PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Christian Gonzales Rivera, Director of Strategic Policy Initiatives at Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, Hunter College
2:50:59
·
3 min
Christian Gonzales Rivera from the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College testified in support of three pieces of legislation related to elder fraud and guardianship. He offered insights to strengthen their impact on older New Yorkers based on research findings.
- For Introduction 1092, he suggested incorporating "warm experts" and creating materials aimed at both older adults and their families to improve financial literacy and scam awareness.
- Regarding Introduction 1101, he emphasized the importance of training NYPD officers in empathy and patience when dealing with older adults, and utilizing community-based organizations for information distribution.
- For Resolution 561, he advocated for including nonprofits in the public guardianship system and keeping it open to supported decision-making models for older adults.
Christian Gonzales Rivera
2:50:59
Good afternoon.
2:51:00
Chair of Hudson, chair of Salam.
2:51:02
My name is Christian Gonzales Rivera, and I'm the director of strategic policy initiatives at the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging.
2:51:08
We're a Research And Policy Center based at Hunter College.
2:51:11
So we support the 3 piece of legislation that you're hearing today, and we would just like to offer some insights from our research that to help strengthen their impact on all the New Yorkers.
2:51:23
So first, regarding introduction 1092, We commend the focus on expanding financial literacy and scam awareness for other adults, of course.
2:51:32
And we also appreciate that the bill calls for distributing resources both online and offline to make sure to reach everyone.
2:51:41
But we actually urge a further step incorporating into this warm experts.
2:51:46
And what we mean by warm experts are people who are already trusted by older adults who are able to give that information to older adults.
2:51:54
And explaining to them in a way that's understandable.
2:51:57
Because it's one thing to be able to pick up a piece of paper and get the information, and some people are able to learn that way.
2:52:02
But there are many others, I mean, to go won't wouldn't be able to pass the information and how it relates to them.
2:52:07
And so it is better to be able to do this through nonprofit organizations or other trusted sources who would be able to explain this information.
2:52:16
This also means that perhaps some of these prints and materials, some of it could be aimed towards older adults themselves but others could be aimed towards their families as well.
2:52:24
Basically saying, how do you explain to your older relative this information?
2:52:29
So warm experts is is one piece that we wanna talk about.
2:52:33
So introduction 1101 addresses that density that have training for NYPD officers.
2:52:39
There was a lot of conversation already about how often scams are changing, how you always have to stay on top of it.
2:52:45
So it was good to hear that from the officers themselves.
2:52:49
We also want to be sure I'm not I'm not sure exactly.
2:52:53
I mean, it's like if this came up during the conversation, but that officers are also trained in not only what to do with these these reports, but also to make sure that they have patience and empathy when speaking to older adults about this.
2:53:07
And moreover, really using I mean, it's like, and this is something that did come up, really using locally based organizations, community based organizations, to distribute some of this information because, as we know, not all older adults are as likely to go to the NYPD with with their issues as as others.
2:53:26
And finally, on resolution 561, we to establish a public guardianship system with centralized oversight.
2:53:37
We we support this enhanced oversight, and also we are we would like to call for the inclusion of nonprofits in this system.
2:53:47
On top of that, I mean, it's like we strongly advocate that the system remain open to engaging supported decision making, which would allow older adults to retain more control over their lives.
2:54:00
You know, New York, currently has a support decision making model under article 82 for people people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
2:54:10
And there is a model for older adults that is under development.
2:54:13
So we are hoping that as the council calls for the state to develop this this centralized system.
2:54:19
The central system with centralized oversight, that it also remain open to once supported decision making for older adults is put into place so that it can be incorporated into the system as appropriate.
2:54:30
Thank you very much.
Crystal Hudson
2:54:31
Thank you so much for those insights.
