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A Muslim youth center in Brooklyn is helping teens connect mental health to faith

2025-09-30T15:12:44+00:00

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Jana, a public affairs student at Baruch College, was raised in a devout Muslim family but had stopped coming to the mosque in high school.

Her family frequented the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn throughout her childhood. She recalls fond memories of running around the center’s prayer area at 8 years old. It was like a second home. But by high school, she found herself retreating from the space. She was struggling with mental illness and feeling distanced from her religious upbringing.

“I’ve always dealt with issues of depression, anxiety, self-harm, the works,” said Jana, now 20, who began cutting herself at around 12 years old. Her last name is being withheld to protect the privacy of sensitive health information. “And in immigrant households, typically they don’t believe in [treating] mental health, or they’d rather you pray about it instead of going to therapy. They say ‘why speak to someone when you can speak to God?’”

In July 2022, while visiting the center with her mother, Jana came across a pop-up event hosted by the center’s Social Services Department. Tables were stationed in the center’s lobby with resources for self-care and mental health support. It jumpstarted a change in her life.

At her mother’s suggestion, she signed up for a referral and was paired with a therapist. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the services she found were the catalyst for how she manages her mental health today. It has been over 2 1/2 years since she’s harmed herself, she said, she has a better grasp on her manic episodes and impulsiveness, and feels more connected to her faith than ever.

Jana now leads mental wellness programming under the very Social Services Department that connected her with crucial mental health resources. Her story is not uncommon and reflects an ever-present need for culturally competent mental health support.

Muslim Americans face barriers to care

Across New York and the United States, Muslims face outsized risk for mental distress, often worsened by stigma, generational gaps, and limited access to culturally aligned care.

These challenges are compounded by broader societal issues, including lingering effects of policies like the “Muslim ban” executive order from President Donald Trump in 2017 and increased scrutiny of Muslim Americans in the wake of protests over Palestinian rights. Many Muslims, like Jana, come from families where mental illness was either minimized or spiritualized, seen less as a medical condition and more as a test of faith.

Recent research shows Muslim Americans experience rates of anxiety, depression, and mood disorders similar to the general population, but they face unique barriers in accessing care. A 2023 national study found that about 15% of Muslim Americans had a lifetime mood disorder, and 10% had a lifetime anxiety disorder, rates comparable to other groups. Yet fewer sought help, with additional studies pointing to stigma, experiences of discrimination, and mistrust of a mental health system seen as lacking cultural and religious competence.

“The problem with Muslims in America is that we are often dehumanized,” said Ayah Issa, a licensed clinical social worker and trauma therapist based in Astoria, Queens. “You start to create stories about them based on what you were taught in this white-centric country, rather than letting that story come from the person in front of you.”

Nationally, nearly half of U.S. religious congregations offer some form of mental health programming — up from 23% in 2012, according to research from Duke University’s National Congregations Study. In New York, local efforts have followed suit, with the state’s Office of Mental Health partnering with faith leaders to develop faith-based initiatives and city-based nonprofits increasing behavioral health offerings tailored to immigrant and religious communities. These broader shifts toward faith-based mental health support mirror what’s happening at the MAS Youth Center.

The center formalized its Social Services Department in October 2020, initially launching as a virtual response to the mental health fallout of Covid-19. It was founded with the main goal of psychoeducation, sharing information and connecting community members with mental health resources. In the earliest days, the department operated online, offering virtual office hours, now done in-person on Saturdays, and a digital therapy referral system.

Aging together: South Asian seniors in Queens alleviate loneliness through ‘co-living’

Upon transitioning to in-person programming, they faced struggles, including staffing the department with enough committed volunteers, overcoming widespread stigma around mental health, and targeting core MAS community members.

“[It] made it difficult for people to come to our events. We had people who were interested in mental health, but it was very slow. And the people we were getting at our events weren’t the people at the MAS Youth Center,” said Roua Eltayeib, one of the department’s co-directors.

In response, the department shifted to meet the community where it was, organizing pop-up tables outside of halaqahs (religious study circles) and other center events. The first major in-person programming, including grief circles and Mental Health Mondays, began to break down barriers and draw broader participation, especially after a widely attended grief circle in 2021 in response to the loss of a young beloved community member to substance use. Over time, this outreach helped the department become not just a referral hub, but a trusted fixture in the center’s landscape.

“Trust is built through presence,” said Somer Saleh, the other department co-director. “We make it a point to show up regularly in spaces where young people already are, at prayer, and all of their events, whether it’s a regular Friday [gathering] or an annual revival.”

The Social Services Department is facilitated by a team of seven, and both co-directors, Saleh and Eltayeib, are licensed marriage and family therapists. The department runs programming in four broad areas: mental wellness, family wellness, preventative advocacy (focused on issues of domestic violence and substance use), and special needs.

Women and girls write and decorate reflective letters to their past or future selves at a self-care event at the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Brooklyn, New York, on July 25.

Youth Center works to connect personal growth to faith

An important factor in departmental planning is the Islamic concept of tarbiyyah, or spiritual development, emphasizing personal growth in connection to faith. An illustration of this can be seen at the Sisters Self-Care Night, a recurring event that combines creative activities with intentional conversations grounded in Islamic teachings.

At the July gathering, women and girls of all ages sat at round tables and bonded over conversation as they painted, made floral arrangements, got henna tattoos, and wrote du’aa (prayer) journals and letters to themselves. These activities were then momentarily paused for a communal prayer break, followed by a halaqah, where everyone gathered to reflect on a brief talk by Saleh about the religious importance of rest.

“Slowing down is not a luxury. It is actually a part of our deen [religion],” she said, describing rest as an “act of worship” and referencing the Islamic teaching that “our bodies have a right over us.”

Amina Barnes, an educator in early intervention who lives in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is one of many attendees finding community and a sense of spiritual grounding at the MAS Youth Center.

“I loved the self-care night,” she said. “The brief talk on rest as worship really stayed with me. It affirmed something I already knew in my spirit, but hearing it out loud in that setting made me feel truly seen.”

As a single mother of three sons, each with different neurodivergent needs — Asperger’s syndrome, autism, and ADHD — Barnes said the center and its environment were what she had been praying for, describing the space as “emotionally aware and religiously sound.”

The impact of this sense of belonging is echoed in research. A 2019 article from the National Alliance on Mental Illness highlights community connection as a protective factor against mental illness and aid in reducing stigma. Studies on U.S. Muslim communities show that mosque-based programs can build trust, improve access to culturally competent care, and normalize help-seeking.

“When we talk about breaking the stigma, that looks like creating a community. People need to be able to connect, to hug each other, make plans with each other, celebrate each other. Those are the things that are incredibly important in helping manage and navigate mental health gaps,” Issa said.

For Jana, that community has not only been a source of healing but also a place to give back.

“When you walk into a masjid [mosque], you’re not expecting to see a Social Services Department. It’s so interesting and honestly groundbreaking,” she said. “I was attracted to it because I wanted to be a part of it.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Research shows ‘housing first’ policy works. NYC hasn’t fully embraced it.

2025-08-22T15:30:21+00:00

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Mayor Eric Adams announced some progress this month in addressing homelessness, with the city moving more than 3,500 New Yorkers from “streets and subways” into permanent housing.

The people had previously been living in shelters, not directly on the streets, said Neha Sharma, a spokesperson at the city’s Department of Social Services.

More than 105,000 people slept in city shelters each night in June, and the number of New Yorkers sleeping outside increased to 4,500 this year, according to the city’s annual street count. Some advocates say that in order to address the scope of the problem, city officials should wholly reconsider their approach.

In a few modest buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx, a pilot program may offer a way forward.

The “Street to Home Housing Pilot,” launched in 2023 by Volunteers of America-Greater New York, is the city’s only program that’s based on the “housing first” philosophy. The 30-year-old strategy developed – but never broadly implemented – in New York City prioritizes moving people directly from the street into permanent housing, without requiring sobriety, treatment, or shelter stays beforehand.

The thinking goes that once a person has a place to live, they are better situated to try to improve other aspects of their lives, like getting sober, or finding a job.

“Housing first was born in New York City in the 1980s, and it’s since been disseminated around the world as an evidence-based practice,” said Philip Yanos, a psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies homelessness.

Traditional programs do not consider a person ready for housing until they have addressed other issues.

Studies indicate that the housing first approach is highly effective at decreasing homelessness long-term. A 2021 review of 26 studies from the United States and Canada conducted by researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services found that housing first programs decreased homelessness by 88% when compared with treatment first programs.

“There’s like this 40% superiority gap for housing first over continuum of care in terms of being housed within 12 months. So we’re talking about 70% housed in housing first, 30% in continuum of care,” Yanos said, comparing the housing first strategy to New York’s system of moving people first through shelters and then into permanent housing.

In New York City’s pilot housing first program, more than 80% of the 81 participants enrolled at its founding in 2022 remained housed after two years, according to VOA-Greater New York.

“To be able to say to our clients, ‘you can lock your door, you’re gonna have privacy, and any support you need, we’re gonna connect you in real time, but you can come home first’ ... it’s been a game changer,” said Catherine Trapani, VOA-Greater New York’s assistant vice president of public policy.

Adams, who is running for re-election, piloted the program but has not expanded it. His office did not provide a statement in response to multiple requests for comment for this article.

The Trump administration opposes the housing first philosophy. In a July executive order, the administration called for “to the extent permitted by law, ending support for housing first.” The executive order argues that the policy of housing first deprioritizes accountability and fails “to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency.”

Houston held up as successful housing first model

Advocates for housing first hold up Houston as a successful implementation of the strategy. The Texas city has moved about 25,000 homeless people directly into apartments and houses over the past decade, cutting the number of homeless people in the city by 63% since 2011, the New York Times reported.

Houston’s approach centers on bringing together more than 100 social service organizations, which historically competed against each other, under the leadership of a single umbrella organization run by the Houston Coalition for the Homeless.

At the program’s founding, Mayor Sylvester Turner made the housing first strategy a major focus of his administration. Houston addressed the nonprofit coordination problem with a system of incentives and requirements. The city gave the lead organization the ability to dispense or withhold federal funding from homeless services organizations throughout the city based on their cooperation.

Adams prioritizes rapid street clearances

Adams has argued that his focus on getting homeless people off the street immediately by building shelter beds, conducting encampment sweeps, and pushing for involuntary psychiatric holds restores dignity to homeless New Yorkers by refusing to let them live in dangerous conditions on the streets.

He has contended that allowing severely mentally ill people to remain in encampments while waiting for housing solutions is inhumane and that immediate intervention saves lives.

Critics say his strategy has proven ineffective.

“Mayor Adams has utterly failed to tackle the root causes of homelessness,” said city comptroller Brad Lander, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in the Democratic primary in June. “According to a [2023] report from my comptroller’s office, out of 2,308 people forcibly removed by the mayor’s ‘sweeps,’ only three were placed into permanent housing. That’s not a solution; that’s a revolving door."

Gresham Worth, a communications manager at Coalition for the Homeless, wrote in a January blog post that the increasing police and National Guard presence in the subway system over recent years has been counterproductive, making it more difficult for outreach workers to establish trust and effectively engage with unsheltered people.

Services can be difficult to navigate

It is difficult and expensive to place homeless people in permanent subsidized units in New York City, where the vacancy rate is just 1.4%. Additionally, the city’s system of supportive housing – affordable housing with onsite services – built up over decades, is mired in red tape.

“We have 18 programs run by nine different agencies with 46 distinct eligibility criteria,” Fred Shack, CEO of Urban Pathways, who has worked with homeless New Yorkers for three decades, said at an April panel discussion.

The supportive housing system in New York can be difficult to navigate for homeless people and their advocates, said Pascale Leone, executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. It takes several months to a year after completing a housing application to hear back from the city about eligibility. Once approved, applicants have one year to find matching programs with available units. All the while, applicants cycle between streets and shelters.

The solution, homeless services providers argue, is for a mayor to demonstrate a sustained commitment to addressing the city’s homelessness crisis in collaboration with service providers the way Houston’s mayor did at the outset of his city’s housing first program.

Amy Blumsack, director of organizing and policy at the Brownsville food pantry Neighbors Together, wrote in March, “The next mayor must stop acting as though their hands are tied on this issue.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

New York City hospitals join ‘food as medicine’ movement, prescribing free boxes of fresh produce

2025-07-16T11:00:00+00:00

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New York city’s public hospital system is joining the “food as medicine” movement, offering “prescriptions” for free boxes of fresh produce — tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, peaches, bok choy, and fennel — delivered to patients’ homes each month for six months.

More than 500 patients have enrolled in the Lifestyle Medicine Program’s produce box initiative since its August start.

The program focuses on food, as well as other social determinants of health like exercise.

“It’s not just about nutrition, but also physical activity, sleep, stress, because it’s all connected,” said Dr. Michelle McMacken, executive director for nutrition and lifestyle medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals.

The program is related to the emerging food as medicine trend, which acknowledges that many chronic health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and concerns related to excess weight, can be at least partially managed through diet and exercise.

According to a 2023 study, poor diet is associated with 18.2% of cardiovascular issues and type 2 diabetes, and according to the Rockefeller Foundation, an estimated $13.6 billion in health care spending could be saved annually if all eligible Americans received medically tailored meals, nutritionally customized for their specific needs.

How New York is treating chronic health conditions with medically tailored meals

Samuel Rios, an administrative assistant at Con Edison, was diagnosed with pre-diabetes in 2020. A few months later, the pandemic hit and kept everyone indoors. Rios started to “binge on candy, and drink those very sugary Snapple iced tea drinks by the gallon.”

In 2021, he was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital with blood sugar levels over 700. The doctors prescribed insulin, but he refused to take it. He thought he could beat diabetes on his own.

