Brooklyn Senior Resources, Nursing homes,
Assisted Living, Eldercare

Important Numbers

Public Advocate Senior Action Line
Answers to seniors' questions and complaints
(212) 669-7670

Department for the Aging
Referrals to appropriate agencies to help solve a range of problems
(212) 442-1000

Senior Centers
Located throughout the city, senior centers provide are lunches, recreation, counseling and companionship.» For the one nearest you, call the Department for the Aging at (212) 442-1000.

Social Security's toll-free number 1 (800) 772-1213

New York Foundation for Senior Citizens
The ombudsman office will answer questions about health care and long-term care.
(212) 962-7817 Case Management
(212) 962-7559 General Number
(212) 962-2720 Ombudsman Office

Medicare Rights Center Hotline
Volunteers for this national not-for-profit advocacy group counsel callers on Medicare issues.
(800) 333-4114 ext.1 Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VNS Elder Care Services
VNS helps you get healthcare benefits, housing, in-home and community-based services, counseling in money management, and help with resource planning for long and short term needs.»
(212) 463-9819 or (212) 463-9814 or 1 (800) VNS-6550.

Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, and Marriage Licenses
You can get birth and death certificates, necessary when you apply for some benefits by calling the Department of Health's Bureau of Vital Records.
(212) 788-4520» 

For information about marriage licenses and domestic partnership certification, call the Marriage License Bureau
(718) 816-2290 for Staten Island or (212) 669-2400x1 for other boroughs.

Help with Housing

The Department for the Aging publishes booklets for each borough listing housing options for senior citizens, including assisted living, enriched housing, adult homes, public housing, shared housing, Sections 202 and 8 housing and family-type homes for adults. (212) 442-1000

Park Slope Geriatric Day Center's FAMILY CAREGIVER PROJECT provides supportive services to caregivers of the elderly.  Services include individual and group counseling, benefits and entitlements assistance, information and referral, training and education, subsidized home care and supplemental services.  If you are involved in caring for an older person, the Family Caregiver Project may be able to help ease your stress and strain.  For more information visit our website, www.psgdc.org or call us at 718-499-7701..

The Home Energy Assistance Program
HEAP helps pay fuel and utilities bills for people whose monthly income does not exceed $1,006 for one and $1,356 for two. One grant is given a year, usually between $40. and $315. Applications are available in November and it is important to apply early since funds are limited.

(212) 442-1000 

Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption

SCRIE exempts senior citizens from rent increases and allows landlords to deduct the exempted increase from property taxes.» You qualify if

• You live in a rent-regulated apartment or a building subsidized in some other way.

• You are 62 or older

• Your income is $20,000 or less

• Your rent is increasing to more than 1/3 of your household income.

You can get help filling out and following up on your application from most senior centers and elected officials' staffs. Call the Department for the Aging for an application.

(212) 442-1000.

If you live in a Mitchell-Lama building, call the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

(212) 863-8494

Senior Citizens Homeowner Exemption

SCHE provides a tax reduction of up to 50% for property owners who own and live in a one-, two- or three-family home, a co-op or condominium. You must be at least 65, with an income of $27,900 or less. Apply to the Assessment Office in your borough: (718) 802-3560

School Tax Relief
STAR provides a reduction in the school portion of property taxes for people who own and live in one-, two-, or three-family homes, co-ops or condominium with an increased exemption for senior citizens whose incomes are $60,000 or less. If you have SCHE you automatically qualify for STAR and do not have to apply.» 

STAR Exemption Office (212) 361-8215

Help for Homeowners

These groups provide technical and financial management assistance to elderly homeowners. Some provide grants and low-cost home improvement loans.

Neighborhood Housing Services

Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant (718) 919-2100
Flatbush (718) 469-4679
Home ownership (Bklyn) (718) 230-7610

Staying Healthy

Medicare

Medicare covers all senior citizens for basic hospital and medical services beginning at the age of 65. Part A provides hospital insurance, nursing home care, hospice care and some home care.» There are no premiums, but there are deductibles and coinsurance payments.

