Senior Programs
In 1982, SEBCO opened its first HUD (202) funded
Senior
Citizen Project known as Erma Cava I. Now, SEBCO operates 8
senior buildings, each with a HUD funded staff member known as
a service coordinator. The service coordinators provide assistance
and social services to their 720 senior residents. These service
coordinators
also provide special educational and recreational programs
as well as individual case management.
In late 1992, SEBCO was selected by the New York City
Department
for the Aging (“DFTA”) to provide hot lunches and supportive
services to the local senior community. Each day, SEBCO
serves approximately 140 hot meals from two locations (ErmaCava and Pio Mendez) and provides a wide variety of supportive
services, including transportation, case management, outside referrals,
group activities, trips, seminars, etc. Membership is open
to any senior citizen over the age of 60.
SEBCO’s Senior Center Program’s mission is to provide quality
services to their members to meet their daily nutritional, emotional,
physical, intellectual and social needs, and to make their
lives as productive and rewarding as possible, to expand their
resources,
and to develop and encourage their individual
opportunities
and involvement. SEBCO ventures to maintain and
improve
to the extent possible, the quality of life of its members. It also
serves to provide a meeting place for seniors to interact with one
another and socialize. Their interests vary, ranging from learning
arts and crafts, dance and quilting, exercising, walking and staying
healthy, socializing with friends, playing dominoes or bingo,
attending movie specials, attending day trips, attending nutrition
education seminars, and the like.
The Senior Center established a Walking
Club and a Fitness and Wellness Program that measures and
tracks their vital statistics by taking daily readings of their blood
pressure. The Center also created a Performance Program composed
of singers, musicians and dancers from ERMA CAVA and
the surrounding community that performed outdoors at Tiffany
Plaza and other centers throughout the summer months.
The center also recently received additional funding from
HUD to hire a part-time Mental Health coordinator that is currently
performing individual assessments of all of the ERMA CAVA
residents. These assessments will enable us to determine and provide
the health services that the residents may not be taking full
advantage of.