“It wasn’t very smart of me. I wasn’t [testing] my blood sugar daily. I was eating things I shouldn’t eat,” he said. He fell back into his bad habits: McDonald’s, KFC, french fries, “all the stuff that gets you in trouble.”

On Feb. 8, 2024, Rios felt dizzy, his vision got blurry, and he fainted. His kidneys had started failing, and his blood sugar levels spiked to over 900. He had to be hospitalized at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull.

Over a year later, Rios, 49, has developed new eating habits. Instead of Big Macs and buckets of fried chicken, now he regularly makes his own pesto from fresh basil and olive oil, and eats salad daily. In six months, he has seen his A1C — his average blood sugar levels — improve from 11.3% to 5.7%, and he no longer needs insulin injections.

“This program saved my life,” Rios said.

The produce prescription is not the only perk of the program.

Participants have one-on-one counseling sessions with physicians and nurse practitioners, dietitians, health coaches, and other experts. Fitness instructors give them exercises. Psychologists help them look at the mental aspects of eating behavior. For patients who are financially insecure, community health workers can help find a food pantry or apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Participants receive counseling on sleep routines, because people who are sleep deprived are much more likely to desire high-calorie foods, research suggests.

They also meet in weekly group support sessions with others trying to achieve better health through lifestyle changes.

“The nutrition science is extremely clear that the foods that we eat are among the most important factors determining our long-term health and our risk of chronic disease,” McMacken said. “What’s challenging is helping people make those changes, especially when they’re facing financial constraints, when they have difficulty accessing some of the foods that we know are the healthiest foods.”

Research shows produce prescriptions yield health benefits

Food as medicine is not a new idea. Hippocrates advocated for it back in the fifth century BCE. But in the past decade, it has gained momentum and the backing of health care providers, said Alexina Cather, interim president of the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College. Thanks to a 2016 Medicaid modification, some states allow doctors to screen for food insecurity, provide nutrition education, and provide healthful food to low-income patients.

A produce box from Farm To People delivered to patients.

The Lifestyle Medicine Program at NYC Health + Hospitals began as a pilot at Bellevue Hospital. More than 850 patients enrolled, and in a 2023 study, doctors there documented positive health outcomes. After six months, participants reported an average of 2.4 fewer barriers to adopting a plant-based diet (such as not knowing what to eat that is plant based, or how to prepare those foods). Their physical activity increased by 0.7 days per week, and the number of participants who reported “good” or “very good” quality of sleep increased by 12.2 percentage points.

In a separate 2023 study, researchers also highlighted clinical improvements. Patients with prediabetes or were overweight or had obesity lost weight, and those with type 2 diabetes also saw improvements to their blood sugar levels.

Research conducted elsewhere also suggests that these programs can be effective. A 2021 Penn State study found that after seven months of using vouchers to buy fruits and vegetables, people’s blood sugar levels went down 1.3%. Another study, from Tufts University, showed that after six months of a produce prescription, patients were eating nearly an additional cup of fruits and vegetables daily. The odds of being food insecure also dropped by one-third.

A similar program in the Bronx ran from February 2023 to May 2025, when grant money from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture ran out. Bronx Health REACH, a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities, in partnership with the Corbin Hill Food Project, a Harlem-based nonprofit, sold vegetable boxes worth $35 for $2.50 to patients at its affiliated clinics.

The program was a success — some people lost weight, and many lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, said Kenny Escobar, nutrition and physical activity coordinator for Bronx Health REACH.

Not everyone has time or resources to prepare healthy meals

Some experts warn that it can be simplistic to imagine that six months of receiving vegetable boxes and cooking advice can fix complicated structural problems that afflict the health of many people with low incomes from marginalized communities. People who are working two jobs, or taking care of children, may not have time to cook or have access to utensils and a functional stove.

“In 2020, some NYCHA housing units didn’t have heat and gas for months,” Cather said of the New York City Housing Authority. “If you just gave them a bunch of food that they needed to cook, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

A few of the patients served by Bronx Health REACH reported that they didn’t have enough time to cook vegetables like rainbow Swiss chard, which takes a lot of time to soften. “One patient told me that she would want to utilize these things, but she just doesn’t have time to prepare them,” Escobar said.

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For patients who have the time and resources, produce prescriptions can be life changing. After his emergency hospitalization, Rios, who lives at the border of Bushwick and Williamsburg, weighed 292 pounds. At weekly meetings with dieticians and other patients in the program, he learned step by step how to control food portions, go light on olive oil, make salad, and find protein sources other than meat. He learned that he can still eat pasta, but the whole wheat kind is better, as plain pasta “can shoot up your glycemic levels.”

The first meal he learned to cook was lentil soup. He relishes his salads with beans and chickpeas.

“My taste buds have changed. The program allowed me to reboot my mind frame,” he said. “I know that that cheeseburger and fries at McDonald’s taste good, but do I really want my A1C to go up again? Nah, you know what? I can have my broccoli and my asparagus, and I add a little flavor to it, squeeze a little lemon, and have my little fish, and I’m fine with that.”

When family members tempted him with pizza or cake, knowing he would be meeting every week in a support group helped him stick to his goals. “The meetings are like AA meetings because you’re able to sit there with others who are going through the same thing as you, and there’s no judgment,” he said.

Rios has lost 75 pounds, which has helped not only his diabetes but also reduced his sleep apnea and joint inflammation. “I have the energy to walk,” he said. “I take long walks, and it’s just night and day for me.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Aging together: South Asian seniors in Queens alleviate loneliness through ‘co-living’

2025-07-15T11:00:00+00:00

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Each morning, Amit Ahuja brews a cup of hot masala tea before heading out on his daily walk to Apna Bazaar, an Indian supermarket, about a mile from his home in Queens. He lives with three other seniors in a “co-living” home, and together they spend time playing cards, exchanging stories about their children, and practicing yoga and meditation.

“I’m at peace,” says Ahuja, 68. “And when your mind is clean, it’s good because it feels better to live that way.”

Ahuja, who is originally from India, divorced over 30 years ago and had lived between Long Island and Queens before he joined the shared apartment in Glen Oaks, Queens, a year and a half ago. The building, run by India Home, is a nonprofit organization that serves South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrant seniors.

When he heard the group was opening a co-living home, he immediately signed up. Residents are selected based on their shared cultural background, including common language, diet, and religious practices. The residents have access to social workers, transportation to the senior centers for daily programming, and various field trips, including to temples in the tri-state area.

In 2018, about 34% of adults ages 50 to 80 reported feeling a lack of companionship at least some of the time, rising to over 41% in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States, according to a study published in JAMA. Since then, it has fluctuated and dropped slightly to 33% in 2024. Loneliness among seniors most commonly affects those who do not work, who live alone, or have lower household incomes.

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Lack of social connection can have serious health effects on older adults. In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called loneliness an epidemic in a report citing a 29% higher risk of heart disease, a 32% higher chance of stroke, a 50% higher likelihood of developing dementia, and a more than 60% higher risk of premature death.

“Co-living is very popular among the younger millennial generations across the world,” said Dr. Vasundhara Kalasapudi, a psychiatrist specializing in geriatrics who serves as executive director of India Home. “After Covid, some of our seniors lost their partners and became much more lonely. That’s when we thought, why not apply the co-living model for seniors?”

Amit Ahuja at his co-living home in Glen Oaks, Queens. The facility is run by India Home and serves seniors from South Asia.

A safe space to vent about children who don’t visit

Like the four other residents in the two-story home, Ahuja rents his own bedroom and bathroom, with a shared kitchen, kitchenette, two living rooms, and one other shared bathroom. He pays $1,000 per month. In New York City, the average monthly rate in long-term care can cost about $14,000 per month.

Samra Rashid, the social work director at India Home, said co-living with other South Asian seniors gives Ahuja and his housemates a safe space to talk with each other about their frustrations with their children, especially their lack of visits.

“To me they should let it out because if you’re hurt, saying something about your children does not mean that you don’t love your children,” Rashid said. “You can love them and be mad at them.”

Co-living for seniors originated in Denmark in the 1970s and since then, parts of the United States began adopting this way of life. California has led the way, with Phoenix Commons, which offers communal living for seniors 55 and older in the Bay Area.

India Home opened the first co-living home for seniors in New York City, in Glen Oaks, at the end of 2023, matching seniors who share similar diets, languages, and cultural backgrounds. The organization launched a second one in 2024 in Jamaica, Queens, housing Bangladeshi Muslim seniors. A third is planned, also for Jamaica, but a loss of federal funding from the new Trump administration is disrupting the project.

Ahuja waited about a month to move into the Glen Oaks co-living home, and the waiting list has since grown to nearly two dozen.

Umesh Naukkala, who has worked as a program assistant at India Home for the past three years, witnessed the start of the co-living home. He noticed that before they came to live there, many of the seniors felt lonely, with no one to talk to as their children seemed busy with their own lives. With co-living, the residents are able to spend time together and build connections.

“The aunties are out right now. Otherwise they would be here watching TV, talking, drinking tea or coffee” with Ahuja, Naukkala said. “It’s a friendly environment.”

Common language important for matching co-living seniors

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said intergenerational co-living is the best model for alleviating loneliness, but the shared culture at India Home is an important element.

“I’ve always been against the idea of older people just living with each other,” Sivaramakrishnan said. “Intergenerational mixing is very important because otherwise you become generationally isolated.”

In India, the population speaks over 100 languages with tens of thousands of dialects, making language a huge factor in matching seniors for co-living. At the home in Glen Oaks, the seniors all speak Hindi, while at the house in Jamaica, they speak Bengali.

“Language is the number one priority when matching seniors,” Naukkala said.

“If co-living is purely a place where you just live with people, but you don’t share a certain kind of cultural ethos with them, then I think co-living can be equally socially isolated for South Asian seniors,” Sivaramakrishnan said.

Rokeya Begum, left, and Salema Khatun visit the India Home senior center in Jamaica, Queens.

Unlike traditional senior or nursing homes, co-living offers older adults greater autonomy, as their daily activities are not closely monitored, and they have more freedom in how they spend their time. However, this varies depending on their level of movement.

“Mobility is one of the key ways to overcome social isolation. It’s a major factor that distinguishes people who are alone but still have access to social connection,” Sivaramakrishnan said. “A lot of homes will only take on people with a certain amount of fitness. And a certain amount of ability to live together, so we have to remember that we are not talking about the most vulnerable groups.”

This dynamic becomes even more complex in immigrant communities, with the expectation for older adults to live with their children as a cultural norm. As a result, many may not seek institutional care. In 2020, non-Hispanic white seniors made up 78.5% of the U.S. population ages 85 to 100, but comprised 92% of assisted-living residents in 2022.

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Sivaramakrishnan said that when thinking about the South Asian diaspora, migration falls at the center, and it occurred in two major waves. First, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 replaced the quota-based immigration system that had existed since the 1920s with a preference system based on labor skills needed by the United States and family reunification. This led to an influx of Asian Americans, many of whom are now part of a generation growing old in the same communities where they settled. The second wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s includes older migrants who arrived later in life to live with their children in the United States.

“In any case, the second group is even more vulnerable because they moved without social networks,” Sivaramakrishnan said.

Proximity to senior center a plus for co-living residents

At the second co-living residence opened by India Home, in Jamaica, 72-year-old Rokeya Begum and 77-year-old Salema Khatun have found comfort by sharing common interests while living together. For the past 11 months they have spent their days writing, cooking their favorite dish – fried fish – and hosting picnics.

They live in a two-story home with three women upstairs, sharing one bathroom, and a husband and wife living downstairs. Khatun, a homemaker who moved to the United States from Bangladesh in 1994, lost her husband two years later to a brain hemorrhage. Living in Jamaica, she used to be closer to the senior center, but after she moved with her daughter to Long Island, it was too far away. When she heard about the co-living home opening three blocks away from the senior center, she applied right away.

“I want to be able to come here everyday, exercise, attend lectures, and join prayer,” Khatun said.

Begum, who was a first-grade teacher and poet in Bangladesh, moved to the United States in 2020. Two years ago, her husband died of a stroke. She said she takes time to settle into new situations, but is enjoying life in the co-living home and plans to stay long-term.

The women said it’s been an adjustment living with new adults later in life.

“All people are not the same,” Begum said. “Human beings have different personalities, but I always try to adjust with others.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

U.S. food makers are still using dyes linked to hyperactivity in kids. Parents want them banned.

2025-07-14T11:00:00+00:00

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free New York City newsletter here.

Long Island mom Stefanie Lomuto’s 7-year-old son came home from school one day in April angry and hyperactive. “He was off the wall,” she said.“We were in hell for five days.”

She asked what he had for lunch. A bagel with yogurt. “I was, like, what kind of yogurt did you have? And he’s, like, strawberry. I was, like, oh, no.” She contacted the school and learned that yes, the pink yogurt contained food dye.

When Lomuto’s son was 3 and having behavioral and impulse control issues, she came across an article that recommended cutting out food additives. “First thing we cut out was high fructose corn syrup. We saw a bit of an improvement. Food dyes were the next one on the list. I cut those. And our issues drastically went away.”

The family saw a huge improvement in his behavior, but since then he has become more sensitive to dyes than ever. “He has one maraschino cherry, and our whole week is just destroyed,” she said.

While Lomuto makes sure not to let her son eat artificially colored foods at home, she can’t control what happens at school. His teachers know that he’s dye-free, and Lomuto sends him with his own cupcakes for class parties, but the food that the cafeteria sells is harder to track.

“His friends are buying ice pops, and he asked me for a dollar to buy an ice pop,” she said. “I can’t even let the kid have a simple ice cream at school like his friends.”

Studies have consistently found that artificial food colorings including Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, and Blue 1 and 2, can make some children hyperactive, inattentive, and irritable. In early 2025, Red 3 was banned in U.S. food products; it was originally banned in cosmetics in 1990 due to cancer links.