Part B provides supplementary medical insurance for doctor visits, many lab tests, durable medical equipment, ambulance transportation and other costs. Part B is voluntary, and requires payment of a monthly premium.

If you are 65 and apply for social security, you are automatically enrolled in Medicare.» You must apply for Medicare if you continue to work past age 65.

If you do not enroll in Part B, you will pay higher premiums if you change your mind later on.» Call the Social Security Administration 

1 (800) 772-1213 or 1 (800) MED-ICAR (633-4227)

Medicaid

Medicaid is for people who cannot afford medical care.» To be eligible, your income must be $612. per month or less, for one person; $879 or less for a married couple. Maximum assets are $3,550 for one, and $5,150 for two (excluding a burial fund). Call the Human Resources Administration.

(877) 472-8411 or (718) 557-1399

Medigaps and Buy-ins

Several programs supplement Medicare A and/or B by covering deductibles, co-payments and other costs. Some are for low-income and disabled people: Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMD) and Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries (SLMB).» The programs open to all can be expensive.» Call the Human Resources Administration

(718) 557-1399 or the Department for the Aging at (212) 676-9423.

Mail Order Discounts

The AARP offers its members a èMembers Choiceî pharmacy program with discounts for ordering drugs by mail (and also in participating pharmacies).

(800) 456-2277 or www.aarppharmacy.com

Elder Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage 

EPIC helps pay for drugs for seniors over 65 with incomes below $18,500., for one, or $24,400 for a couple. You are eligible for EPIC if you have any other insurance coverage for drugs.Call the EPIC help line

(800) 332-3742

Getting Around

Public Transportation
Everyone over age 65 may ride all N.Y.C. Transit Authority subways and buses at a reduced fare at all times. You need one of the following kinds of identification:

• Reduced Fare MetroCard

• Medicare Card

• NYC Department for the Aging

• Temporary Reduced Fare Card

• Access-A-Ride identification card

For information about how to get a reduced fare MetroCard, call (718) 243-4999 

Access-A-Ride
Access-A-Ride is for people who unable to use the bus and subway system because of physical disabilities. You can get the extensive application by calling (877) 337-2017
 

Legal Help

Brooklyn
Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Office for the Aging (60 and over)
(718) 645-3111

Help for Abused Elders

Citywide

NYC Department for the Aging (Elderly Crime Victim Resource Center)
(212) 442-3103

NY Foundation for Senior Citizens Guardian Services
(212) 962-7730

Victim Services Agency, Safe Horizon
(212) 577-7777 (24-hours)

Walk the Walk, Shelter for Aging
(718) 433-0800

Alpha Omega Clinic (drug and alcohol abuse)
(718) 433-2509

Brooklyn

Interfaith Medical Center, Mobile Crisis Unit
(718) 935-7284

HRA/Protective Services for Adults
(718) 237-7454

Manhattan

The East Side Elder Abuse Prevention Project
(212) 879-7400

Victim Services Agency (Harlem)
(212) 316-2100

West Side One Stop/One Stop Senior Support Project
(212) 864-7900

HRA/Protective Services for Adults
(212) 971-2858 or (212) 971-2710 or (212) 971-2864

Referral for general abuse or impairment
(212) 630-1853; (212) 630 1868

Queens

Forest Hills Community House
(718) 592-5757

Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults
(718) 657-6500

HRA/Adult Protective Services
(718) 523-1480

Staten Island

Community Agency for Senior Citizens
(718) 981-6226

Staten Island Adult Protective Services
(718) 720-2801

HRA/Adult Protective Services
(718) 720-2800

Volunteering your Time

JPAC-Joint Public Affairs Committee for Older Adults
A social action coalition that offers senior volunteers a leadership training course. The volunteers mobilize friends and neighbors to take action. Volunteers are also needed for office work.
(212) 273-5262

Older Women's League
OWL is a national membership organization advocating for economic, political and social equality for mid-life and older women.
(718) 336-7356 Brooklyn Chapter 

American Association of Retired Persons
The AARP provides services and information for older adults retired or planning retirement, including health insurance, member discounts and financial planning help. AARP also has a magazine and newspaper, social events, a job hub program to help find employment and a speakers' bureau.» Many of the programs are run and staffed by volunteers.
(212) 758-1411

NY Gray Panthers
A coalition of age and youth, which educates and lobbies for social justice and human rights issues
(212) 799-7572

Senior Action in a Gay Environment
A wide range of programs for seniors in the lesbian and gay community, including social events, bereavement groups, creative writing, walking tours and long-term planning. Volunteers may also visit the homebound and do office work.
(212) 741-2247

Other Opportunities

Public Schools need tutors and surrogate grandparents.» Call your school district office for more information.

