BAiP works hard to serve its mission.  However we recognize that members may need to access other more in-depth services.  The following list is a compilation of local organizations and service providers that might be useful.

General Senior Services

DOROT
171 West 85th Street
Phone: (212) 769-2850
dorotusa.org
Whether you’re looking for friendship, exercise, volunteer opportunities, creative arts, cultural activities, frozen Kosher home delivered meals, escorts to medical appointments, referrals, or even personalized computer lessons, you may take advantage of the many programs and services offered by DOROT.

Goddard Riverside Community Center
593 Columbus Avenue
Phone: (212) 415-5630
goddard.org/grcc/programs/olderadults/
Goddard Riverside provides case management services. Their Senior Center offers social activities, exercise, outings, and nutritious reduced-price meals.  For their home meals program, see "Selfhelp Community Services" below. To learn more, visit the website above.

Jewish Home Lifecare
120 West 106th Street
Phone: (800) 544-0304
Email: connections@jewishhome.org
jewishhome.org/our-services/homecare/social-adult-day-progam/
JHL offers a Social Day Program for adults living at home. It includes assistance with personal care, breakfast, lunch and snacks, along with a wide range of activities and wellness programs.

LiveOn NY
49 West 45th Street
Phone: (212) 398-6565
Email: info@liveon-ny.org
liveon-ny.org/mission-history-impact/
LiveOn NY offers eligibility screening and application assistance for benefits and entitlements for New Yorkers over 60.  LiveOn can assist ou with SNAP, NY Rent Freeze, Medicaid, Medicare Savings Program, HEAP and Low Income Subsidy.  LiveOn also participates in New York's Senior Medicare Patrol program to help detect mistakes or potential fraud in Medicare payments.

Met Council
Phone: (212) 453-9500
metcouncil.org
Met Council provides help with emergency financial assistance, food and clothing, as well as eviction prevention, advocacy and other legal issues.  It operates several affordable housing sites for low- and middle-income seniors throughout New York City.  And its Project Metropair makes free home visits to seniors for minor home repairs. Services include installation of grab bars and locks, moving peepholes, and reinforcing window gates. Met Council serves all people in need, regardless of ethnicity or background.

Morningside Village
Email: info@MorningsideVillage.org
Phone: (347) 688-6599
lifeforce-in-later-years.org
Morningside Village offers volunteer help to seniors living in the area bordered by West 108th and 118th Streets from Riverside to Morningside Drives.

One Stop at JASA
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1846
New York, NY 10015
Phone: (212) 864-7900
onestopseniorservices.org
One Stop helps seniors live safely and independently in their own homes by providing legal, housing, elder abuse, and general assistance services. One Stop at JASA is a unique walk-in agency where compassionate professionals go the extra mile to help older adults solve their problems--all in one place. Services are free and available in English, Spanish & French/Creole.  One Stop counselors are on-site in our neighborhood on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Franciscan Community Center at 214 W. 97th Street.

NYC Council District 6 Office
Helen Rosenthal, Councilmember
563 Columbus Avenue at W. 87th Street
Phone: (212) 873-0280, Ext. 202
The Councilmember's office is a good resource for information on senior housing and services.

SAGE - Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders
305 Seventh Ave, 15th Floor
sageusa.org
Dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults, SAGE offers a full-time center where you will find a comprehensive array of services, support groups, and programs related to arts and culture, fitness, food and nutrition, health and wellness, and lifelong education for LGBT elders.

Selfhelp Community Services - Meals-on-Wheels & Case Management Program
520 Eighth Avenue, 5th Floor
Phone: (212) 787-8106
Selfhelf Community Services (SCS) case management can assist with referrals and entitlements.  SCS social workers do intake for home-delivered meal services provided through Encore Community Service's and Goddard Riverside's meal program.  These include delivery of hot, frozen or kosher meals.  The first step is to schedule a client assessment.

SPOP - Service Program for Older Adults
302 W. 91st Street
Phone: (212) 787-7120 x514
spop.org/services
SPOP’s mission is to enhance the quality of life of older adults and to foster their independent living through the delivery of comprehensive mental health and supportive services, advocacy and education. It offers counseling in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Creole and Korean. SPOP also provides bereavement support; an adult day center for adults with Alzheimer's, dementia, or memory loss; and a continuing day treatment program for adults with serious or persistent mental illness.

Healthcare Guide for Older New Yorkers
nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/benefits/health.shtml
This annual guide from New York City's Department for the Aging (DFTA) contains lots of useful information on Medicare, Medicaid, Long- Term Care Insurance and other important subjects. The full title is "A Complete Guide to Healthcare Coverage for Older New Yorkers."

Mental Health and Psychology Resources Online
psychcentral.com/resources/
At the above link you will find a range of mental health resources available online. This collection of mental health and psychology resources is the oldest annotated online directory of its kind.