Since 2010 in Britain and the European Union, any food containing artificial dyes must carry a warning label that the additives may cause hyperactivity. Many manufacturers stopped using them. But in the United States, until this year, the Food and Drug Administration had stated that dyes were safe, while acknowledging that “some children may experience sensitivities.”

RFK Jr. asks food producers to phase out dyes, but it’s not mandatory

Artificial food dyes are everywhere: in Cheetos, Jolly Ranchers, applesauce, pickles, spinach wraps, ice cream, even Tylenol. A 2016 study found that dyes were present in 43% of the foods marketed to children in a single grocery store.

New Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made food dyes a pillar of his crusade against chronic illness. In March, he directed the FDA to request that food producers phase out dyes by 2026. Compliance will be voluntary.

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“Everyone realized they weren’t talking about actual regulations or a regulatory ban,” said Jensen Jose of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has advocated removal of dyes from children’s food. “We’re disappointed in the limited scope.”

New York City public schools already ban a range of additives, preservatives, and sugar alternatives. A bill in the state legislature seeks to ban six common dyes from food served in public schools, but it did not pass this year.

It was drafted by State Assembly Member Dr. Anna Kelles, who holds a PhD in nutritional epidemiology, and State Sen. Brian Kavanaugh, who began working on the issue several years ago after learning about artificial dyes at a conference.

“As more and more legislators become educated about the dangers of these foods, you gain greater support,” said Stanley Davis, a spokesman for Kavanaugh.

Parents of dye-sensitive children said the legislation could change their lives.

“It would be huge,” said Christine Einzig of Corinth, New York, who has 7-year-old triplets who are sensitive to dyes. “We would see a change in behavior for so many kids.”

Behavior of all 300 children in one study was impacted by dyes

What persuaded policymakers in Europe and the United Kingdom to regulate dyes was a 2007 study conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton.

The study followed 300 3- and 8-year-olds who did not have any known behavioral or attention problems. After removing dyes from their home diets, scientists gave the children an identical-looking fruit-flavored drink each day — sometimes containing artificial dyes, sometimes not. Parents, teachers, and external observers recorded the children’s behavior daily, without knowing which ones had consumed the artificial dyes. In addition, the 8-year-olds were given a computerized attention test.

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All the children in the study, including ones who had not previously been identified as sensitive, were impacted by dyes. “These changes shift the children along the hyperactivity scale. For children who are already predisposed to attention problems, the impact of dyes can move them far enough up that scale to cause a real problem.” said Dr. Jim Stevenson, the author of the study.

The paper estimated that about 10% of the difference between the behavior of children with ADHD and those without could be attributed to dyes.

“It’s a public health issue, because you cannot identify the kids who are going to react. So the best thing to do is take the dyes out of the food. In Europe, and Britain too, we operate on a precautionary principle. If we have a concern that something may have an effect, then let’s take action,” Stevenson said.

Lisa Lefferts was a part of the 2011 FDA panel tasked with deciding whether U.S. foods should carry warning labels for dyes.

“They did not ask us if we thought dyes were safe,” she said. “What they did ask us is if we thought a causal relationship had been established for certified color additives and hyperactivity.”

In 2011, she said, scientists were not sure about the causal link between hyperactivity and dyes – and the FDA decided not to ask a direct question about whether dyes caused any other kind of “harm.” Looking just at hyperactivity limited the scope of the panel and the power it had to make recommendations – but “they did not ask us if we thought dyes were safe,” Lefferts said.

Limiting children’s exposure to dyes can be burden for parents

In 2021, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment published a systematic meta analysis of 27 studies of dyes, exploring their impact on humans and animals. The finding was consistent with the UK study – and with the parental perception – that synthetic dyes impact neurobehavior in some children. And, these days, Lefferts puts a lot of stock in its findings.

“It was informed by a scientific symposium. They asked for public information. They put the report out for public review and comment, as well as peer review,” she said.

And while some officials suggest that parents should be responsible for keeping their children away from food dyes, parent advocates say that could be an undue burden for people who lack educational advantages or are financially struggling.

“Our child had a mother that had the opportunity and the time to investigate. I make all the grocery trips, I spend extra for the treats. There are many families that don’t have that same opportunity,” said Whitney Cawood, director and producer of To Dye For: A Documentary.

Cawood and her husband, who live in Dalton, Georgia, created the documentary, interviewing legislators, scientists, and families to understand how dyes made it into American food and the impact the additives have on individual children and their families.

A former teacher, Cawood said many single parents, parents who struggle with literacy, or those who don’t drive, may not have the resources or awareness to seek out dye-free options. She points out that schools are also a place where students have less control over their diet.

“Many families are dependent upon free and reduced [price] lunch and snack programs within their schools,” she said.

Einzig echoes this sentiment in New York.

Food as medicine: How New York is treating chronic health conditions with medically tailored meals

“We’re in a poorer part of the state,” she said, “and we only have one grocery store in town.” Other parents, she said, might not have the time or the money to go to another store half an hour away.

There’s no medical name or test for a dye sensitivity, but about 8% of children with ADHD were particularly affected, according to a 2012 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

“You want to know the worst thing right now?” Einzig said. Her son has been prescribed a new ADHD medication – “and it’s pink. Why is it pink?”

She is referring to an extended-release version of Vyvanse that contains Blue No. 1, Red No. 3 and Yellow No. 6. Lomuto has had the same experience. “The capsule is pink, but the pill [inside] supposedly doesn’t have dyes - so there’s a chewable version I’m now trying to get.” However, her insurance won’t cover that version because her son can technically swallow a capsule. “Why are we feeding him this thing that’s making him hyper while giving him the medication to make him not hyper? You can’t make that make sense,” she said.

Although not all children are equally sensitive to dyes, children can be affected by the behaviour of their classmates. Even one child struggling to regulate themselves in a class can disrupt teaching for an entire day, educators say. A research overview from Ohio State University in 2012 found that the presence of a child with a dye reaction “may have an aggregated effect on classroom climate.”

Einzig sees this as an important issue to make education better for all children. “How much time are these teachers actually spending teaching, versus behavior management?” she asked.

Einzig hopes that nationwide legislation will eventually phase out all dyes so her kids can go back to eating their favorite foods. “They talk about Doritos a lot,” she said. She’s found another type of cheesy nacho chip that they like – “but, I know they miss it.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Food as medicine: How New York is treating chronic health conditions with medically tailored meals

2025-07-10T13:39:24+00:00

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At a lower west side commercial kitchen nestled underneath rooftop greenery, about 70 meal prep volunteers, dressed in white aprons and clear bouffant caps, move in a tireless flow, ladling soup into plastic containers as chefs oversee massive steam kettles bubbling with broths for the punctual production of medically tailored meals to be delivered across New York City’s five boroughs.

These helpers are from God’s Love We Deliver, a nonprofit that pioneered the use of food as a health intervention during the AIDS crisis. At a time when traditional health services often overlooked nutrition, they stepped in to provide medically tailored meals — designed by registered dietitians — for HIV patients who were too weak or bedridden to cook for themselves.

In 2020, Amida Care became the first Medicaid Special Needs Health Plan in New York to partner with GLWD to offer medically tailored, home-delivered meals as a reimbursable benefit. This initiative aimed to support members living with complex conditions such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, and heart failure, particularly those facing challenges in preparing meals due to their chronic health conditions.

“We’ve started seeing ourselves as a health care provider — very similar to the doctor you go to,” said Allyson Schiff, director of business development and community partnerships at GLWD. “Except instead of a prescription for a pill or physical therapy, we’re writing you a prescription for food.”

The New York State Department of Health has launched a $500 million Social Care Network to connect Medicaid members across all health plans with community-based organizations that address social determinants of health — such as food insecurity, housing instability, and transportation. This New York health initiative positions food and nutrition, often referred to as “Food as Medicine,” as essential health supports beyond the traditional clinical setting, and recognizes that medical care can happen in the community, too.

Food as Medicine programs can reduce health care costs

At the core of this network is the delivery of wraparound services — especially nutritional interventions like medically tailored meals — through trusted community-based organizations. All Medicaid members are eligible for screening and navigation to programs like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps, and WIC, a nutrition program for women, infants, and children.

But those who meet enhanced eligibility criteria — such as people with cancer, serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or who are pregnant or postpartum — may receive direct services, including medically tailored meals, pantry restocking, nutrition education, housing support, and transportation to health-related appointments. These time-limited benefits are meant to fill critical gaps and complement, rather than duplicate, other supports.

Chef Curtis Wilson stirs the pot at God’s Love We Deliver in New York City.

The growth of Food as Medicine initiatives in New York has been driven not only by improved health outcomes, but also by their potential to reduce health care costs. The NY Food as Medicine Coalition — which includes organizations like GLWD, the Food Pantries for the Capital District, and the Alliance for a Hunger-Free New York — has been a key advocate for integrating medically tailored meals and nutrition services into Medicaid.

Their efforts helped lay the groundwork for New York’s Social Care Network. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, a New York-based philanthropy, diet-related diseases cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $1.1 trillion annually, and scaling Food as Medicine programs nationwide could yield $13.6 billion in annual health care savings.

“Growing awareness of the link between diet and disease, the impact of nutrition on health outcomes, and the health care costs associated with chronic disease have led to increased support for Food as Medicine initiatives and efforts to incorporate them into state policy,” said Rebecca Keister, director of development and communications at Food Pantries for the Capital District.

How medically tailored meals fill gaps in care

The Social Care Network is led by nine nonprofit organizations that partner with community-based organizations to advance health equity. At GLWD, clients receive medically tailored meals developed by in-house chefs and nutritionists, who can remove components like liquids, phosphorus, and potassium for patients with renal disease.

Meal options can be made soft, minced, or pureed, ensuring clients with chewing or swallowing difficulties — like cancer patients who find foods such as chicken legs challenging — still receive vital nutrition, Schiff said. These adaptations also allow GLWD to serve children as young as 2, including those with conditions like sickle cell disease.

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GLWD provides services without income requirements, and clients do not need to be on Medicaid. To qualify, clients must have a confirmed diagnosis from a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, and experience limitations in activities of daily living, such as being unable to shop, stand, or cook due to illness or disability.

GLWD can meet the clinical needs of clients of over 200 diagnoses and delivers 4.2 million heart-healthy, low-sodium, and diabetes-friendly meals annually across all five boroughs and nearby counties with twice-weekly service. Currently, 40% to 50% of the organization’s funding comes through health care reimbursements, Schiff said.

“Medically tailored meals don’t just fill plates — they fill gaps in care. By addressing nutrition as a critical part of health, we help people manage chronic conditions, stay out of the hospital, and live healthier, more independent lives,” Schiff said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports people who are food insecure — lacking access to the necessary foods to meet their nutritional needs — are at a greater risk of developing 10 of the costliest and most deadly diet-related chronic conditions, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

According to the Community Service Society of New York’s 2024 Annual Survey of Housing and Economic Security, even earning three times the federal poverty threshold of $15,650 a year for a single person ($46,950) doesn’t insulate New Yorkers from food insecurity. And having a full-time job is no safeguard either — nearly 1 in 5 full-time workers surveyed still said they struggled to afford enough food. New York has the highest income inequality of any state in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau published in 2023.

Garlic rows await harvest for food prescription boxes at Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Food sovereignty: Some projects work with local farms

Several nonprofits across New York are going a step beyond individualized meals and are embracing food sovereignty, prioritizing community control over food systems through grassroots Food as Medicine initiatives.

Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs has launched a pilot program in collaboration with Saratoga Hospital’s Community Health Center, supported by Health Care Without Harm. This initiative delivers biweekly boxes of fresh, locally grown produce — such as kale, carrots, garlic, onions, sweet corn, summer squash, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, and apples — to residents of three low-income housing communities. Most of the produce is cultivated on-site at Pitney Meadows, with additional items sourced from nearby farms.

Daniel Williams, food sovereignty and farm engagement coordinator at Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs, New York, holds a freshly picked radish.

Hospital nutritionists work with the farm to develop educational materials that help participants incorporate the produce into their diets to support specific health goals. The pilot aims to evaluate how integrating fresh, local food into health care can affect health outcomes, with an eye toward expanding the model regionally.

Daniel Williams, Pitney Meadows’ food sovereignty and farm engagement coordinator, said they draw inspiration from movements in South America and Africa. These movements united to affirm Indigenous peoples’ rights to grow and eat food on their own terms, in line with their traditions and practices.

“There’s a need to have the people of our community have access to good food that’s grown, that comes from within the community, and feeds the community,” Williams said.

HHS drops waivers that funded Food as Medicine programs in New York

At the January 2024 Food Is Medicine Summit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a national effort to expand nutrition-based interventions through Medicaid managed care and Section 1115 waivers, which let states test innovative Medicaid programs, including social care funding.

But in April, the agency reversed course, announcing it will no longer approve or renew these waivers. This threatens New York’s Health Equity Reform Waiver, which funds Social Care Networks and expires in March 2027.

For God’s Love We Deliver, this risks 40% of its funding from Medicaid reimbursements tied to regional managed care pilots, like Amida Care’s In Lieu of Services initiative, which rely on the waiver’s federal matching funds.

“Given that such a huge part of our funding comes from health care right now, what happens after 2027 when the waiver ends, is a very big question mark for us,” Schiff said. “We’re currently in the midst of strategy and planning to see how we can continue our growth and our good work in a post-waiver world.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

How connecting with nature helps Black women have healthier pregnancies

2025-07-07T13:26:18+00:00

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At the start of her pregnancy with her now 10-month-old daughter, Marica Lowe was consumed by fear. She was so worried for her safety and that of her unborn baby that she holed up in her bedroom most days. She even skipped Mardi Gras, the vibrant but notoriously crowded festival that is normally the highlight of her year.

