with United Way on the Safe at Home for Seniors program, which … allows (seniors) to remain safe, supported and comfortable in their own homes.”
The program incorporates best-practice assessment tools embraced by top social-service organizations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STEADI checklist (for Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries).
Here to help: United Way of Long Island’s Bilingual Community Navigators help isolated seniors with many essentials, including medical and nutritional needs.
In addition to scheduling vaccinations and making sure cupboards are stocked, the Bilingual Community Navigators provide COVID/flu safety kits (including sanitizers and personal protective equipment), arrange third-party transportation, facilitate communication with family members and expedite in-person assessments for depression, Alzheimer’s disease and other red-flag conditions.
As needed, they can also help coordinate minor home repairs and prepare seniors for venturing out into the public.
By providing these services, UWLI is easing the burden on Long Island’s crowded – and occasionally troubled – assisted-living facilities, while ensuring the safety and dignity of aging-in-place Long Island seniors.
“Together, we are serving one of the most vulnerable segments of our community,” Regnante added.
