TESTIMONY
Maryna Lysenko, Director at Hamilton-Madison House, on Addressing the Needs of Immigrant Older Adults in NYC
2:32:01
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4 min
Maryna Lysenko discusses the growing needs of immigrant older adults in New York City and the crucial support services required.
- Testifies about the rapid growth of the immigrant senior population and the significant service deficit in NYC.
- Highlights barriers such as linguistic isolation, rising housing costs, and access to healthcare, which impact seniors' independence and health.
- Emphasizes the Hamilton-Madison House's efforts in serving over 5000 older adults yearly through food programs, social services, and healthcare access.
- Stresses the importance of increasing financial support for senior services to keep pace with demand and to ensure older adult immigrants do not lose support due to budget cuts.
- Advocates for integrating older adult immigrants into NYC's social fabric, enabling them to live healthy, fear-free, and productive lives.
Maryna Lysenko
2:32:01
Good morning, chairperson, Crystal Hudson, and members of the New York City Council Committee on Aging.
2:32:07
Thank you for this opportunity to deliver yesterday on the needs of immigrant older adults in New York speaking.
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My name is Marina Vasanka, director of Nick Bucker Village Knox Senior Services for Hamilton Medicine House, a settlement house that has served the residence of Manhattan, Lower East Side And Chinatown since 1898.
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The programs we provide address the needs of Asian American non English speaking bomber able and their serve other adults and their families.
2:32:36
The majority of whom are immigrants.
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The immigrant seniors pop the immigrant senior population is growing rapidly in New York, and we observed a deficit in New York in senior services.
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If is important to support the growth of social service organizations to guarantee linguistically and culturally proficient senior services to meet the needs of a progressively diverse immigrant and senior population in New York City.
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I am an and myself.
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And I have served vulnerable and served immigrant seniors and their families as well as people who were born and aged in United States for 2020 for 22 years.
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As frontline employee, everyday, I see, the needs of people whole disturbed do not decrease.
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Every day life unfolds new challenges for them, and they struggle to address them on their own.
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So I would like to mention some barriers to independent living.
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When linguistic isolation creates knowledge gap and difficulties to navigate in the system in order to apply for support to benefits or make adjustments to the existing benefit package.
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This increases hospitalizations in nursing home stays.
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The The constantly growing demand for senior services makes it challenging to support seniors with the existing senior service and resources.
2:34:10
We do not have an outgoing government power to deliver the services.
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Raisin House in cost impact access to healthy food and healthy care.
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Senior has prioritized shelter expenses over food and health year.
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Barriers to long term managed care at home care and home care services across different populations deprive seniors from being independent and living with dignity and age and age in place.
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Hamilton Medicine houses programs serve more than 5000 an older adult per year and meet a wide range of their needs through congregate new programs, social services after school programs, early childhood education and mental health services.
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We address growing food insecurity.
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We see in our older adult by offering well balanced, affordable nutritious food every day at our programs as well as by hand delivering grocery bags from our biweekly, community food pantry.
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We provide culturally and all agnostic professional, proficient social services that ensure that older adult immigrants have access to support human resources and health care.
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Because the immigrant population is growing.
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Financial support for seniors for senior services should grow as well.
2:35:36
Older adult immigrants live in fear that they might lose support because of multiple budget cuts to senior services.
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I hope that my testimony will help to better understand the challenges that both older adult immigrants and NATO born seniors natural born citizens continue to face.
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We want them to be an integral part of New York City, live healthy and productive utilize without fear and share their wisdom with the new generation.
2:36:06
Thank you for the opportunity to testify morning, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the council to protect services that are vital to well-being of so many New Yorkers who are older adults.
2:36:22
Thank you.