But as spring began, and the streets filled with flowering trees, Lowe reconnected with what had lured her to move to New Orleans from her hometown of New York City two years earlier: nature.

“The first time I visited New Orleans, I went on a walk, and I saw limes growing on the tree,” Lowe said. “Fruit doesn’t grow on trees in New York, so that really drew me here.”

She organized a community “sensory walk” through Couturie Forest, a 60-acre nature preserve. The aim was to take in the beauty of the natural environment by listening to birdsong, smelling fragrant plants, touching tree bark, and grounding themselves in the earth.

It was the second trimester of her pregnancy, and something unexpected happened. As she led the group through the forest, she experienced a profound mental shift, feeling peaceful and centered.

“I felt connected to nature. I felt protected. I felt more excited. I felt connected to my baby,” recalled Lowe, 39, who is now the wellness director at Dream House Lounge in New Orleans, a nonprofit organization committed to expanding access to mental and spiritual wellness services. “It just was life-giving.”

Keturah Queen, GirlTREK recruitment specialist, takes part in a midday group walk through New York City with her young daughter.

Research increasingly shows that women who participate in nature-based activities have healthier pregnancies — information that is especially critical for Black women, who nationwide have a maternal mortality rate that is more than three times the rate for white women, according to the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. In New York City, Black women face a fourfold higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications than white women — and research shows that more than 80% of these deaths are preventable.

For Black women, though, getting out into nature can be a challenge. Decades of discriminatory housing policies and disinvestment have resulted in many Black women living in communities with limited access to parks and green spaces, walkable streets, vegetation, or shade trees. These inequalities don’t just degrade the quality of life in these neighborhoods, they contribute to physical and psychological health disparities that disproportionately affect Black women of childbearing age.

In response, health advocacy groups and community-focused birth workers are creating opportunities for Black women to connect with nature, recognizing it as a vital tool in maternal health and wellness.

“When a Black pregnant woman walks through a park or sits under a tree, she’s not just relaxing — she’s reclaiming a piece of her health and her power,” said Keturah Queen, recruitment specialist at GirlTREK, a national health justice movement that aims to combat systemic racism and extend Black people’s lives through nature walks for women. “Nature gives us a chance to reset.”

Research shows link between green space and maternal health

Queen, 40, joined GirlTREK in 2016, when her first child turned 1. Hoping to lose weight and connect with like-minded women, she began walking regularly and along the way, cultivated a deep love for nature.

“When I got involved with GirlTREK, I started to plan nature walks,” Queen said. “And then I found myself being at such a place of calm, feeling stress-free and just loving to be under the skies, or just in the grass, barefoot walking — different things that brought me joy.”

A 2023 study led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, among other institutions, found a measurable link between green space and maternal mental health. Analyzing more than 415,000 singleton births in Southern California, researchers found that for every 10% increase in visible street-level greenery, the risk of postpartum depression dropped by more than 4%.

Marica Lowe explores the natural corners of Tremé in New Orleans during her third trimester of pregnancy.

One in eight women who have recently given birth experience symptoms of postpartum depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Black women are much more susceptible. Without treatment, the condition can affect a mother’s well-being, her ability to care for her baby, and even the child’s development, including sleep, feeding, and behavior.

The health impacts of green space also extend to physical complications during pregnancy. Pregnant women residing in urban areas with sparse tree coverage face more than twice the risk of hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia, a study by the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania found.

Preeclampsia — a condition that typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy involves high blood pressure and can lead to organ damage — affects about 1 in 25 pregnancies, and Black women are more than 50% more likely than white women to develop it.

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The same study found that those living within 100 meters of areas with less than 10% tree canopy had more than twice the odds of developing complications related to hypertension — especially non-Hispanic Black women — compared to those living near green spaces with more than 30% tree cover.

Black neighborhoods across the country have steadily lost trees over the years — a trend driven by environmental neglect, which closely ties to the legacy of housing discrimination.

“People who are Black, people who have historically been marginalized, live in neighborhoods that continue to experience disinvestment and dispossession,” said Dr. Max Jordan Nguemeni, an assistant professor in general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In his latest research, Nguemeni is examining whether there is a direct link between tree canopy coverage and health outcomes before and after pregnancy in underserved Black neighborhoods. He and his team began by analyzing data from a tree-planting initiative in Philadelphia, where some predominantly Black neighborhoods received new trees and others with similar demographics did not.

Marica Lowe soaks up the sun at Pontchartrain Park in New Orleans with her then 8-month-old daughter, Orí Jenovah Lowe, during their daily time outdoors.

Nguemeni’s study aims to determine whether differences in green space impacted not just the broader Black community, but Black pregnant women in particular.

This focus on environmental factors and the effects of these disparities resonates deeply with Michele Akosua Chin-On, a New York City doula, private duty nurse, and co-founder of The After Birth Initiative created by the grassroots organization Our Bodies Our Births. She has witnessed firsthand how environmental and systemic stress affects Black mothers — from elevated cortisol and blood pressure to lower vitamin D levels linked to depression and higher-risk pregnancies.

“These inequalities are like a visceral pain,” she said. “It’s proof that Black women are not heard, taken care of and seen. If you nurture a mother, you nurture a nation.”

GirlTREK recruiting for Harlem walking group

Chin-On is committed to helping Black women reconnect with nature throughout their motherhood journey — a message she often shares with the women she supports, including 26-year-old Amanah Brookins, whom she encourages to spend time outdoors, especially during her postnatal recovery period.

“When you walk out in nature, and you’re touching Mother Earth, and you’re looking up, you see that you’re part of the moon, you’re part of the sunshine, you’re part of life,” Chin-On said. “When you see flowers actually reproducing these beautiful buds, that’s symbolic. You’re one with the universe and one with motherhood.”

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Brookins, along with her husband and firstborn, used to live in Jamaica. Her home there was surrounded by a river, a garden, and a plethora of trees.

“Getting that fresh air and that sun on your skin not just prepared my body physically, but just lifted my mood,” she said.

But in September 2024, early in her pregnancy with her second child, Brookins moved back to New Jersey and began working 11-hour shifts at a call center in Essex County.

“By the time you get out of work, it’s already dark outside. You haven’t spent any time in the sun,” Brookins said. “You’re just behind a desk all day, and it’s not only just the physical aspects of having pains throughout the day, like your feet swelling up, but just mentally and emotionally, it’s taxing.”

Determined to maximize her income before her baby’s arrival, Brookins delayed starting maternity leave until less than two weeks before giving birth — a difficult choice, as the long indoor hours had become a source of increased loneliness and stress.

As GirlTREK, founded in 2010, expands, Queen is recruiting for a new Harlem walking group specifically for Black mothers, who she said because of pressures and responsibilities are vulnerable to “the three deadly I’s: isolation, inactivity, and injustice.”

“We find that women who are in isolation, their health is failing more, because they feel like they’re doing it by themselves,” she said. “They’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed out, and some of them don’t have an outlet.”

Walking with a “sister friend” alleviates stress, boosts social skills, and motivates women to have a set structure, as well as an accountability partner — fostering trust and deepening their connection with nature, Queen said.

“How many times do we just not feel like it? But if you have someone who’s encouraging you, pulling you along, that’s just life-saving within itself.”

Queen, Lowe, and Brookins — alongside organizations like WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Outdoor Afro — emphasize that the movement to connect Black pregnant women with nature must go beyond individual healing. They are demanding urgent policy changes that confront the environmental consequences of structural racism. They call for halting development in urban green spaces and investing in community gardens, parks, and walkable areas that support Black families’ health and well-being.

‘This Side Up’ onesies and crib distribution: Infant sleep safety efforts central in Queens

Lowe’s advocacy for environmental justice was strengthened by negative medical experiences she had during her pregnancy. Her doctor kept warning her about potential complications as a Black woman, statements that felt impersonal and disconnected.

“The doctor kept telling me these things that were statistics around my age, around like just being Black and the things that could happen, all these risk factors,” Lowe said. “And in the last conversation I had with the doctor, I was just like, ‘Are you talking about me, or are you talking about the statistics? Because I’m in great health.’”

Nature became her remedy, a break from the unjust but common realities Black women across the United States face within the health care system. During checkups and even in labor, Lowe’s heart rate never spiked — something she attributes to the calming effects of her connection to nature.

“It helped to regulate both me and my baby,” she said.

This story has been updated to include more recent data on the maternal mortality rate for Black women in New York City and to include a new name for The After Birth Initiative.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

NYC’s India Home loses federal funding over its culturally sensitive senior care. It’s not giving in.

2025-07-02T11:00:00+00:00

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free New York City newsletter here.

Vasundhara Kalasapudi, known as Dr. K, a psychiatrist specializing in geriatrics, lost her father to vascular dementia. When she found out about his diagnosis, she wanted to bring him to New York City from India. She called the city’s department of health, then state and federal agencies, looking for resources, but she kept hearing the same response.

“They said, ‘Dr. K, we know what you are looking for, but, you know, we don’t have any curry-serving facilities,’” she recalled.

Years later, she would create some: India Home, a nonprofit senior care provider serving South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrants. Kalasapudi serves as executive director. Now the centers’ cultural sensitivity has made it a target. India Home has lost $1 million in federal funding to support a new affordable housing project it is building in Jamaica, Queens.

The January decision was tied to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which aimed to eliminate all programs and policies based on race or sex, including those promoting racial equity and attempts to address disparities and cultural differences.

“We cannot say we are not culturally sensitive. We will continue to serve halal and vegetarian meals, and run our regular activities because we are committed to our core mission,” Kalasapudi said. “We’re hopeful that our city and state officials understand the challenges happening at the federal level and continue to support our services.”

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India Home operates five senior care centers with over 1,000 members and two co-living homes across Queens. It provides services that respect the 25 different languages their clients speak, their dietary habits, and cultural norms, while helping seniors access public health benefits such as transportation and housing. With both co-living homes at full capacity and waiting lists to get in, the new project would add 94 units.

The organization was awarded $2.5 million in federal funding for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years to support the $70 million development, along with the state, investors and philanthropists. India Home purchased the properties, and has identified a developer, architect, and a legal firm.

But in late January, India Home received a call from New York Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office informing them that the second year of federal funding would be cut.

Kalasapudi describes the 2007 founding of India Home as a story of three daughters. She was looking for a place where her father would feel at home. Then she noticed one of her colleagues would drop her mother, who has dementia, at a nursing home while attending medical conferences. When her colleague returned, her mother would ask, “Why did you leave me?”

Another friend, who trained in geriatric psychiatry with her, had to quit her job for two years to care for her father with Parkinson’s disease. “That’s when I realized that even as doctors, we struggled to find the right support,” she says. “So what about regular people, especially those who don’t speak English? Where do they turn for help?”

Mohammad Razvi, CEO of the nonprofit Council of Peoples Organization, which has helped over 40,000 South Asians across New York City through food pantries and older adult services, emphasizes the importance of culturally sensitive programming to ensure clear communication.

“Even when a translator is available, things can get lost in translation due to a lack of cultural competency, and that’s what we’re facing,” Razvi said.

Homelessness remains one of the most pressing issues in New York City, especially for its growing aging population. The city saw a 250% increase in homeless people ages 55 and older, and a 300% increase of those 65 and older, between 2004 and 2017, according to a study by the New York State Health Foundation. The same study projected that by 2030, the homeless population over 55 and 65 could triple again.

“The housing projects are helping the community with long-term solutions,” Kalasapudi said. “A lack of housing or food leads to more hospitalizations. So this initiative isn’t just about getting seniors into housing, it’s about giving them stability, improving their health, and keeping them out of shelters. That has a ripple effect, not just on the budget, but on the entire community.”

With NYC’s aging population growing, The Bay Ridge Center shows what older adult care can be in Brooklyn — and the nation

At the Jamaica Muslim Center-India Home on a recent morning, about 50 seniors gathered in the room above the prayer room for an exercise class. Some standing and others seated, they engaged in light movements, rotating their arms in wide circles and moving their hips from side to side while mingling. The class has become a part of their daily routine.

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, criticized the administration’s attack on DEI efforts as anti-immigrant.

“Once migrants have settled and are tax-paying citizens, or dependents of tax-paying citizens, then even immigrants need to be integrated in their old age. I think it’s a social responsibility,” she said. “It’s very selfish to think that you could take their cheap labor when they were young and that you don’t owe them anything in their old age.”

Kalasapudi said that when they apply for grants for India Home, they extol the cultural sensitivity they bring to senior care services – and will keep doing so.

“Honestly, we’re not making any changes to the services we provide or how we hire staff,” she says. “We’re not changing anything, because it’s important that our team can speak the different South Asian languages our seniors speak. It is important for them to connect with the seniors.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

A New York Social Security research center analyzed barriers of access to benefits. Trump shut it down.

2025-06-30T15:08:39+00:00

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Ruth Finkelstein, a professor of public health at Hunter College and co-director of the New York Retirement and Disability Research Center, remembers in excruciating detail the moment she found out the Social Security Administration cancelled the funding it had promised.

It was 6:20 p.m. Feb. 20, and a mild snowstorm blew outside her window. Finkelstein didn’t receive a phone call or even an email. Instead, a small update appeared on the administrative system the center uses to manage grants.

“It said that the government was no longer interested in this work and that it was terminated effective today,” she recalled.

The New York branch was one of six national research centers comprising the terminated Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, which had existed in various forms for the past 25 years.

The consortium’s termination is one piece of the Trump administration’s larger assault on the Social Security Administration and other federal agencies, including major cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The agency launched the New York center just two years ago, awarding it $1.9 million in the first year of a four-year contract. A partnership between CUNY and The New School, the center’s research focused on the ways Social Security benefits could be more equitably applied across America’s socioeconomic spectrum.

It analyzed barriers to access, including discrimination encountered by older LGBTQ+ adults, language and cultural obstacles facing older Asian Americans, and the impacts of cash pay on retirement security, particularly among Latino workers.

