Conference on the Well-Being of Asian American Senior Citizens – Topic Abstracts

General Session 1 – Overview to the Needs of Asian American Elderly

Hon. Edwin Mendez- Santiago; Commissioner, NYC Department for the Aging

Aging research and intense focus on what the future will hold for the boomer generations has contributed to the emergence of new upbeat concepts that promote the idea that individuals can keep their health and vitality into old age.  However, this opportunity is not available to everyone.  Demographics suggest that Asian American seniors are a population at risk.  The Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging provides an overview of the needs of Asian American elders and suggests a platform for improving the lives of these vulnerable seniors so that they have the opportunity to age well.  Elements include: (1) culturally competent research, programs, public information and message design as well as a culturally competent workforce; (2) active political and institutional support as well as infrastructure development through coalition building, collaborations and associations; (3) the mobilization of livable communities that maximize the health and well-being of senior residents; and (4) support for policy and legislative reform including both changes in funding regulations and increases in funding.

Carol Peng; Deputy Director of Research, Asian American Federation of New York

Topic: “Asian Elder Care and Engagement Initiatives in New York City”

Asian American elders are a diverse and rapidly growing population in New York City. According to

Census 2000, from 1990 to 2000, the Asian elder population in New York City nearly doubled, surpassing the growth rates of both the general Asian and general senior populations. Asian elders in New York City had significantly higher rates of immigrant status, poverty and limited English proficiency compared to the general elder population, indicating special needs within this group. This presentation will cover key findings from the Asian American Federation of New York’s (AAFNY) study, Asian American Elders in New York City: A Study of Health, Social Needs, Quality of Life and Quality of Care (2003). In this study, AAFNY explored the demographics, physical health, mental health, and quality of life of Asian seniors. One major conclusion was that Asian American elders in New York City represented an underserved population in need of enhanced formal support services with greater cultural competency and language access. The study also revealed some of the unique characteristics of Asian elders that can be recognized as assets, such as the strong social support networks of the Asians studied. This presentation will also discuss AAFNY’s latest study, a service planning project for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community Supportive Service Program (NORC-SSP) development in Flushing, Queens. Through a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods, the study seeks to elicit ways in which the potential contributions and various assets of the senior population can be tapped to enhance quality of life. The AAFNY research team also aims to increase knowledge of the service needs of this particular residential population. The inquiry will elicit this information from Flushing’s Asian seniors themselves, local health and social service providers, and other segments of the community such as the neighborhood’s faith communities and small business sectors.  AAFNY’s intent is to prepare a report that will provide a roadmap for future senior program planning efforts, one which encompasses a dual emphasis on eliciting seniors’ assets and addressing critical needs.

Isabel Ching; Director, Hamilton Madison House/ City Hall Senior Citizens Center

Hamilton-Madison House, a pioneer settlement house, has been providing an array of critical social services to the lower east side and immigrant communities for over 100 years with services.  Services include early childcare, youth programs, behavioral health and senior services.  The presenter, Isabel Ching LMSW, will focus on senior service program integration that provides a continuum of services and programs improving the lives of the members, participants and families.  The importance of working with the entire extended family in the Chinese culture will be highlighted.  Services are provided through the senior centers, adult day, caregiver program and Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC).

 

General Session 2 – Training & Research of Services to the Asian American Elderly

Marianne C. Fahs, PhD., MPH; Professor of Urban Public Health & Research Director, Brookdale Center on Aging, Hunter College, CUNY

Topic: “Healthy Aging Among Older Asian Americans: Can we meet the challenge?”

Older immigrants present an important challenge to policy makers concerned with optimal resource allocation to promote healthy aging. A growing US literature is focusing on issues concerning immigrant health.  However, research on older immigrants, and in particular on older Asian population subgroups, is in its infancy; and there is a pressing need for curriculum and training programs in many areas.  A new conceptual framework is needed to better understand the complexity of social determinants of healthy aging among Asian Americans.  Asian-born residents are among the fastest growing populations in the United States, currently comprising one-fourth of the nation’s total foreign-born population, with 8% aged 65 years and over.  The US Census projects a 213% increase between 2000 and 2050 in the population of people who identify themselves as Asian. Consequently, the proportion of elderly who are Asian will increase from 2.3 percent in 2000 to about 5 percent in 2030 and nearly 8 percent in 2050. This presentation will discuss current evidence concerning general immigrant health and aging in the US, focusing in particular on addressing prevalent myths concerning healthy aging among Asian Americans. A preliminary conceptual framework to guide further research and education development is proposed. The presentation concludes with implications for policy and practice of targeting effective health initiatives among Asian populations over the lifespan.

