ur role as the Mayor’s
Office for the Census is
to coordinate new and
existing efforts among civic,
community, labor, faith-based,
and all relevant stakeholders
to get every New Yorker
counted and make certain
that New York City gets its fair
share following the 2020 Census.
Below is information every
local should know ahead
of the survey:
The U.S. Constitution mandates
a population count every
10 years of everyone residing
in the United States,
and the first census was conducted
in 1790. The population
totals from the 2020 census determine
the number of Congressional
representatives,
and states use these totals to
redraw their legislative districts.
The federal government
also allocates more than $700
billion nationwide based on
this decennial data.
We are fighting for our fair
share of the $700-billion allocation.
If we don’t get an accurate
head count, we could lose
funding for our public schools,
senior centers, public housing,
Medicaid, roads and bridges,
and more!
For the first time ever, the
U.S. Census Bureau is accepting
survey responses online
and over the phone. We are
excited that technology is being
incorporated to bring the
Census survey into the 21st
century. This is also the first
Census that will recognize
same-sex relationships.
For the first time in 70
years, a question has been
added by the Trump Administration
asking “Are you a
U.S. citizen?” The New York
COURIER L 32 IFE, MARCH 15–21, 2019 M BR B G
City Law Department, along
with the New York State attorney
general’s office and
other states and cities, filed a
lawsuit challenging the citizenship
question as unlawful.
We were very pleased on Jan.
15 that Judge Jesse Furman
rendered an opinion, striking
down the citizenship question
as violating the Administrative
Procedures Act. The case
is now going to the U.S. Supreme
Court and oral arguments
will be heard in April.
We remain confident that the
facts and law are on our side.
While we lead in many issues,
we are far behind when
it comes to the Census. In
2010, the initial response rate
for New York City was 61.9%,
compared to 76% nationwide.
We know we can do better
than this. We are motivated
by the Washington Heights
neighborhood that reached a
remarkable 78.5%. They made
a conscious effort to organize
their community around the
Census and achieve a high response
rate.
In mid-March 2020, every
household will receive a notice
in the mail to fill out the
Census survey. There are additional
notices after that,
and if a household does not respond
after several attempts,
the Census Bureau will send
door-knockers in May to visit
individual households to collect
the data. Our goal is to encourage
self-response as early
as possible.
Julie Menin is the director
of the Mayor’s Office for the
Census.
ospice is not a word associated
with pleasantness.
Typically, it signals that
the end of life is coming for
us, or a loved one — such as
my dear aunt, who was admitted
into hospice care about 10
days ago.
In fact, I had no experience
with hospice care before my
aunt moved into Brooklyn–
Calvary Hospital’s 25-bed facility
within NYU Langone
Hospital–Brooklyn in Sunset
Park — an institution that
many locals still refer to by
its former name, Lutheran
Hospital.
But in the days since, I
discovered that Calvary Hospital,
which opened in 2001
as New York State’s first hospital
within a hospital, is a
crown jewel among local hospice
care providers. My family
and I felt something special
from the first moment
we wheeled my aunt into its
third-floor space, where we
saw that the facility’s stated
mission of providing “care,
compassion, trust, love, and
non-abandonment” were not
just words on a brochure, but
values embodied in the daily
operations of its staff.
For instance, the nurse
who welcomed my sick aunt
— who hadn’t laughed in a
very long time — did so with
a joke, leading her to crack
a smile for the first time in
months.
Over the past four years,
my aunt has spent plenty of
time in various hospitals and
rehab centers for treatment
to her Peripheral Artery Disease,
an illness caused by
plaque buildup inside an artery,
which blocks blood flow
and reduces circulation. She
already underwent two major
vascular surgeries to get
blood flowing to her legs, but
due to her age and physical
state, doctors say there is no
more that can be done. Her
sickness resulted in gangrene
in both of her feet, just one of
her many conditions caretakers
must monitor daily.
As anyone who has dealt
with chronic or terminal
illness knows, the stress it
causes to patients and their
kin is emotionally draining.
Each time my aunt landed at a
new facility, my family felt obligated
to be there around the
clock to help her eat, ensure
she was being cleaned, and
ask questions about her medications
and prognosis. But after
watching the Calvary staff
attentively administer to her
since she arrived there, we
feel far less compelled to be at
her bedside at all times.
When a Calvary nurse
brought my aunt her first
meal — which must be served
in puree form, due to her state
— my family and I all raced
to grab a spoon to feed her, a
habit we developed during her
stays at previous facilities.
But, to our shock, the nurse
immediately began feeding
my aunt herself — something
all Calvary nurses do if patients
require assistance, she
later told us. The nurse also
informed us that she and her
colleagues are trained to sit
across from patients as they
feed them, so they can be at
eye level, which allows for a
more relaxed eating experience
than if aides stand above
patients, which can cause
them to rush through meals.
Additionally, Calvary
nurses sit with patients just
to keep them company, as
well as make regular checkins,
clean and comb their
hair, and always make sure
they are comfortable in their
beds. There are also volunteers
that roam the facility’s
halls to support patients and
their families.
Perhaps the facility felt so
much like a second home for
my aunt because of its garden
and patio named in honor of
my former neighbor, the late,
great Bay Ridge Republican
Rosemarie O’Keefe, a tireless
community organizer and
political advocate who died
of cancer at Calvary back in
2009. Locals to this day remember
O’Keefe for her work
creating the Alliance of Bay
Ridge Block Associations,
and as commissioner of former
Mayor Giuliani’s Community
Assistance Unit, a
role in which she advocated
for all New Yorkers in the
wake of 9-11 and other tragedies,
including the tragic
TWA Flight 800 and Swissair
Flight 111 crashes.
Watching the Calvary
staff dote on my aunt, my red
blood turned a shade closer
to purple as I wondered why
some must wait until the
end of their lives to receive
this type of care. Shouldn’t
all hospitals, nursing homes,
and rehabilitation centers
— whether public or private
— be required to treat their
patients with such extraordinary
dignity and respect?
Bob Capano is a professor
of political science of more
than 15 years, who has previously
worked for local Democratic
and Republican pols,
and as the chairman of the
Brooklyn Reform Party.
THE RIGHT
VIEW