For example, its review of literature on the intersection between aging, health, and climate change illuminated gaps and presented recommendations to fill them, such as emphasis on vulnerable populations and improved data collection techniques.

The New York center also focused on Social Security access for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, like Coney Island resident Frankie DeChirico. While serving 35 years at Sullivan Correctional Facility, DeChirico sustained an injury that shattered his femur, prompting surgery to implant a rod running from hip to knee. Upon release from prison in 2023, the Social Security Administration approved DeChirico’s claim for Supplemental Security Income, which provides monthly payments to individuals with disabilities and older adults with limited resources.

But an eight-month initial payment delay and confusing reductions in his monthly checks have made it difficult to navigate life after release. “I just got a letter from them that they were going to withhold $96.70. They said they were overpaying or something – I don’t understand it,” DeChirico said. The reduction takes DeChirico’s monthly income from $644 down to $547. “I have to stretch it out the best I can,” he said.

The New York research center had also been pursuing a community-based research study into barriers encountered by formerly incarcerated New Yorkers in accessing disability benefits.

Almost 4 million New Yorkers collect Social Security benefits, and 571,000 rely on it for more than 90% of their income. “It’s paying for food, it’s paying for rent, for Medicare … and then any form of discretionary spending that you want to think about from toothpaste to visiting your grandkids,” Finkelstein said.

The announcement of the consortium’s termination came from the agency’s previous acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. “Terminating our RDRC cooperative agreements aligns with President [Donald] Trump’s priorities to end fraudulent and wasteful initiatives and contracts,” Dudek said in a press release. Dudek, who previously worked in a midlevel job in the anti-fraud office, was placed on administrative leave in February, accused of sharing sensitive information with the Department of Government Efficiency. He was reinstated and promoted days later.

Keeping with his previous role, Dudek prioritized “anti-fraud” efforts as acting commissioner. According to a report by Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Dudek’s team scaled back phone services, forcing older adults who want to change their direct deposit information to either reckon with QR codes and confusing authentications, or venture to field offices.

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The Social Security Administration could not be reached for comment for this article.

An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 6 million seniors live over 45 miles away from their nearest Social Security office. If beneficiaries can get to the offices, they may encounter longer wait times due to dramatic staff reductions.

With reduced funding and changes in how claimants interact with the agency, vulnerable New Yorkers may miss out on essential benefits. “Without robust research,” Finkelstein said, “the Social Security system grows less and less functional for the people who rely on it.”

Richard Frank, director of the Center on Health Policy at the Brookings Institution, has two hypotheses about why the agency terminated the research consortium.

“Let’s start off by being generous,” he said, “and say the real thing is that they just don’t understand what research has to do with running a program,” and that the extent of it should be checking if someone who says they’re sick really is sick.

“The less generous way,” Frank said, “would be to say that basically these people distrust science and expertise, and therefore don’t believe that it’s going to get them answers that are in line with their view of the world.”

As Finkelstein considers the future of a Social Security Administration without a robust research program, she can’t help but get existential.

“No longer are we understanding how family caregiving works in families applying for disability benefits,” she said, expressing exasperation. “No longer are we understanding how late-arriving immigrants are managing their retirement.”

The list of vulnerable New Yorkers whose interactions with Social Security will no longer be monitored goes on and on, she said. “I’m not usually this overwrought, but I never imagined anything like this. I can’t imagine where it’s going.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

‘A place of empathy’: Queer mutual aid group helps New Yorkers with disabilities

2025-06-27T15:32:57+00:00

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On a spring afternoon, Umi Khokhar found herself standing in the hospital room of a patient she had never met in person. But she knew they had no one else to retrieve supplies from home, and she was there to help.

“They mentioned that they really needed some medication from their house, and that if they didn’t receive this medication, they would have to be in the hospital longer, essentially,” Umi said.

The patient’s health had declined, and regular hospital visits are part of their life with a disability, Umi said. She knew that the patient could not get the medication they needed from the hospital.

So Umi picked up the patient’s keys, went to their house and packed up their medication, books, and art supplies to bring back to the hospital. They also gathered the patient’s dirty laundry and dropped it off at a laundromat.

“I was just coming from a place of empathy and the fact that they said that they didn’t have anyone else they can rely on,” said Umi, a web designer and educator based in Woodside, Queens, who founded Queer Disability Aid.

The group of queer New Yorkers with disabilities offers assistance with unskilled and skilled tasks to other queer people with disabilities. Those they serve reach out through help by filling out a Google form linked in Queer Disability Aid’s Instagram bio.

Volunteers provide help calling doctors, pet sitting, raising funds for mobility supports, grocery shopping, laundry, and other errands. There are times when a volunteer who has a specialized skill will offer that – like give a haircut, for example. QDA reimburses transportation fees for volunteers.

It’s a public health service for a group that is particularly susceptible to chronic illnesses and Long Covid.

People who request services pay if they are able, but usually they are provided for free, Umi said. More than 120 volunteers have spent more than 340 hours helping people since Umi started the group in June 2024. Umi spends 20 to 40 hours a week organizing it all, and sometimes filling requests, too.

Uncertain vaccine access stokes worries about Long Covid

Queer Disability Aid serves a community that is worried about Covid and fears that access to vaccinations will be disrupted under changes implemented by the Trump administration.

Federal health agencies are narrowing vaccination recommendations, pushing drugmakers to perform clinical studies, and making other changes that could limit who gets booster shots. Hundreds of people in the United States still die of Covid every week.

Even though people with chronic illnesses would still fall under Food and Drug Administration guidance to receive updated Covid shots, the risk of transmission could still be high if other people are not vaccinated.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey shows more people in the LGBTQ community have Long Covid than others. And a 2023 study from experts at Central Michigan University shows that queer people have a higher likelihood of suffering with chronic illnesses, which make them more vulnerable to Covid.

Queer Disability Aid keeps events accessible to people who are immunocompromised by requiring masking at its events.

How mutual aid groups improve care for people with disabilities

In New York state, more LGBTQ people suffer with mental illness than their straight counterparts, the Department of Health reported.

University of Manchester research shows the importance of mutual aid groups for those who battle disabilities. One of the researchers, Luan Cassal, found that the groups have helped bridge disparities in disaster care for LGBTQ communities.

For instance, in 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic, LGBTQ communities in the United Kingdom and Brazil benefitted from LGBTQ support groups providing each other mental health support online.

Because marginalized groups face vulnerabilities in crises due to inequitable treatment — such as the LGBTQ community’s lack of access to food and shelter following the fatal 2010 earthquake in Haiti — mutual aid groups are especially useful as they can fill those gaps, the study found.

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Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s Sotiris Lainas found in a review of psychology papers that mutual aid groups improve the well-being of people who are fighting disabilities.

“They face a two-way exclusion, not only regarding their disability, but also the orientation,” Lainas said. “Find other people with common issues with you and try, because they have ears that they can hear you, they have a sorrow that they can feel you, and together, you can act together to change these things or not to change just to protect yourself and others.”

QDA aims to make events more accessible

Queer Disability Aid hosts support groups at venues with an activity like art, or mapping out a support network with a pen and paper, Umi said.

In the future, the group plans to produce small business market events that are accessible for those who use mobility aids and for those sensitive to noise.

“I’ve been to so many markets where, like if you are in a wheelchair, you just can’t navigate if there’s lots of people,” Umi said.

Like QDA’s other events, masks would also be required, to allow people whose chronic illnesses compromise their immunity to reduce their risk.

“It’s really important to have spaces that are accessible, both in terms of mobility, people who are immunocompromised, people who are neurodivergent as well and might have some sensory overload,” Cassal said. “And that’s important. So we keep people united, and we keep together rather than excluding people from following the expectations of abilities.”

Supplying people the help they need through the mutual aid group brings Umi joy.

“Connecting people who I think sometimes have a hard time finding community is definitely one of the best parts of the role,” Umi said. “I just love seeing our community members engage with each other.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

NYC buildings trap heat. ‘Cool roofs’ program aims to lower temperature inside.

2025-06-25T11:00:00+00:00

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Mehdi Heris, a professor at CUNY’s Hunter College, has dedicated his research to bridging the gaps between science and urban planning. As New York City enters another scorching summer, he wants more people to know about a way to lower indoor temperatures by up to 5.9°F: “cool roofs.”

The practice, which involves covering rooftops in a light-reflective coating, had been implemented on at least 36% of the city’s roofs, according to Heris’ research. He has been tracking the efforts of NYC CoolRoofs and The HOPE Program, a job training non-profit focused on sustainability, to cool more of the city’s 1.6 billion square feet of rooftops.

“It is basically low-hanging fruit for communities to start with cool roofs for heat mitigation,” Heris said, citing the free or low-cost program that would allow many buildings to do it. “This is something that can benefit you. This is something that will benefit your energy bill and your health and livelihood.”

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Extreme heat is a public health challenge as one of the deadliest effects of climate change, with an estimated 580 New Yorkers dying prematurely last year related to hot weather, according to the 2024 NYC Heat-Related Mortality Report. Last summer, the city saw over 20 days with temperatures over 90°F, a number that is projected to triple by the 2050s, according to the New York City Panel on Climate Change.

Last month, the city launched a dashboard to help New Yorkers and city officials assess heat risks and guide the local response to heat waves.

Heris says reflective roofs are a fast, easy, and cheap (or even free) way to cool buildings. Studies show that in non-air-conditioned residential buildings, the coated roofs can lower maximum indoor temperatures by 2.2 to 5.9°F.

How reflective coating mitigates urban heat island effect

A cool roof is able to lower building temperatures due to its ability to reflect sunlight. It can be installed by either painting on a reflective coating, installing a reflective membrane, or installing cool shingles. Cool shingles are made of either asphalt, wood or polymer, and work best on pitched roofs.

The NYC CoolRoofs program only offers to paint reflective coating on flat roofs. Coating dark roofs requires maintenance over time due to wear from weather. But installing a cool roof in the first place will help it last.

The reflective coating helps combat the urban heat island effect, where air temperature is hotter in cities than surrounding suburban and rural areas.

“The things that we have constructed our cities out of often absorb and retain and then re-radiate more heat … things like asphalt building roofs, or particularly, dark, tar-based building roofs,” said Travis Flohr, assistant professor of landscape architecture at Penn State and co-researcher with Heris of “Cool Roofs in a Warm City.”

With dark roofs, heat is absorbed by the building, said Mike Treglia, lead scientist for the New York Cities Program at The Nature Conservancy.

“One of the biggest issues of the urban heat island effect is that cities don’t really cool down as much at night as other areas,” Treglia said. “It’s not just the daytime heat stress that people face, but also not being able to cool down in their un-air-conditioned apartments at night.”

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This is even more difficult for people with underlying conditions such as asthma, heart disease, and diabetes, according to the World Health Organization. People who have chronic health issues are more vulnerable to heat because they retain more body heat or due to medications they take.

The city has a program to help New Yorkers buy and install an air conditioner. But about 21%, or 493,000 rental households across the city, don’t run their AC because of the cost, a 2023 housing and vacancy survey found.

A cool roof can lower energy bills. According to the study by Heris and Flohr, installing a cool roof can cut cooling costs by 7%-15%. This also lowers carbon emissions and helps the city reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Every 2,500 square feet of roof that is coated can reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 1 ton of CO2.

To reach this goal, the city passed Local Law 97 to lower greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, the source of two-thirds of the emissions in the city, according to NYC Buildings. Buildings originally were required to send in data on their emissions starting at the end of this month, but the department recently gave property owners more time to comply.

NYC program offers free roof coating for many buildings

The NYC CoolRoofs program, which is run in partnership with the city’s Department of Small Business Services, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, and The HOPE Program, has covered over 12 million square feet of roofs since 2009 with reflective coating.

The HOPE Program is hoping to partner with non-profit organizations around the five boroughs to get more buildings to install cool roofs – especially in neighborhoods that have a higher heat vulnerability, like the South Bronx and parts of Brooklyn. These boroughs are more vulnerable to the heat due to the lack of trees and other green space that provide shade.

Heris has worked with groups like South Bronx Unite and El Puente in his research. They are “important groups, because they are really connected to their community. If we can provide some knowledge for them that becomes good material, to go to the community and take these numbers and see just this is how it’s gonna happen.”

Thirty percent of flat, dark roofs across the city could have a cool roof installed, Heris said. For eligible buildings, the service is free. To qualify, roofs must be flat, in good condition, accessible to workers, and made of certain materials, like asphalt and bitumen.

The expense of needed repairs is a major barrier for keeping buildings out of the program, especially in disadvantaged areas, said Kendra Jones, director of HOPE’s Bronx programs.

“The repairs that we would need to be on the roof is a higher priority than the actual coating itself,” she said.

HOPE has mostly been working on residential buildings, but is planning more outreach to larger commercial buildings.

“The return is so good, you don’t really need to think about whether [you] should do it or not,” Heris said.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

HealthyNYC targets diabetes with expanded support in underserved Brooklyn neighborhoods

2025-06-24T14:54:57+00:00

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Albert Edwards, 61, has been living with Type 2 diabetes for over 24 years. When he was first diagnosed, he did not take it seriously. He was not taking his prescribed medication, and he continued to eat and drink items with a lot of sugar.

Edwards said it got to the point where his highest A1C, which measures the amount of sugar in a person’s blood, was 14.4%. The average A1C for a non-diabetic should be less than 5.7%. A higher A1C level increases the risk of complications from diabetes.

His diabetes is now under control, but Edwards has dealt with a few symptoms from when it wasn’t: blurred vision and diabetic neuropathy, which is nerve damage that causes pain in his feet.

“I wish I would’ve [taken] care of it sooner,” Edwards said. “I could have reversed it.”