 

General Session 3 – Pedestrian Safety Initiatives for the Asian American Elderly

Paul White; Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives

Topic: “Asian American Elderly Pedestrians at Risk”

Chinatown has one of the highest concentrations of elderly residents of all Manhattan neighborhoods.  It is an ideal urban setting for senior residents.  A high density of land uses within the neighborhood places seniors within accessible walking distance of mostly any service or good they may need.  Unfortunately, walking has become a risky activity for older adults in Chinatown.  This issue has been brought to the forefront in the last couple of years by the local media.  In this session, Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, will discuss the high rates of pedestrian injuries and fatalities on Chinatown streets and its effects on neighborhood residents.  He will present citywide crash data and new data collected through resident interviews to establish the significance of this issue for the Chinatown community and in particular for its elderly population.

 

Keynote Speech

TBA

 

Breakout Session 1A – Issues on Social Work with Senior Citizens

Tracy Luo; Director, Asian Outreach & Public Education, Mental Health Association of New York City

Topic: “Golden Years – Don’t be Blue”

According to recent research, incidence of mental illness appears to be higher and more severe among aging Asian Americans than among those of similar age in the general population.  For example, a 2003 Asian American Federation study suggests that in New York City alone, depression and suicidal ideation are more prevalent among Asian American elders than among any other ethnicity and, similar to Asian patients in general, Asian seniors tend to be much more severely ill when they do seek help from mental health professionals. Clearly, our community’s Asian elders are in critical need of effective and culturally sensitive mental health services and the presenter will focus on discussing many of the issues inherent in meeting this need including causes of emotional problems within this group, barriers to getting help, and what works in helping Asian Elders with mental disorders.  The presenter also will introduce two important programs – Asian LifeNet and the Asian Senior Mental Health Program – currently available for seniors within New York’s Asian community and additionally, share her positive experiences of working with this growing and vital population.

Betty Cheng; Chief Operating Officer, Charles B. Wang Community Health Center

Topic: “Medical Social Work with Senior Citizens in a Community Health Center”

Medical Social Work Services in a community health center is an integral part of the comprehensive medical care.  The medical social work services professionals help individuals with the social, psychological, cultural and medical issues resulting from an illness.

According to the study conducted by the Asian American Federation of New York, elderly Asian American New Yorkers face higher levels of poverty, stresses related to inability to speak English, low education level, lack of private health insurance and dependence on children.  All these problems impact on their health and the use of health care resources

The medical social work services is particularly important to the senior citizens in helping them to cope with their illnesses and the complex health care systems.

Heidi Chan; Visiting Nurse Service, New York Hospice Care

Topic: “Hospice-Celebrating Life to the Fullest”

As stated by Ms. Chan: “We are given a window of opportunity to deal with healing and choices.  Whether it is the blockage of the heart, the “unfinished business of the mind”; let’s stop the “war”.

Objectives & Discussions

1. Hospice Philosophy-Medical, emotional and spiritual.
   2. Hospice Services- Interdisciplinary team.
   3. Heath care Proxy- Self determined life closure.
   4. Hospice benefits- Medicare and Medicaid.

 

Breakout Session 2A – Safe Routes for Seniors Elder Districts

Karla Quintero; Outreach Director, Safe Routes for Seniors, Transportation Alternatives

Since 2003, Transportation Alternatives has worked with the New York State Department of Health to develop a program called Safe Routes for Seniors.  With assistance from almost 600 senior citizens and people with disabilities throughout the City, Transportation Alternatives has developed specific, low-cost guidelines for improvements to streets that achieve real reductions in death and disability from road crashes.   In this session, Karla Quintero, Outreach Director for the Safe Routes for Seniors program at Transportation Alternatives, and community panelists will discuss (1) immediate inexpensive modifications to intersections that can significantly reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities from road trauma while also encourage active aging and; (2) explain how these physical changes could transform a street in Chinatown into a safe “elder district” for senior pedestrians.

Participants in this session will also have the opportunity to examine a typical street and review the meanings of signs and markings, learn how to read signal patterns and discuss present dangers to pedestrians.

 

Breakout Session 3A- Government Grants & Program Evaluation

TBA

 

Breakout Session 1B- Health Related Issues with Senior Citizens

Ashwin Pandya; President, National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens Inc.

1. Asian American Seniors – Cultural Context

• Native Traditions: Lack of Pro-Activeness
• Native Treatment Traditions – Herbal Medicines, etc.