Lifeline - Telephone Discount Program
Lifeline is a government assistance program that offers qualified customers a discount on their monthly telephone bills. To see how it works and who is eligible, click on this link:
www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/lifeline-support-affordable-communications

Important note: If you are attending an event in a "looped" room and use a hearing aid with a t-coil, see the instructions below for using an induction loop.

Financial assistance may be available to obtain hearing aids. The first step for financial assistance resources for hearing aids is to check with your health care insurance provider to find out if they carry hearing aid coverage. After that, check out the list of resources at the Hearing Loss Association of America to see if you might be eligible for any of the programs listed there.  Another NYC resource is the Center for Hearing and Communication.

A good recap of what to do when you think you have hearing loss may be found here.

Here is a brief list of further resources:

• Connect with the Hearing Loss Association of America.
• From the Hearing Loss Association of America:  Basic Facts, Types of Hearing Loss & Treatments, Hearing Aids.​
• Age-related Hearing Loss
• Communicating with your Healthcare providers: Guide
• NYS Consumer Guide to Hearing AIDS: Download PDF
• Leisure Resources: TDF and Theatre Access New York City, NYC Movies, 
• Tinnitus: Information from the Mayo Clinic and from Hearingpedia 

For a few more resources on the topic of hearing and hearing loss, please continue to scroll down.

Instructions: How to Use an Induction Loop with Your Hearing Aid

Most hearing aids have a t-coil, which is a separate copper microphone  from the one you usually use.  To use it, all you need to do is turn your hearing aid to the t-coil position. (The  t-coil also helps you hear  better on the telephone.)  If you do not know if you have a  t-coil in your hearing aid, ask your  audiologist. Often a  t-coil is in your aid but not activated; there is no charge to activate the  t-coil. If  the  t-coil is working well, it will pick up the signal from the loop and you will be amazed at how  well you can hear.

It is best to wait to turn your hearing aid to the  t-coil position until the speakers start using their  microphones since when you have the  t-coil on you cannot hear those around you. When the  t-coil  is on, you hear only what is coming through the sound source hooked up to the loop.

After listening to a presentation with a microphone (or a movie through a TV that is hooked up to  the induction loop), be sure to turn your hearing aid/cochlear implant back to the regular microphone setting so you can once again hear the people around you.

If you have some hearing loss but do not wear a hearing aid or have a hearing aid but no t-coil, you can access the same wonderful sound by using  headphones with an appropriate portable receiver.

What Exactly Is an Induction Loop?
An induction loop consists of three things: insulated wire, an amplifier and a sound source (e.g. a TV or a microphone). The wire is installed around the  perimeter of a room, usually in the ceiling or on the floor. The looped wire is connected to an amplifier (equipment used in stereo systems to make the sound louder) which, in turn, is connected to the sound source, several of which can be  hooked up to the loop at once by using a mixer. The system creates a magnetic field within the  looped area. The magnetic field signal carries the sound from the loop directly to the t-coil  (telephone program or telecoil or t-switch) of a hearing aid/cochlear implant or the special receiver  of a headphone set. All background noise is eliminated. It is an amazing technology that has been  used in Europe, mostly Great Britain, for 30 years and the U.S. is catching up.

For older adults certain questions arise more frequently, but all adults should be atuned to making estate plans. It is important to know what legal documents you'll need or what happens after your death. In a May 2018 panel, members of the City Bar Justice Center's Planning Estate Law Project, presented to a standing-room-only crowd for BAiP. We are providing their excellent outline below: "Planning Documents to Have to Age in Place." We suggest you download it and review it carefully. You may also direct friends and family members to this page.

Also, for the 2016 "Legal Services Directory for Older People in New York" published by Gray Panthers, please click here or download a copy below.

Doughnut holes, Part D, Advantage HMOs. ACA & Obamacare.  How does anyone keep it all straight?  BAiP has presented speakers in past panels to make it all make (more) sense.  One of the best resources out there is the Medicare Rights Center.  Please see the links below.

Medicare Rights Center
Medicare Interactive
NYC Health Care Coverage Options (2012)

To sign up for the Medicare Rights Center's newsletter, click here.

Entitled "Smart Seniors," the downloadable guides in English and Spanish (links below) from the NYS Office of the Attorney General have important tips about protecting yourself from identity theft and financial fraud as well as information meant to keep us all alert and avoid becoming a victim of scam artists as we age. More information from the AG is available here.

The New York County District Attorney's  office has resources for victims of elder abuse here.

In the face of increasing data breaches, we are all more vulnerable.  One recommendation that might be right for you is to freeze your credit reports with the three major credit reporting companies.  The FTC has answers about how to do this here.

Our Panels committee has presented scam safety topics twice, once at our October 26, 2017, panel "Scams: Learn How to Avoid Being a Victim" and once at our October 18, 2012, panel "How To Be a Street Smart Senior."  Both presentations were given by Gary S. Brown, Statewide Elder Abuse Coordinator, Assistant Attorney General-in-charge, New York State office of the Attorney General, Westchester Regional Office.  The documents below were handouts at the 2017 panel.