In addition to eye and nerve damage, the long-term effects of high blood sugar from diabetes can include hearing loss, a higher risk for amputations, slow-healing wounds, cavities and gum disease, heart attack or heart failure, sexual dysfunction, chronic kidney disease, and stroke or memory loss.

Chronic diseases like diabetes disproportionately affect communities of color and those with low incomes. According to New York City’s Health Department, in 2022, heart disease and diabetes were among the leading causes of death among the Black, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander communities. This problem is further exacerbated by systemic inequities that create disparities in wealth, and access to food, resources, and health care.

To address the challenge, the Health Department’s Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health is partnering with long-standing community organizations to establish a network of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support classes approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The classes have been shown to help people keep their diabetes under control and decrease their risk of complications.

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These support classes are integral in improving the health of people of color in Brooklyn because they are tailored to their specific needs. They provide a space to share and learn about living with diabetes for people who may not have access to primary care.

“Some people have been diagnosed over 10 years ago, and they’ve never been provided a referral for a diabetes specialist or nutritionist, which is really disheartening to hear because a lot of people have even been told to just Google it,” said Tanisha Herrera-Pearce, program manager at the city’s Health Department.

People with diabetes need the space to talk about it, share the frustrations they have, and figure out how to live with the disease within the constraints of their lives, she said.

HealthyNYC aims to reduce deaths related to diabetes

The ability to connect with fellow diabetics is an enticing factor to those who are looking to foster a sense of community. Twenty-eight-year-old Angelica Caballero has been living with Type 1 diabetes for 18 years. She has recently begun to look for an education class or peer support group because she doesn’t know any other diabetic people.

Caballero said that although she could probably find groups online, “there should be more in-person groups where people can come together and talk and hang out” close to her Brooklyn home. “At the end of the day,” she says, “as much as your family supports you ... they don’t really understand what you go through.”

In 2023, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the NYC Health Department launched HealthyNYC. The campaign aims to reduce the number of deaths related to heart disease and diabetes by 5% by 2030.

As part of this initiative, the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health is working to expand the DSMES services being offered in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick. Both neighborhoods are home to populations that are predominantly Black or Hispanic.

These areas have higher rates than the city average of adults with poor glycemic control and diabetes diagnoses. They also have higher rates of premature death – defined as before age 65 – due to diabetes.

Herrera-Pearce said those neighborhoods have been underserved compared to areas like Park Slope. In 2022, the premature death rate in Park Slope was 136.8 per 100,000 people, compared to 186.6 in Bushwick and 303.9 in Bed-Stuy.

Five weeks of classes cover nutrition, exercise, blood sugar monitoring

Although the classes are not new, they were recently reimplemented by the Health Department with the launch of HealthyNYC. After the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the community-based partners had stopped offering the classes. Since 2023, the Health Department has hosted at least 25 classes at facilities across Bed-Stuy and Bushwick.

The classes take place over the course of five weeks. Participants are taught about healthy eating and nutrition, how to measure their blood sugar, and ways they can engage in physical activity.

The classes can improve the health literacy in a community and change how people live with diabetes. Many participants have questions pertaining to their medications and how to read nutrition labels. Some people also have lifestyle questions, such as whether they can be physically active, or whether they can travel through airport security with their diabetes medications and devices.

“It’s important to go to those because you learn,” Edwards said. “At first I didn’t go to any, and I was unaware of how serious [diabetes] was.”

Edwards said that in the past, he was able to attend a few group meetings through his doctor. Although he could not make it to all of them, he said the information helped him to improve his eating habits.

DSMES classes are especially beneficial for those who don’t have easy access to doctors. Participants can spend 10 hours with a dietician without having to worry about health insurance.

Class materials tailored to meet needs of Caribbean immigrants

By partnering with organizations like the Bedford Health Center or Riseboro Community Partnership in Brooklyn, the classes can be adjusted to fit the specific needs of the community.

Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky is an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College. In 2023, she, a colleague at Hunter College, and student researchers piloted the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program at the Brooklyn College Immigrant Health Lab. She explained that the CDC’s program materials are made for the mainstream American.

“It’s focused on the American experience, which does not resonate necessarily with many immigrant communities and many cultural minorities,” Horlyck-Romanovsky said.

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Her team changed some of the program materials to be more relevant to Black Caribbean people who live in New York. The team changed the names of all the characters in the stories, for example, to names that Caribbean New Yorkers would be more likely to identify with. They changed all the photographs to settings that looked like New York City and to people who looked like them.

The program was led by students, diabetes educators, and an advisory board of people of Caribbean descent “who understand the cultural norms, the food, and the many sensitive factors that may contribute to the higher diabetes rates,” she said.

Participants came out of the 16-week virtual program with knowledge and resources that catered to their cultural backgrounds. Aside from information on dieting and exercising, the program helped participants understand the nutritional value of foods that were important to them. Horlyck-Romanovsky said they expressed their appreciation for having health care professionals who explained how they could still enjoy foods like roti, a popular flatbread dish in the Caribbean that can contain high levels of carbohydrates.

The classes offered by the Health Department are also offered in Spanish.

Over the next two decades, Herrera-Pearce said the Health Department hopes that everyone in the most impacted neighborhoods will know that these classes exist, where to find them, and how they can benefit not only people with diabetes, but also people with pre-diabetes and caregivers to people with diabetes. (To find a class, visit the websites of the Bedford Health Center or the Bushwick Health Center.)

Due to Edwards’ experiences dealing with blurred vision and diabetic nerve pain, he said he wouldn’t wish the effects of diabetes on anyone, imploring people with the disease to take care of it.

“It’s not a death sentence,” he said. “It’s just that you have to change your habits. Like they say, diabetes, especially Type 2, is reversible if you eat right, diet, and exercise.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

With NYC’s aging population growing, The Bay Ridge Center shows what older adult care can be in Brooklyn — and the nation

2025-06-19T11:00:00+00:00

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A half-dozen pulsing exercise machines make up one portion of a large dedicated fitness area in what used to be an insurance building in Brooklyn. A 98-year-old man, a staple of the gym, exhales steadily, crunches his abs against the state-of-the-art device, and keeps his eyes closed through each rep.

Three years prior, he lost his wife of 72 years.

“I was ready to give it up,” said Joseph Coury, a retired electrician who lives in Bay Ridge. “I was on my way out.”

But then he discovered the newly renovated and modernized Bay Ridge Center, an older adults center in southern Brooklyn.

“It saved my life, unequivocally,” said Coury, who is the center’s oldest member. “I became rejuvenated with the machines.”

Joe Coury, 98, works out his legs in the gym. Each machine provides customized resistance, adapting to the individualized pressure each user provides.

New York City’s 300-plus older adult centers are a tax-funded public health service, many offering daily meals, physical activities, and tackling what the U.S. surgeon general in 2023 called an “epidemic of loneliness.” Studies have shown the positive impacts on those who participate in these centers, even as stigmas surrounding aging make recruiting new members a challenge.

The Bay Ridge Center aims to make its success story a national model.

After 47 years in the basement of a church at the west end of Bay Ridge Avenue, the new Bay Ridge Center facility broke ground in 2024. Membership has since tripled to over 2,000. Its success has garnered attention from other administrators as OACs across the country face shared challenges, according to a National Council on Aging report, such as limited funding, the impact of Covid-19, and a lack of understanding of the range of services and activities the centers have to offer.

The 60-and-older population in New York City has grown 53% over the last two decades, according to a recent comptroller’s report. Yet the annual budget for the NYC Department for the Aging is less than 1% of the city’s total budget.

The Bay Ridge Center is flourishing, its executive director, Todd Fliedner, said. At a recent American Society on Aging conference in Florida, others wanted to know: “How did they do it?”

His answer: Partnerships and outreach made the new space possible and spurred membership. But their bigger mission is to remove the stigma of old age.

No two older adult centers are the same

On a typical day at the Bay Ridge Center, Coury plays Scrabble with two friends, uses the computer room, observes a chess match, and eats lunch in the facility’s large dining hall among nearly 100 other members. Many compare this particular OAC’s vibe to a college campus, a significant change from the basement of the nearby Bethlehem Lutheran Church where it was located for decades.

Shades of blues, purples, and greens decorate the floors, walls, and collaborative spaces. For Fleidner, the center’s design philosophy deliberately breaks from traditional aesthetics.

“I wanted this place to look like anything but an older adult center,” he said. “Older adults go from one clinical setting to the next... it’s sterile.”

Members of the center play a casual game of Scrabble.

The Bay Ridge Center is among over 300 OACs across the five boroughs that operate with the oversight of the city aging department. The scene can be wildly different from one center to the next, reflecting the needs of the cultural makeup of their communities.

Bay Ridge is a federally designated naturally occurring retirement community with a diverse cultural and ethnic makeup. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, foreign-born residents of Bay Ridge make up 34% of the population, and 52% speak a language other than English at home. Bay Ridge is also home to the largest Arab community in New York City.

Regardless of size – some centers are small, housed in one-room community centers, and others like Bay Ridge, rent and renovate entire buildings – all offer their services for free. The only admission requirement is age: 60 years or older.

Janice Walker said she uses the gym to help “get her leg back in action” after she suffered multiple strokes.

OACs serve a critical health function

Senior centers were originally established in the United States in the 1930s solely to provide meals to aging populations during the Great Depression. New York’s first center was established in the Bronx in 1943. While the centers still offer meals, many have evolved to include physical fitness areas, educational experiences, and social gathering spaces.

Dr. Manoj Pardasani, a senior center researcher and interim provost at Hunter College, documented the centers’ impact through a longitudinal cohort study funded by the New York Community Trust and the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation.

“We tracked seniors who joined senior centers over three years and compared them to seniors that knew about an adult center but didn’t come,” Pardasani said.

For those who went to senior centers, “physical fitness improved or maintained ... Mental health either improved or maintained.

“But those who didn’t, maintained… or declined," he said.

Marcia Chung, 65, said she “utilizes everything” at the Bay Ridge Center, from mental health and social work services to the gym and the music and art rooms.

“Wii Bowling is the bomb!” said Chung, who volunteered at the center’s former location before becoming a member.

Others use the center for rehab. “I had a couple of strokes,” said Janice Walker, 68, who moved to the area from Queens and uses the gym to “get her leg back in action.”

A member of the center plays Wii Bowling.

Don’t say ‘old’: Center fights stereotypes of hospital-like facilities

Many eligible older adults resist joining centers focused around age, Pardasani said. The word “senior” has become less favorable to “older adults,” and senior centers are being rebranded as “older adult” centers.

“I don’t use the word ‘old’,” Fleidner said. “I always say we’re a community center for adults 60-plus.”

The image of older adult centers stems from stereotypes of hospital-like facilities, or nursing homes, that care for the aging.

“People in their 60s remember their grandparents going to these places with needy people,” Pardasani said. “They don’t want to be that.”

Anya Herasme, associate commissioner for the Bureau of Community Services, part of the city aging department, shares the concern over stigma and wishes qualified older adults “would give it a chance.”

“It’s not like they’re just sitting around playing bingo,” she said. “I don’t think people even know what it really is.”

Members take a guitar course in the center's music room.

Those misconceptions are why Fliedner hired Amed Alfaraji, an outreach specialist and former “test and trace” front-line worker, to be his deputy and train as his future replacement. Alfaraji, who speaks fluent Arabic and French, has also been able to connect with the rapidly growing Arab community in Bay Ridge.

Alfaraji says cultural understanding is key. The center’s website, for example, is translated into six languages.

“We can tailor programing specific to different groups,” he said. “To be all-welcoming.”

The center serves those with mobility issues, delivering meals, and offering shuttle services. Learning lessons from the pandemic about remote technologies, the center also offers classes that serve home-bound members, including online video fitness classes.

The center’s largest room is used for events and daily lunches.

Fundraising partnerships helped create new center

The move to lease the new 21,000-square-foot Bay Ridge Center was initially made possible by a request for proposals the city aging department launched in 2021. But the building renovations required additional money.

Fliedner raised $4 million in partnerships to bring the center to life. In the short term, Fliedner said the center is financially stable, but long-term sustainability will require continued fundraising.

In the hallways, at eye level, and mounted beside almost every door, are plaques honoring donors. Fleidner stresses the importance of these partnerships.

“Not only do we get money for the naming of the room,” he said, “they give us a program that we don’t have to pay for.”

Florence Eichin, 89, stresses the importance of the center’s social benefits.

“If you’re at home alone, you give up,” she said as she made a Scrabble move. “It gives you purpose, every day.”

Executive Director Todd Fliedner and Deputy Director Amed Alfaraji stand near the entrance to the Bay Ridge Center, surrounded by colorful flowers.

Fliedner and Alfaraji hope Bay Ridge can be a model for other centers and plan to share their story with state lawmakers in the fall. A scarcity of available rental space in the city is a significant hurdle, Herasme said.

Meanwhile, Fliedner wants the whole community to see they have a stake in the center.

“Everyone who lives in South West Brooklyn … They’re either of the age, they’re going to be of the age, they have grandparents, parents.”

At 67, Fliedner is looking ahead to retirement, and his next role at the center: regular member.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

New York City food pantries work to give immigrants a taste of home. Trump’s aid cuts are making it harder.

2025-06-18T14:30:00+00:00

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For Alfred Atherley-Ward, food means family.

The 42-year-old former chef fondly recalls memories of home-cooked meals with their daughter back in their native Guyana.

“My daughter would always look forward to when I was going to be in the kitchen cooking up food, especially dal, that we would sit together and enjoy,” Atherley-Ward said. “The look on her face, and she with her little hands in the bowl – those moments are so precious to me.”

Atherley-Ward views cooking meals rooted in their Indo- and Afro-Caribbean background as a way to feel closer to the now 19-year-old daughter they left behind while seeking asylum in the United States in 2021. The move followed years of persecution for Atherley-Ward, who identifies as queer and uses they/them pronouns. In Guyana, homosexuality is considered a crime.

