New Yorkers with developmental
disabilities adapt to life at home
BY BEN VERDE
They need a jump
start!
Services that deliver
meals to homebound seniors
have seen a spike
in demand under the
state’s stay-at-home order,
as elderly New Yorkers
seek safe ways to stay
fed without venturing
outside. But, with limited
resources and no
increase in funding on
the horizon, it is getting
increasingly diffi cult for
many to meet demand.
“We’ve seen close to
a 20 percent increase in
the past seven weeks,”
Todd Fliedner, deputy
executive director of the
Bay Ridge Center told
Brooklyn Paper. “This is
a trend we just see as continuing.”
Programs like
Fliender’s often held
congregate meals in senior
centers prior to the
coronavirus pandemic,
but have shifted to delivery
COURIER L 4 IFE, MAY 15-21, 2020
only as those they
serve hunker down inside
— many of whom
were offered a citywide
meal service run by the
Department of Aging.
But, program directors
say, many of the city’s
seniors prefer the local,
non-profi t run meal services,
because they fi nd
their specifi c dietary
needs are met and deliveries
are more reliable.
“If they have one client
who is say, a vegetarian,
and also has trouble
chewing their food, a local
organization is able to
respond to that and make
sure they receive their
food,” said Tara Klein, a
policy analyst at United
Neighborhood Houses,
who said that the largerscale
meal programs
tend to be more of a “onesize
fi ts-all” operation.
To boot, seniors who
switched over to the citywide
service in the early
days of the stay-at-home
order reported poor communication,
a lack of
coordination, and lowquality
meals. Some seniors
who signed up for
the program never received
meals at all, according
to Scott Short,
CEO of RiseBoro Community
Partnerships,
a home-delivered meal
provider that operates
out of Bushwick.
“The quality of the
meals that they were getting
was really below the
standards of what we fi nd
acceptable,” said Short.
The shortcomings of
the citywide program
have exacerbated demand
among the smaller
community programs,
according to the head of
RiseBoro, who has seen
a nearly 30 percent increase
in deliveries since
the pandemic began. The
program currently services
about 1,800 people,
Short said — a combination
of both new clients,
and those who are not receiving
their deliveries
from the city.
Despite the increased
demand, programs like
RiseBoro and the Bay
Ridge Center are operating
with the same fl at
level of funding from the
city as in pre-pandemic
times, and are pushing
for emergency funding
from the Department of
Aging.
The Bay Ridge Center
has had to hire more
staff, add an additional
delivery route, and purchase
more food than
usual, according to Fliedner.
Scott says RiseBoro,
which is also increasing
its food production and
providing its workers
with time-and-a-half hazard
pay, will only be able
to operate at its current
rate without emergency
funding until the end of
its fi scal year on June 30.
“We’re basically fronting
it and hoping that the
city does the right thing
and reimburses us,”
Scott said. “We’re putting
our own fi nances
on the line to do what we
think is the right thing
for these essential workers.”
While they await
funds, meal providers
are refl ecting on their relationship
with the city
— something, Scott said,
has been problematic
for years before the pandemic.
“I think COVID has
helped shine a light on
this problem,” Scott said.
“But it’s really a more endemic
problem that goes
back years.”
Meal delivery programs see
spike in demand, lacking funds
Workers package food at a RiseBoro facility. RiseBoro Community Partnerships
BY BEN VERDE
Children and adults with developmental
disabilities have
found their routines thrown
off dramatically by the coronavirus
pandemic, leaving those
who care for them struggling
to fi ll the gaps in their days at
home.
For Suffolk County motherof
three Chrissy Young, New
York’s stay-at-home order has
meant the end of the predictability
that her sons Nicholas
and Michael, who both have
level-three Autism, rely on.
“You and I can say ‘Oh, we’ll
go with the fl ow,'” said Young.
“But when you’re dealing with
people with disabilities, that’s
not in their playbook.”
Nicholas and Michael, 10,
and 8 respectively, now center
their days around Zoom calls
with their school — the Elija
School in Levittown. While
having something structured
to anchor them has been a lifesaver,
Young said, human contact
from teachers and classmates
has been impossible to
replicate.
“Nothing is like seeing people,
and holding people, and
hugging people,” Young said.
“But we’re doing the best we
can.”
Compounding the issue, her
sons have had to go without seeing
the people they formed connections
with at school — and
with little to no explanation.
“One day they saw them
and one day they didn’t,” Young
said. “I cannot imagine, for my
boys, what that was like.”
Young resists the idea that
her sons are getting “used to”
the new normal, but admits
that there is far less trepidation
now than when their routine
was fi rst interrupted roughly
six weeks ago.
To keep her kids — who
are both non-verbal — occupied
without having anywhere
to go, Young and her husband
have taken them on drives
through Suffolk County, and
opened up their backyard pool
for them to play in after remote
learning, but there’s only so
much they can do while hunkered
down.
“My husband and I have
learned we’re really not that exciting,”
she said.
Young attributes what success
her sons have had during
the pandemic to the Elija
School, which has not only
given students structure during
the weekdays, but has provided
parents with training too.
While Michael and Nicholas
have virtual learning to anchor
their days, structure has been
harder to maintain for adults
with developmental disabilities
who are not in a school program,
according to Lynne Koufakis,
who chairs the board of
Life’s Worc, a network of group
homes in New York City and
Long Island.
Many parents have had to
rely on technology to help get
them through these uncertain
— and unstructured — times.
“The computer is great, and a
curse at the same time,” said
Koufakis, whose children are
stuck spending much of their
time in front of a screen. “They
get addicted.”
The Young family has had to adapt to life at home during the coronavirus
pandemic. Chrissy Young