BY MARY JANE MUSANO LEGION POST 19 VISTS KINGSBRIDGE VA HOSPITAL
The Bronx County American Legion was on hand at the Kingsbridge VA Hospital on
Monday, February 25 to inform veterans of their benefi ts.
(Above) John Fraser Bryan American Legion Post 19’s Ed Deglomini kept veterans
informed. Photo courtesy of John Fraser Bryan American Legion Post 19
‘Just being there’ can mean powerful healing
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BTR ARCH 15-21, 2019 103
March is national Social Work
Month, a time to learn about and acknowledge
the meaningful impact
that social workers have on so many
lives. Whether it’s helping individuals,
families or community groups
cope or navigate the obstacles they
encounter in life, from medical or
emotional challenges to access to
health education, care or government
and support resources, or just
being there, ready to listen, social
workers—especially in the home
care fi eld—are true heroes of our
healthcare professions.
At the Visiting Nurse Service of
New York (VNSNY), hundreds of social
workers travel hundreds of miles
and make hundreds of phone calls
every single week as they advocate
and care for patients throughout New
York’s fi ve boroughs and Westchester,
Nassau and Suffolk counties. Rarely
in the limelight, they may see their
patients only a few times, but despite
this short duration, the work they do
can and often does have an enormous
impact.
It Starts with Listening: Shana
Maltzman, who works with hospice
patients in Staten Island, says being a
social worker is “in her blood.” Her 25-
year career in the fi eld has given her
a chance to work with children, adults
and those at the end of life. For nearly
a decade now she’s been part of a closeknit
group of nurses, doctors, spiritual
counselors, home health aides and
other social workers caring for hospice
patients and their families. “It is
not always easy to let go of strong feelings
or attachments that have shaped
and given meaning to our lives,” says
Shana. “As hospice social workers we
always start by listening. Is someone
afraid? Do they need to communicate
unexpressed feelings? Are they angry
or resistant to help? Are they concerned
for the welfare of those they are
leaving behind?” When one of Shana’s
patients wanted to see his home and
family in Puerto Rico one last time,
she coordinated services between his
health teams in the U.S. and Puerto
Rico to make sure that his oxygen and
medications were seamlessly transferred
so he could make the trip. “Returning
to his family was something
he wanted more than anything but
was afraid to believe was possible. I
knew we had to try—and because we
did, he fi nally made it home.”
Gives a Voice to the Voiceless:
Christine Garcia, a social worker with
VNSNY’s Home-Based Crisis Intervention
(HBCI) Program in Brooklyn,
uses the same empathy that her colleague
Shana brings to end-of-life care
by advocating for the youngest and
most vulnerable among us: children in
crisis. Funded by the NYC Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene, HBCI
is available at no charge for children
between 5 and 18 with acute mental
health issues. Christine and her colleagues
provide short-term, intensive
treatment for children who demonstrate
suicidal behaviors and ideation
or severe depression. She works with
her families to defuse the crisis and
keep children at home when that can
be safely done. “Speaking for people
who have no voice or have problems
like mental illness that are so misunderstood”
is incredibly fulfi lling for
Christine. As a social worker she navigates
the complex mental health system
and protocols of the Department
of Education, which reaffi rms daily
her mission to ensure that “kids with
mental health issues don’t fall through
the cracks.”
Finds Solutions for Everyday
Needs: “I like to say YES to people,”
says Lizzie Cogan, one of VNSNY’s
medical social workers working in
Brooklyn, where she assists patients
with major illnesses, usually upon release
from the hospital, and helps them
safely transition back to life at home
and in the community. “One phone
call can literally change a person’s
life,” she adds. In a day’s work, Lizzie
might fi nd herself connecting patients
with a senior center, making referrals
to support organizations such as CancerCare
or helping them understand
and make full use of their Medicaid
benefi ts. One patient, for example, was
spending a fortune on Uber, unaware
of the transportation coverage available
to him under Medicaid. A couple
of calls resulted in hundreds of dollars
saved.
Compassion and commitment to
the most vulnerable among us makes
these three social workers—and their
colleagues at VNSNY and elsewhere—
truly remarkable. “In a fairly limited
amount of time, you can have a great
impact on a patient,” Lizzie notes. “In
a one-hour visit you can identify and
meet a lot of needs. What drives me is
a curiosity to understand people’s circumstances,
hear their story, and then
work out how to improve their situation.
I’m grateful that I have the potential
to walk in the patient’s door, and
later to leave with the feeling that I’ve
had an impact on that person’s wellbeing.”
To learn more about the wide array
of home care services available through
the Visiting Nurse Service of New York,
please call 1-800-675-0391, or visit www.
vnsny.org.
Our Councilman,
Mark Gjonaj, will cast
his vote on the Blondell
Commons rezoning on
March 19. If you have
not contacted his offi
ce to request that he
votes no, please do so today. The city
is pushing zone changes that will
make our community more overdeveloped
than it already is.
We must fi ght back. Councilman
Gjonaj must support our community
and two community boards that are
opposed to this zoning change.
Call his offi ce at (718) 931-1721 or
e-mail him at MGjonaj@council.nyc.
gov.
March Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday,
March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the First
Lutheran Church on Hollywood and
Baisley avenues. It will be a meeting
chock full of information, so please
be sure to attend.
Our guest speakers will be John
Cerini, our Bronx Tax Man, Joanne
Mancini from Ridgewood Savings
Bank, Chrys Napolitano from our
local CSA and Sandi Lusk from
Westchester Square. We will start at
7:30 p.m. sharp!
Weiler/Einstein Campus
The community board and our
civic association are both working
hard to improve conditions at Weiler
Campus. Councilman Ritchie Torres
is also joining this effort.
It is a long and
frustrating fi ght but
we must not give up
until the dangerous
and unacceptable
conditions there improve.
We cannot be successful
without the involvement
of our community. Right now, the
most important thing we can all do
is take the time to let Councilman
Torres’s offi ce know when treatment
at Einstein/Weiler Hospital is unacceptable.
You can call the hotline at
(646) 481-8892 or you can e-mail him
at investigations@council.nyc.gov.
Please let your friends and neighbors
know that we need to know about every
incident of poor treatment at any
Montefi ore Campus. It is the only
way to prove that the care we are receiving
at our local hospital is unacceptable
and dangerous.
Membership Dues
If you have not done so already,
please send us your dues for 2019.
You can send a check for ten dollars
to 1145 Hobart Avenue, Bronx, NY
10461. We ask that you include your
phone number so that we can remind
you of our monthly meetings and
other important events.
St. Theresa Reunion
The class of 1969 is having a 50th
Anniversary graduation reunion on
Friday, September 21. If you would
like to attend, please contact Janet
Tudda at (917) 353-8001 or AJ311@aol.
com.
Something we all need to remember
“The time is always right to do
what is right.” Martin Luther King,
Jr.
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