The experience of fleeing violence back home coupled with struggles to access food and housing upon relocating to New York City made them all the more grateful for the culturally inclusive food items available at the Food Justice Program, an initiative of the Queens-based Caribbean Equality Project, which provides legal and social services to Indo- and Afro-Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers.

“We go through so much mental health trauma,” said Atherley-Ward, who experienced an 18-month period of homelessness shortly after moving. “All we’re looking for is a place of acceptance on this journey.”

The Food Justice Program is one of a growing number of food pantries in New York City working to provide culturally responsive help for the city’s immigrant communities. A lifeline amid the Covid-19 pandemic, these programs now find their sustainability threatened by the Trump administration’s cuts to federal food aid.

“The pandemic was a spark for an increase in food needs, and that need never dissipated,” said Caitlin Caspi, director of food security initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut. “In the last few years, we’ve seen high levels of federal food assistance, but all of that now is being stripped away.”

NYC food insecurity nearly doubled at start of pandemic

Research shows that New York City’s incidence of food insecurity, which is defined as uncertain access to adequate food at the household level, nearly doubled during the first six months of the pandemic. A 2020 report found that the number of food-insecure individuals increased from 1.2 million in March 2020 to 2 million in August 2020, an incidence rate of nearly 14.6%.

The pandemic’s impact on communities of color, including immigrant populations, was particularly pronounced, with more than half of Black, Latino, and Asian New Yorkers reporting an inability to buy groceries during the period, compared to 42% of white New Yorkers. Issues of limited food access, which can lead to increased risks of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as a result of a nutrition-poor diet, continue to persist among those groups.

“They say Covid is over, but the folks we’re providing service to, it’s never over for them. Their rent has increased, their daily expenses have increased, but their wages haven’t.”
Mohammad Razvi, CEO of the Council of Peoples Organization

More recent data, including 2024, shows that while the citywide food insecurity rate remains elevated at pandemic levels, the rates of food insecurity for communities of color are two to three times higher in every borough compared to their white counterparts.

Jennifer Cadenhead, executive director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education and Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University, said people of color’s heightened food vulnerability is due to low wages and a lack of worker protections in service-based industries, such as restaurants, which employ many immigrants and were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

“In terms of food security, people of color tended to do worse both during Covid and in their ability to get back to baseline,” Cadenhead said.

The economic downturn of the pandemic contributed to increased use of food pantry services. One in three New Yorkers reported using a food pantry at least once post-pandemic compared to 1 in 5 New Yorkers pre-pandemic, according to a 2024 report issued by the Robin Hood Foundation.

Why access to cultural food options matters

Immigrant recipients of food pantry services state being unsure of how to cook American foods, research shows. A lack of access to culturally inclusive foods is also associated with poorer mental health outcomes, such as increased feelings of shame and stigma, in immigrant communities.

Culturally inclusive food pantries are essential to creating a more dignified experience for clients by allowing them to choose their own food, Caspi said.

“Food pantries have been trying to move toward more choice-based programs that allow people to feel like they’re shopping in a grocery store,” she said.

Caribbean Equality Project staff, volunteers and community partners gather for a Food Justice Program pantry distribution.

The Caribbean Equality Project’s Food Justice Program, which launched in Flatbush in 2020 following the pandemic, caters to the city’s Caribbean diaspora and has served more than 55,000 people. Among its offerings are ingredients for balanjay, a Guyanese dish made with eggplant, potatoes, cumin, and other traditional spices; as well as lentils and flour.

Atherley-Ward, who now works as a community adviser at the Caribbean Equality Project, said the organization’s commitment to distributing fresh produce, such as cabbage and tomatoes, which serve as ingredients for traditional curries, supports the nutritional needs of the Caribbean diaspora.

“I’m not just getting food, but rather food that I’m accustomed to, that I can create healthy meals with,” they said. “It helps with the daily stress of wondering ‘what can I make with this?’”

Trump cuts to food aid threaten local programs

The Trump administration’s cuts to federal funding for food banks and other emergency assistance food programs threaten projects like the Food Justice Program. In March, the administration announced that $500 million in support of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, a federal initiative that enables food banks to purchase goods from local farms, would be cancelled.

Later that month, the administration pulled another $500 million dedicated to The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which distributes emergency food assistance to states, from the federal budget.

The Caribbean Equality Project’s executive director, Mohamed Amin, worries about the impact. He points to a recent letter from the organization’s food assistance partner, the Campaign Against Hunger, that warns of reduced food aid deliveries in the coming months.

At present, the Campaign Against Hunger provides the Food Justice Program with monthly food aid for 250 families. A decrease in resources would put additional financial strain on the organization, he said, which already spends $5,000 a month to support additional pantry clients.

“These cuts not only have a direct impact on the community members that we serve, but also on programs like ours that fill the gap,” Amin said. “And now we’re seeing this gap become wider and more disproportionate.”

Fresh produce is available at a Food Justice Program pantry distribution.

The structure of the emergency food system also places extra financial burden on organizations like the Caribbean Equality Project, which strives to meet the needs of communities of color. TEFAP food aid, which flows down to local pantries like the Food Justice Program, is made up of staple items like apples and beans, meaning it doesn’t always meet the cultural needs of communities, Caspi said.

Amin and his colleagues remain committed to utilizing existing pantry funding to purchase culturally inclusive products.

“We are not willing to negotiate the needs of our communities,” he said.

Food prices up 20% over five years ago

The funding cuts come at a time of greater need for food aid, much of it driven by increases in the cost of living. According to Federal Reserve Economic Data, prices on goods, including food, are up 20% over five years ago.

“They say Covid is over, but the folks we’re providing service to, it’s never over for them. Their rent has increased, their daily expenses have increased, but their wages haven’t,” said Mohammad Razvi, CEO of the Council of Peoples Organization, a Brooklyn-based group that provides social services to low-income immigrant families, a majority of whom are South Asian and Muslim.

The council, which operates a weekly halal food pantry started shortly before the pandemic, has become increasingly reliant on food donations from local businesses. The donations, which help make up for reduced goods from local food banks, are critical to serving the pantry’s more than 2,000 weekly clients.

In recent months, though, Razvi has observed shorter pantry lines, which he attributes to the Trump administration’s immigration policies and threats of mass deportation.

“People are saying, ‘Can I take this for my friend? He’s afraid to come’,” he said.

Fearful clients are requesting home delivery, but Amin said it’s hard to establish new services in a time of limited resources.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to deliver to families who are undocumented, who are afraid to come because of fears of ICE,” he said of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Support for such food pantry operational costs are the focus of efforts by local advocacy organizations. Grace Bonilla, president and CEO of United Way of New York City, said the organization is working to double the city’s funding to $100 million in the upcoming fiscal year for Community Food Connection, a program supporting more than 700 community kitchens and food pantries.

“When the dust settles, and people begin to emerge, we could see spikes in food need,” she said of the political climate against immigrants. “We have to be prepared for that.”

Amin, though, remains hopeful.

“I think about abundance, and I dream about abundance, and I manifest abundance because that is what the immigrant community needs right now,” he said. “We need an abundance of resources to make sure that we are not just surviving, but thriving.”

This story has been updated to correct that the Caribbean Equality Project is based in Queens, not Brooklyn.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Experts warn mobile sports betting could be gateway to gambling crisis for young men in New York

2025-06-17T11:00:00+00:00

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The popularity of online gambling, especially among young men, has addiction researchers worried in New York, where mobile sports betting has surpassed casino gambling as the primary reason for calls to the state’s helpline.

A bill to legalize full-functional casino apps, or iGaming, did not pass this year’s legislative session, but experts warn that youth problem gambling is a mental and public health crisis that warrants attention before it gets worse.

“The largest single-year increases for all presented service and treatment utilization data were observed between 2021-22, following the implementation of legalized mobile sports betting in January 2022,” according to the state’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports, which offers services and treatment for gambling harms and gambling disorder.

Twenty-two percent of Americans, and 48% of men ages 18 to 49, have a mobile sports betting account, according to the Siena College Research Institute.

“They’re being groomed for the day they are able to really gamble legally,” said Jim Maney, executive director at the New York Council on Problem Gambling.

The bill to legalize iGaming, sponsored by state Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., a Queens Democrat, will likely be back next year. New York already has more forms of legal gambling than any other state, from horse racing to casinos.

As states move to legalize online betting, problem gambling has become a growing national trend. Eighty percent of Americans gamble on a yearly basis, and three to five of every 10 struggle with problem gambling – 1% of the U.S. population, or about 5 million people, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Eighty-one percent of problem gamblers play online, according to the gambling addiction organization QuitGamble. These apps include slot machines, which have a rate of addiction of over 50%.

By comparison, the United States’ alcohol use disorder rate is 10.2% among people 12 and older.

How young people’s brains are primed for online betting

Young adults are an ideal market for online gambling, said Stephen Shapiro, director of the University of South Carolina’s master’s program in sports and entertainment management who has studied sports betting. They are comfortable using apps and taking risks and may have less financial literacy around the impact of losing money and going into debt.

Advertising for apps like DraftKings and FanDuel is aggressive. Flashy ads pop up during televised games’ commercial breaks, sponsor shoutouts on podcasts, and on subways, and taxis.

The micro-betting, or play-by-play betting, offered on sports betting apps also fits nicely into the short attention spans brought on by social media apps, Shapiro said.

“It’s almost like it was perfect timing for that type of betting to occur. People are probably less likely to tune in and watch one game in its entirety anyway, even if they’re not gambling,” he said.

Young people are particularly vulnerable to developing addictive behaviors because the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for rational decision-making, isn’t fully developed until a person is around 26 years old, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Before it has fully developed, a person is easily influenced by outside stimuli.

Think of the young brain as a sponge, soaking up everything it comes across and unable to say no to things that more mature adults would know to be careful of, said Dr. Christopher Tuell, clinical director of addiction services at the Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason, Ohio.

Dopamine, which Tuell calls the “feel good” chemical, is released when a person engages in addictive behavior.

“It was originally designed to help us survive… If food wasn’t pleasurable, we would have died out thousands of years ago. If sex wasn’t pleasurable, we wouldn’t be here as a species,” he said.

When an addictive behavior releases dopamine, it tricks the brain into believing that the behavior is essential for survival, Tuell said. This mental misunderstanding leads to cravings, making the addiction hard to let go of, because your brain is scared of what will happen to you if you stop.

“The brain thinks that dopamine is essential because it’s related to survival. But what happens in addiction is that our logical, rational brain goes offline. That’s why people [may] engage in behaviors that are self-destructive,” he said.

New York using tax revenue to mitigate problem gambling

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who earlier this year declared March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month, has promised that a large chunk of the tax revenue from gambling will be used on education and treatment to help with problem gambling and the risks of addiction.

Of the nearly $30 billion the state has raked in from tax revenue on sports betting apps, $6 million has been allotted for “problem gambling education and treatment purposes,” according to the New York State Gaming Commission.

The state recently expanded reimbursement for gambling disorder treatment under Medicaid, according to the OASAS. Previously, it was covered only in conjunction with a substance abuse disorder.

The NYCPG is advocating for a new formula, Maney said: “For every dollar spent on gambling advertisements, a dollar has to be spent on counter advertisements to raise the awareness of problem gambling.”

“There is not enough treatment and prevention. There’s not enough education, there’s [basically] not any research yet,” he said.

If you or someone you know is struggling with problem gambling, call 1-877-8-HOPENY (467369) or reach out to the Problem Gambling Resource Center.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Willa Odefey is a student who specializes in addiction and public health coverage and is the author of the newsletter Been an OK Boy on Substack.

From Kenya to New York: How a global nonprofit is addressing local maternal health needs

2025-06-16T13:48:41+00:00

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A nonprofit that works to help women survive childbirth in Guatemala, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic is expanding work in its only location in a developed country: New York City.

Saving Mothers, founded by New York University gynecologist and professor Taraneh Shirazian, is among several initiatives working to ease a maternal mortality crisis in the city, where deaths per 100,000 live births reached 19 last year.

Women in underserved areas of New York City are dying under many of the same conditions seen in less-developed countries - high blood pressure, infection and severe bleeding due to limited access to health care, poverty, social inequities, fear of medical devices, and mistrust of hospital staff, said Reham Perry, the programs coordinator at Saving Mothers. (Many others are also dying of drug overdose).

Saving Mothers aims to ease the crisis by equipping pregnant patients in underserved communities to advocate for themselves in the health care system and track their own vital signs for early indications of dangerous conditions like preeclampsia.

Globally, more than 343,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth yearly, the majority in Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. In the United States, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, and of those deaths, Black women are three times more likely to die than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How New York is addressing health disparities in pregnancy-associated deaths

While global maternal mortality rates have seen a reduction of 40% between 2000 and 2023, some areas, like New York City, have maintained steady or slight increases.

Part of the reason is that the city is home to so many people from various backgrounds, creating more factors that contribute to deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth, Perry said.

“Even when we have statistics about Black women, and we say that they are more likely to die than white women that are laboring in the same hospitals, Black women aren’t a monolith,” she said.

They may encounter language barriers, doctors who don’t take their pain seriously, or assume they are using drugs, she said.

Saving Mothers steps in with its mPOWHER kit, designed to help pregnant New Yorkers help themselves.

Kits help patients track vital signs, monitor for dangerous symptoms

Preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that occurs during and after pregnancy, is 60% more likely to occur in Black women than white women, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation. It can be caused by a pre-existing condition such as high blood pressure, which Black people are predisposed to.

Preeclampsia patients are at risk of seizures, kidney/liver failure, and cardiovascular events, such as stroke. Their babies are at risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, or stillbirth, as well as neurological and psychological defects.