Most Hospitals have volunteer programs and will welcome you.» Call your local hospital.

Not-for-profits use volunteers. Call your favorite charity or call RSVP (see page 20).

Big Apple Greeters show visitors to New York around all the boroughs. You will be asked to take visitors on walking tours of neighborhoods you know. Volunteers who speak languages other than English are especially in demand.
(212) 669-2896 or www.bigapplegreeter.org

Service Corps of Retired Executives
SCORE, the counseling arm of the Small Business Administration,» sends experienced executives to advise new small business owners.» It also conducts workshops on related topics. Volunteers must have been business executives or entrepreneurs.
(212) 264-4507 or info@scorenyc.org or www.scorenyc.org.

The NYC Substate Long Term Care Ombudsman Program uses senior citizen volunteers to ensure that nursing home residents are properly cared for.
(212) 962-2720

Mayor's Voluntary Action Center is a clearing house for recruiting and referring volunteers.

(212) 788-7550 or» www.nyc.gov/volunteer

Retired and Senior Volunteer Corps (RSVP) provides referrals to agencies seeking senior citizen volunteers.

• Bronx (718) 295-7940

• Brooklyn (718) 624-2853

• Manhattan (212) 614-5555

• Queens »(718) 263-3638 or (212) 614-5555

• Staten Island (718) 494-3222

Going to School

High School Programs

The Board of Education has a continuing education program throughout the city for adults of all ages. Courses include computer skills, English as a second language, literacy and GED. 

• Citywide (718) 609-2770 

• Bronx (718) 292-4104

• Brooklyn (718) 638-2635

• Manhattan (212) 666-1919

• Queens (718) 361 9480

• Staten Island (718) 761-0344

CUNY

Senior colleges (four-year): When space is available, people over 60 can audit courses tuition-free at any of the four-year senior colleges. Students do not takes tests or receive academic credit.» Community colleges (two-year): Tuition-free when space is available, but students may participate fully in classes, doing homework, taking tests, and receiving grades and academic credit.

There is an administrative fee for both the senior and community college programs. Call the admissions office at a college convenient for you.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn College (Admissions) 
(718) 951-5001 or www.brooklyn.cuny.edu

Kingsborough Community College My Turn Program
(718) 368-5079 or www.kbcc.cuny.edu

Medgar Evers College 
(718) 270-4900 or www.mec.cuny.edu

New York City Technical College
(718) 260-5000 or www.nyctc.cuny.edu

Manhattan

Bernard M. Baruch College
(212) 802-2000 or www.baruch.cuny.edu

Borough of Manhattan Community College
(212) 220-8000 or www.bmcc.cuny.edu

City College Quest Program
(212) 925-6625 X229 or www.ccny.cuny.edu

Hunter College
(212) 772-4000 or www.hunter.cuny.edu

John Jay College of Criminal Justice
(212) 237-8000 or www.jjay.cuny.edu

Other Colleges and Programs

Manhattan

Columbia University Life long Learners
(212) 854-9699 or www.ce.columbia.edu

Fordham University College at 60
(212) 636-6372 or www.fordham.edu (Fordham s Adult Degree Program)

New York University School of Continuing Education
(212) 998-7080 or www.scps.nyu.edu

School of Continuing Education Plus
(212) 790-1352

Pace University Adult Resource Center
(212) 346-1288 or www.pace.edu

Getting a Job

Department for the Aging
Programs for men and women, 55 years and older, who want to return to the workforce full or part time.