2. Health Issues of Seniors – Awareness, Education, Prevention and Treatment

3 .Health Fair and Health Education – Community Based Programs

Mala Desai; Chairperson, Pragati

Dr. Desai’s presentation will focus on the gap between health care and social services for seniorsas well as available resources for seniors in Queens.

 

Breakout Session 2B- Senior Citizens & Research Projects 

Yilo Cheng; Mental Health Project Manager, Asian American Federation of New York

Topic: “After September 11^th: Building Bridges and Leveraging Assets for Community Recovery”

The Federation’s Asian American Mental Health: A Post-September 11^th Needs Assessment represents the first broad-scale research project to examine the post-September 11^th mental health status and needs of Asian Americans in the New York City area. According to the Federation’s research study, in the 17 months following September 11^th, only 8 of 315 Asian American victims’ family members – or less than three percent of all Asian American victims’ family members who accessed American Red Cross services – took advantage of the mental health benefit. According to the Red Cross, September 11^th Fund and the Mental Health Association, as of November 2003, less than 5% of all those who used the September 11^th mental health benefit were Asian. Since that time, the Asian enrollment numbers have not risen significantly.

Federation research found that such low utilization rates were related to long-standing gaps in the mental health services systems – limited culturally appropriate outreach to communities, a lack of trained professionals with appropriate linguistic and cultural competency, and a lack of coordination among service providers.  Among specific September 11th related programs, the report found a lack of adequate mental health training for frontline staff in programs serving affected populations in natural settings.

Mr. Cheng will discuss how the Asian American Federation’s program, funded by the American Red Cross, “Building Bridges and Leveraging Assets for Community Recovery” (also known as “The Mental Health Projects” or “MHP”) aims to increase access to culturally appropriate mental health services for September 11th affected Chinatown seniors and World Trade Center victims’ families. In partnership with two community-based service organizations, Asian LifeNet (ALN) and South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS), it aims to connect difficult-to-reach, high-need populations with skilled, culturally competent mental health support.

Nina Parikh; Senior Research Associate, Brookdale Center on Aging, Hunter College, CUNY

Topic: “Healthy Urban Aging among Older Chinese Immigrants: Can We Meet the Challenge?”

Objectives: Older immigrants present a growing challenge to policy makers concerned with optimal resource allocation to promote healthy aging in urban neighborhoods.  This presentation will report results from the first population-based assessment of health status, access to care, and other health indicators including tobacco use, chronic conditions, physical activity, obesity, and alcohol consumption of Chinese immigrants in NYC as they differ by age and over time.  Methods: Data are from an NCI-funded longitudinal study that involved a multi-stage sample of Chinese American households in two communities in New York City.  In-person interviews were conducted with 2,537 adults aged 18-74 years, constituting the largest probability-based sample of Chinese immigrants focused on health in the US.  Results: Our study demonstrates sharp differences by age.  Older (age 55+) vs younger adults were more likely to be less educated, unemployed, less acculturated, and have annual incomes of less than $10,000.  Furthermore, older vs younger Chinese adults were also more likely to report poor health status (47% vs 29%; p< .001) and significantly more chronic conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.  By contrast, smoking prevalence decreased with age and measures of access to care improved.  Additional analyses of health risks, including mental and physical status of individuals over the age of 65 were undertaken and will be presented.  Conclusion: As new immigrant populations age, it becomes increasingly important to understand and address the complexity of social determinants of healthy urban aging.  Our findings can inform public health practice targeting effective health initiatives among urban immigrant populations over the lifespan.

Breakout Session 3B- Intergenerational Relationships with Senior Citizens

Maria Piña-Fonti; Professor, Nursing Program / NAS, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY

Topic: “Trans-cultural Nursing Concepts and Community Health”

As a result of increased migration, international trade and major demographic profile changes in the United States, the concept of diversity with its multi facets has become a major focus in our nursing profession.  As a country, we are challenged by health disparities and lack of health access despite the nation’s focus on Healthy  People 2000-2010.  The Institute of Medicine’s report, “Unequal Treatment”, renders testimony to the plight of some communities in our nation.  The 2004” Sullivan Commission” report elucidated the impact the lack of ethnic minority health professional representation has on the health status of our nation. This national thunder challenges us to develop a dialogue and apply the vital concepts of Trans-cultural nursing; and a new awareness to  workplace diversity  as never before.

At the completion of the sessions the learner will be:

1. Familiar with the concepts of cultural diversity, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cultural competence and cultural congruence as it relates to community wellness.
2. Able to contrast and compare the trans-cultural theories as described by Dr. Larry Purnell and Dr. Madeleine Leininger.
3. Able to discuss concepts of trans-cultural nursing as it relates to the societal issues of health care access and disparity and intergenerational communication.