This section is for resources pertaining to Medicaid.

At our panel on November 15, 2017, the Medicare Rights Center spoke about Medicaid Long-Term Managed Care. The powerpoint file is below.

Is "stuff" taking over your life?  Is it filling every corner of a friend or family member's space and getting in the way?  Are you wondering if there is something of value in your possessions or how to sell things you no longer need?

Use the downloadable documents below to guide you in your efforts to organize and winnow your paperwork and possessions and to find the best outlets to sell your things.  Learn where to donate or sell furniture, books and clothing.  And find a list of auction houses so that you can appraise and sell things of value.

And when selling your things, keep in mind some advice:

●    Obtain a second opinion for appraisals and auctions.

●    Opinions and appraisals cost money, the amount depends on the type of appraisal requested. If the appraiser is going to be legally obligated by the appraisal, it will be more expensive. Appraisals also differ according to the purpose: insurance, estate, retail, etc. Insurance appraisals will usually give a higher value than retail appraisals.

●    Supply and demand drive value.

●    As a rule, 90% of a collection's value derives from just 20% of the content.

●    It’s possible to send photographs of items you'd like to sell to most auction houses to learn if they are interested in listing them.

●    Expect varying upfront costs and buyers’ premiums for bringing something to auction and selling it thereafter. Find out what these costs are beforehand. All of these costs should be spelled out in the contract that you sign with the auction house.

●    Books are very hard to liquidate.  For a book to be considered old by a dealer, think 400 years or more!  And for other kinds of objects, age does not always spell value.

●    Hallmarks are very important. And so is condition. But beware of refinishing antiques, a process that can negatively affect value.

●    Gold or silver in an object is not always indicated. It may have gold or silver content even if that is not clearly labeled; have an expert examine it.

●    Signatures on artwork such as paintings, drawings, lithographs and tapestries are not always discernible, but they can often be detected by the expert eye.  A signed piece can make all the difference in valuation.

●    Antique clocks have value, as do “mid-century modern” items.


This information was presented at two BAiP panels.  The March 24, 2011, panel "Getting Past the Clutter" featured Rita Golub, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Professional Geriatric Care Manager, and Kenny Weinberg, a professional apartment organizer.  The March 22, 2012, panel "What's My Stuff Worth," featured George Lowry, Chairman of Swann Auction Galleries, and Michael Capo and Monique Merrill of Capo Auction Fine Art and Antiques.

When, how, and whom to ask for help may be questions we have as we age in place.  What help to request, the psychological and emotional barriers to seeking help or coping with change are covered in the downloadable document below.  Facing the future with confidence and staying in control when accepting help from others are ways to ensure you remain independent.  It is important to plan by preparing advance directives (wills, healthcare proxies, powers of attorney), by planning for long-term care, and/or spending down to Medicaid eligibility thresholds. 

More information on these topics as well as some elder law contacts are available in the downloadable files below.

Whether still working or completely retired, who doesn't love a wonderful free or low-cost recreation or activity in our fair city?  From tips to find free music at Lincoln Center's Rubenstein Atrium or Juilliard School to a list of times when you can enjoy the city's museums completely free of charge, this downloadable document has tips to keep your wallet fat and your brain full of new experiences.

This information was presented at our April 18, 2013, panel “New York for a Song: Free and Low-Cost Recreational and Cultural Activities.”

We take for granted that to age in place, one needs a place to call one's own.  This is becoming harder and harder in a city where real estate prices put pressure on tenants, owners and landlords alike.

Older adults are entitled to certain protections against harassment and eviction such as the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption or SCRIE and the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption or SCHE.

For the basics about SCRIE from the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, please click here and take a look at the recap below.  Also, watch the brief video below for an overview of SCRIE eligibility and see this FAQ.  For the most up-to-date information, see the NYC Rent Freeze program website.

To read more about property tax exemptions for seniors who own coops and condos in the city, click here.

When you need help or representation on these matters, your Assembly Member or Housing Court Answers may be a good contact for assistance. For answers to your questions about housing court, contact them here.  They publish a tenant's guide to negotiating with your landlord, which you may download here.  For BAiP members, Assembly Member O'Donnell provides assistance to apply.  His community office may be reached at (212) 866-3970.  More information from his office appears in the image at the bottom of this post in English and Spanish.

Ever Considered a Roommate?
Do you have an extra bedroom? Would you like to have some company and help with paying the rent? Then the New York Foundation for Senior Citizen’s home sharing program may be a solution. The Foundation’s free Home Sharing Program helps link adult “hosts” with extra private spaces in their homes or apartments with appropriate adult “guests” to share their space. Professional Social Work staff thoroughly screen and match hosts with compatible guests. Guests provide a monthly contribution towards expenses, and everyone gains companionship and a sense of security. For more information, call 212-962-7559 or visit the link above.


Some of this information comes from Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell's office.  And some of this information was presented at our October 23, 2014, panel “Your Home & Your Rights."