• Food Emporium Training Center 


Prepares trainees for customer service sector jobs and claims 100% job placement at the end of the ten-week program.

• Reise Restaurants Training Center


Consumer service sector jobs in food service, banking, finance, tourism and retail.

• Ageworks Computer Training Center 


Teaches Windows, data entry, word processing and basic use of the Internet.

• Senior Community Service Employment Program 


Provides on-the-job training in community service organizations. Participants receive per hour wages and benefits. 

(212) 442-1353 for all programs.

Senior Training and Employment Program
STEP is a 20-week full-time program that teaches office skills, typing, word processing, spreadsheets, business English, math, resume writing, interviewing and job search. The program is offered at two locations, both in Manhattan.
(212) 369-5523

New York State Department of Labor

The Older Worker Specialist can refer you to a wide variety of programs.
(212) 265-2700

Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island

Southern Brooklyn has one of America's highest concentrations of senior citizens. Many live on fixed, low incomes and suffer from some degree of functional impairment. To alleviate their special problems, the Council offers a program of integrated, community-based services which enable the aged to prolong independence and dignity. This program has, since 1981, brought coordinated health and social services to the ever growing numbers of "near-poor" - chronically ill, homebound senior citizens whose incomes marginally exceed Medicaid eligibility, leaving them too poor to purchase their own services for help with daily living. In addition, seniors who receive Medicaid benefits are eligible for supplementary assistance not provided under current Medicaid regulations.

The Council's programs help defer the need for costly institutionalization by enabling the frail elderly to remain in their own homes. This stabilizes neighborhoods while saving the taxpayer enormous sums in avoided nursing home costs.

Housekeeping: Provides assistance with essential activities of daily living including light house-keeping, laundry and meal preparation in order to maintain a clean, safe living environment.

Transportation: Provides transportation to medical, shopping, banking, social/recreational and related sites to elderly residents of an area encompassing Coney Island, Brighton Beach, BensonHurst, Borough Park, Kensington, Bay Ridge, Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay.

Specialized services under this program include:
Crime Victimized Elderly Transportation: Helps elderly residents of high-crime areas with their essential shopping.

Sight/hearing Impaired Transportation: Helps mainstream the disabled elderly who are entirely isolated and cut off from the community. The program enables them to reach social, educational and creative activities, and access counseling and entitlement assistance programs.

Specialized Medical Transportation: Elderly patients requiring medical specialists in other boroughs are provided round-trip transportation for treatment.

Senior Center Programs: Provides congregate meals (breakfast and lunch), case assistance, benefits counseling and a broad array of educational, health-promotion and recreational services (such as exercise, arts and crafts, music, trips and inter-generational activities) at three southern Brooklyn senior centers. These centers serve close to 1,000 meals daily to a multy-ethnic population, and are for many their only source of hot, nutritious meals. In addition, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses have been provided to enhance communication between the substantial refugee and minority population in our centers.

Friendly Visiting: Provides socialization whole creating an opportunity to monitor the health, safety and general welfare of the homebound elderly.

Telephone Reassurance: Routine phone contact to reduce isolation and provide comfort to homebound older adults.

Shopping: Assistance to the elderly who are shopping-handicapped owing to physical disabilities and/or fear of crime.

Escort: Personal accompaniment and assistance to enable independent functioning/living by older persons who cannot travel alone due to mobility or mental/emotional problems.

Case Assistance: Short-term information/referral assistance or intervention for elderly persons unable to access services and benefits to which they are entitled.

Educational Lectures: Providing vital information to the elderly through classes, forums and seminars on proper health practices, access to health services, mental health issues, crime prevention, financial management, legal and consumer affairs, eligibility and access to senior services and entitlements.
Intergenerational Programs: This program fosters interracial and intergenerational communication by recruiting local students for telephone reassurance, home visiting, shopping, escort, educational and arts programs for our homebound elderly.

Ida Israel Memorial Fund: A special fund in memory of the indefatigable community leader Ida G. Israel provides emergency assistance to the frail, low income elderly of our communities. Mrs. Israel, who perished in a fire in 1985, single-handedly brought relief to many of Coney Island's aged.