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Q&A
Interagency partnerships and future of the Community Care Plan
0:51:35
·
3 min
Council Member Hudson inquires about interagency partnerships with parks and libraries, and the future of the Community Care Plan. Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez explains:
- Partnerships with Parks Department to address mental health issues among older adults using recreation facilities
- Collaboration with libraries to identify gaps in services for older adults and develop joint solutions
- The future of the plan involves continuing the comprehensive approach aligned with creating an age-inclusive city
Additional details:
- The department is implementing a systemic program to provide geriatric mental health workers to parks facilities
- The plan will continue to evolve, focusing on alternatives for different age groups (60-64, 65-80, 85+)
- There's a need for a shift in how state-level Medicaid and long-term care services approach the 85+ population
Crystal Hudson
0:51:35
Can you explain a little bit more about the interagency partnerships with parks and libraries?
0:51:40
What does that
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
0:51:41
work?
0:51:41
Sure.
0:51:42
So That is the beauty.
0:51:47
I wish the state would do this, and I'm so happy that Senator Jillibrand has now said for every state to have a state master plan.
0:51:58
New York State State Master Plan needs, I'm not sure where it's going yet.
0:52:02
But we have a model in New York, like the aging cabinet, that has really served us well.
0:52:09
So one of the things that came out, Andrew, for your information, is we looked at parks department started thinking of don't you know, I always get everybody's name wrong.
0:52:24
Parks department was looking at the older adults that they serve in their recreation facilities.
0:52:31
Right?
0:52:32
And one of the things that they found was like, a lot of these people are having mental health issues, low level mental health issues, and higher mental health issues.
0:52:42
And so one of the things that we've done is say, alright, let's not look at this as a bifurcated program.
0:52:48
Let's see how we could integrate.
0:52:49
So we first started by sending them a worker, a community mental health worker, geriatric mental health worker once in a while.
0:52:59
Well, now we've done it as a systemic program, and now we're linking them as if they were an older adult club the way we have hub and spokes.
0:53:06
That's what.
0:53:07
And the same thing with the libraries.
0:53:09
Just looking at the partnership with the libraries.
0:53:11
We met with with Dennis to start thinking about, okay.
0:53:16
You do a lot with older adults.
0:53:18
What is it that you need?
0:53:19
Where are the gaps?
0:53:19
And how do we work this together?
Crystal Hudson
0:53:21
Great.
0:53:22
Thank you for that.
0:53:24
You mentioned the state master plan.
0:53:26
Well, this plan is a 5 year road map, and we're more than halfway through its time frame.
0:53:31
What's the future of the plan?
0:53:33
And given great and growing needs of the city's older adult population, does NYC aging plan on introducing a longer term plan to the community care plan?
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
0:53:43
So the answer is yes and yes.
0:53:46
Alright?
0:53:46
Yes.
0:53:48
As I said and so the first
Crystal Hudson
0:53:50
the first question was, what's the future of the plan?
0:53:52
Which is
Chris Banks
0:53:52
the future
Tara Klein
0:53:52
of the plan?
Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez
0:53:52
The future of the plan is to continue this.
0:53:54
You can't you can't go back from looking at things comprehensively to go back to look at things in silo.
0:54:01
It just makes no sense, particularly when the population is growing.
0:54:05
So the future of the plan is to obviously continue this approach, particularly because it's aligned with an age inclusive city.
0:54:12
So that's that's the trajectory.
0:54:17
Now, what I would say is staging out what needs to be done, what are some alternatives for the 60 to 64.
0:54:27
Pop up cafes are those the alternative.
0:54:30
Is Parks Department, the alternatives.
0:54:32
Start looking at it from what we are learning so far, and then going forward.
0:54:37
And we know that for the 85 plus, the only way we're gonna really serve those individuals well if they want a continuing community is to have a a shift and a change in the way state because the state does the those Medicaid and long term care services.
0:54:55
Is to have a shift in the way that they look at this population and look at an integrated approach to it.
Crystal Hudson
0:55:01
Great.
0:55:02
I'm gonna break here and and turn to my colleagues from for some of their questions starting with Council member banks.