Women being trained as birth attendants attend graduation at New York-based Saving Mothers' school in Guatemala. The birth attendants are known as "comadronas," trained to deliver babies and assess and recognize high-risk situations.

Saving Mothers’ medical team – a health literacy expert, health care providers, and a doula – help curate the mPOWHER kit with items aimed at preventing three conditions: cardiovascular disease, embolism and hemorrhage, the three leading causes of death among expecting mothers. The kit includes a Fitbit or other tracker, a blood pressure cuff, and compression socks to reduce swelling.

The Fitbit tracks heart rate and exercise, as well as helps prevent embolisms by encouraging movement. The blood pressure cuff helps patients monitor for random spikes they can report to their medical providers to help to catch conditions like preeclampsia, Perry said.

Patients get guidance on how to advocate for themselves

The kit also includes guides with information to help patients advocate for their health, like suggestions for different ways to communicate with their doctor. The tips aim to empower them to speak up in their appointments so they don’t feel overpowered or dismissed.

Teneisha “Adwoa” Olivierre recalls the difficulties of her first pregnancy in 2005, exacerbated by a lack of support from her obstetrician.

“He didn’t answer my questions, he brushed me off, gave me the wrong due date, he sent me for all my tests and things very late in the pregnancy,” she said. “The most he would do is put the stethoscope to my stomach, listen for the heartbeat, weigh me, and send me home. There was no measuring of the stomach, there was nothing.”

A midwife paid more attention: “She actually took her time and asked questions.”

Perry said the ability to self-advocate is important in a vulnerable condition like pregnancy and helps patients make the most of their doctor visits.

‘This Side Up’ onesies and crib distribution: Infant sleep safety efforts central in Queens

“They really empower the mom to take up space in those appointments and not feel like, okay the doctor is rushing, so I can’t ask these questions,” she said.

Saving Mothers also trains doulas to address health issues like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

The group plans to update the kits this summer with guidance on how to talk to doctors about postpartum mental health needs.

The organization distributes the kits at baby showers hosted by organizations including the New York Public Library, the New York City Housing Authority, and Healthy Start Brooklyn.

A second version, a safe birth kit, is designed for expectant mothers abroad who may need to give birth at home. It includes an umbilical clamp and razor blade to remove the cord after birth, a sterile sheet for delivering the baby, a glove, a bar of soap, illustrated directions for delivering the baby, and a hat and blanket for the baby.

How stress and access to health care can affect maternal health

Stress can play just as big a role in Black maternal mortality as any medical condition, Perry said, pointing to microaggressions and bias that affect Black women.

Rewa Thompson, a nurse educator of 20 years and a clinical associate professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Nursing, said social determinants of health – income, education and access to health care – factor in, as well.

For example, many low-income pregnant patients rely on Medicaid, which offers limited resources.

A team from New York nonprofit Saving Mothers works with pregnant patients at Kapenguria Regional Hospital in Kenya.

“There are more Black women who use these public hospitals,” Thompson said. “The hospitals are short staffed.” Bias and fatigue can lead staff to dismiss concerns of Black mothers. “So they become desensitized to the complaints, and then they’re like, she’s fine, and next thing you know, she has a massive blood clot in her lungs, and she’s dead.”

Thompson recommends that Black mothers have a trusted representative with them for the birth experience, to speak up for them in the event that they cannot advocate for themselves.

How federal funding cuts affect maternal health

Perry says recent cutbacks from a restructuring and reorganization of federal health agencies ordered by the new Trump administration have put maternal resources in jeopardy.

In January, data collection for the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System was cut, and the 17 employees who worked in the CDC program were laid off on April 1.

New York state has taken steps to expand affordable health care for pregnant patients and offer free doula services under Medicaid.

Olivierre, who now works as a doula, said she was much more prepared for her second pregnancy, in 2023. She used a kit provided by Saving Mothers and took care in choosing her providers.

A week after giving birth, Olivierre noticed a spike in her blood pressure. After an emergency room checkup, it was confirmed that she had developed preeclampsia.

“If I didn’t have the blood pressure cuff, I wouldn’t have known that I needed to go to the emergency room,” she said.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Pandemic aid revived rural health care clinics. Losing it imperils access.

2025-06-13T11:00:00+00:00

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In Clay County, Kentucky — one of the nation’s poorest counties — a single mobile van and a stack of gas station gift cards had long been a lifeline for rural patients.

The federal pandemic relief funding approved in 2021 enabled AdventHealth Manchester, a local rural health clinic, to continue operating a van service that transported rural patients to specialty appointments hours away, helping them access care they otherwise couldn’t.

For millions of Americans living in remote areas, simply getting to a doctor or nurse practitioner can be a daunting challenge; access to health care requires more than a Medicaid card.

“Transportation access is a huge problem for many who don’t have a car and can’t get themselves to the doctor,” said Tawnya Brock, who conducts national assessments of rural health clinics and works locally at AdventHealth Manchester. “The ability to buy and offer Covid testing was instrumental, but keeping our van operational helped continue bringing patients in for nearby services, like MRIs or CT scans, while our rural health clinic providers were newly overloaded with Covid demand.”

At UNC Chapel-Hill’s Rural Health Clinic, Covid-era funding allowed staff to purchase a van and begin this same crucial transportation service for patients in Durham’s nearby rural areas.

As part of the Trump administration’s widespread health spending reductions, any remaining grant funds to rural health clinics were rescinded on March 25. Health and Human Services communications director Andrew Nixon defended the cuts, stating the government would “no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars” on a pandemic that “Americans have moved on from years ago.”

Keeping these van services operational was one of many small but transformative ways pandemic-era grants helped rural health clinics serve patients.

As the Covid-19 pandemic surged across America in 2020, causing 375,000 U.S. deaths that year, health care systems across the country buckled under the strain. In response, the federal government allocated over $4 billion in relief funding to state and local health agencies, expanding their capacity to track infections, conduct testing, and provide vaccinations.

With few dentists and fluoride under siege, rural America risks new surge of tooth decay

A small share of that funding went to the 5,600 rural health clinics across America, from southern Florida to northern California. These federally designated clinics serve areas with limited access to hospitals or other health care infrastructure — and are often the only point of care for 62% of rural Americans, roughly 39 million people, many of whom are uninsured. The pandemic marked the first time in their history that these rural clinics received direct federal support.

Although the federal money was targeted for Covid-specific needs, its impact extended further, helping clinics hire staff, expand services, and reach patients who might have otherwise gone untreated. Clinics were able to offer telehealth appointments for substance abuse and mental health issues, offer pediatric screenings in public schools, and even provide dental care.

Rural health clinics are underappreciated and undervalued, said Sarah Hohman of the National Association of Rural Health Clinics.

“Rural health clinics bear so much responsibility with so little [funding],” Hohman said. “So many policy makers in Washington don’t realize how critical [these clinics] are.”

Rural clinics handle more chronic disease, get less funding

Created in 1977 as part of a federal program to support underserved populations with limited access to health care, rural clinics vary widely in their size and capacity. Some operate out of a single trailer with one nurse practitioner; others are connected to larger hospital systems with more robust staffing. But even the better-resourced clinics struggle to keep up with overwhelming patient demand.

Federally designated rural health care clinics like AdventHealth's facility in Clay County, Kentucky, serve areas with limited access to hospitals or other health care infrastructure — and are often the only point of care for 62% of rural Americans, roughly 39 million people, many of whom are uninsured.

Unlike federally qualified health centers, which receive annual federal grants and can apply for supplemental funding, rural health centers are financed by bare-bones per-visit reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid. Lacking federal funding and patients with private insurance, or those who are capable of paying out of pocket, these rural clinics operate on a shoestring. Because Medicare and Medicaid rates are fixed, longer appointments or more complex services result in a financial loss for providers. In rural areas, juggling multiple chronic conditions in a single patient visit is the norm.

Rural communities have a higher prevalence of chronic disease, addiction, and mental health issues, cancer, and obesity. They are also more likely than their urban counterparts to die a preventable death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Clay County, Kentucky, where there is one doctor for every 2,800 residents, these disparities are especially pronounced — poverty, obesity, and life expectancy rates are significantly worse than the national average. In comparison, New York City’s Health + Hospitals system alone has one doctor for every 187 residents.

Brock said that, especially in poor regions like Clay County, there aren’t enough primary care providers to meet patient demand. One nurse at AdventHealth Manchester’s clinic sees over 20 patients a day — managing everything from walk-ins to substance abuse counseling.

In remote communities, reaching a clinic can require hours of travel.

“A few times a month, I’ll have patients who suddenly lose their hearing, and not be able to get to the clinic in time to get it treated. If it’s not treated in 48 hours, these patients permanently lose their hearing,” said Emily Waller, an audiologist in rural Illinois who worked at a public health care system during the pandemic.

Millions in U.S. live in places where doctors don’t practice and telehealth doesn’t reach

Even when clinics have openings for preventative and non-emergency care, people in these areas often don’t make the time to come. “[We have] a lot of opioid addiction and financial challenges. It’s hard to get these patients for a mammogram or a colonoscopy when they’re worrying about whether they’re going to have food on the table that night, or have to go to rehab and lose their children the next,” Brock said.

In 2023, Leonard Carpenter, a Native American veteran in Butte County, California, missed what would have been his first chemotherapy appointment. With clinics overwhelmed and appointments scarce during the early pandemic, he had to wait five months for the next available slot. By then, his cancer had progressed beyond treatment. He died three months later in his apartment, surrounded by volunteers from the Chico-based emergency shelter nonprofit SafeSpace.

“When he died, 30 or 40 of us packed into his home and put him in a cardboard coffin box. We all wrote signs on it,” said Ashley-Michelle Arnold, a SafeSpace volunteer.

Covid funding gave rural clinics a brief reprieve

The $632 million in Covid relief funding provided an average of $138,000 to each rural clinic. The money supported staffing, overtime pay, retention bonuses, and makeshift expansions like parking-lot tents and mobile testing units.

“It was life-changing, allowing them to fill the funding gaps that other public health systems, like FQHCs, have always had,” Hohman said.

In addition to her administrative role at AdventHealth Manchester, Brock travels the country conducting surveys of rural health clinics for QuadA, one of four organizations authorized to accredit rural health clinics under Medicare guidelines. Brock said many clinics want to expand services but can’t afford to hire the needed staff.

Hohman said clinics are eager to expand into areas like mental health and specialty care because the need is clear, but the upfront cost of hiring makes it difficult. Since they only get reimbursed once providers start seeing patients, it can be financially risky to bring on new staff.

The pandemic grants showed how funding makes a difference. But because they were tied to a public health emergency, Hohman said they’re a difficult precedent for long-term support.

Rural health centers don’t have the staff or money to systematically collect data for policymakers. That makes it hard to prove the need for more support — or to track how many clinics are at risk of closure.

“So much of my job is explaining to decision-makers in Washington what rural health clinics are, how they are paid, and how that payment looks different than that of federally qualified health centers or other public health care centers. And the data just isn’t there,” Hohman says.

The NARHC has lobbied lawmakers to introduce bills that would provide workforce grants to rural clinics to help pay salaries of new workers before they start generating reimbursement. These could be a critical lifeline for the clinics, Hohman said.

“The reality is we need more of these clinics, not less. Workforce grants for RHCs would allow patients greater access to care — covering hiring costs and the initial salaries of providers before they start to generate reimbursement,” she said.

“These clinics have the patient volume, the demand, the desire to offer more care. But right now, they just can’t.”

Even as the NARHC pushes for long-term solutions through workforce grants and policy support, recent events like the devastating tornado in southeastern Kentucky have laid bare the unpredictable challenges rural clinics continue to face.

On May 16, the storm swept through Laurel and Pulaksi counties, nearby areas served by the AdventHealth Manchester clinic. Twenty-nine people died, and 1,532 homes were destroyed, said Gail Timperio, readiness response coordinator for the Southeast Kentucky Healthcare Coalition.

Brock said the AdventHealth Manchester clinic’s manager lost her home and everything she owned.

Volunteers flooded the area in the days following the storm, offering cleanup services, gas cards, and even vehicles to those who lost theirs in the destruction.

Though the link is not fully understood, climate change may be creating favorable conditions for increasingly frequent and violent storms, including tornadoes. These localized, violent natural disasters could add pressure on rural health clinics that are stretched for resources to provide care for their population.

For half a century, staff at rural health clinics have dedicated their lives to providing for medically underserved patients across the country. From the pandemic emergency to the widespread devastation caused by the recent tornado, Brock said these practitioners have carried the weight of entire communities.

“I see pride in our nurses, doctors, and all rural health care providers. I see their grit, digging in day after day to do what had to be done. I see the deep bond with their towns, and the trust their communities placed in them. It is much more than medicine, it is love, sacrifice, and an unwavering commitment to care.”

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

New York lawmakers are pushing to require domestic violence prevention training for cosmetology and barber licenses

2025-06-12T17:46:47+00:00

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There’s something about the relationship between clients and their barbers and stylists. It can be a close, trusting bond – one that can create opportunities to identify signs of abuse.

Some state lawmakers want New York to join other states in mandating training in domestic violence and sexual harassment prevention as part of the licensing requirements for cosmetologists and barbers.

“This unique relationship creates an opportunity for them to play a role in identifying and responding to signs of abuse,” said Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay, a Suffolk County Democrat who co-sponsored a bill in the General Assembly to require the training. “We know that domestic violence and sexual assault are vastly underreported crimes — too often hidden in silence due to factors ranging from fear and stigma, to lack of access to support.”

Between 2019 and 2022, the number of domestic violence cases increased by 8.5% in New York City and 8.7% across the rest of the state, according to an analysis by the state comptroller’s office. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative to gather detailed national and state data on intimate partner violence found that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced sexual and/or physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

The proposal’s advocates believe the intimate setting of a salon can nurture honest, vulnerable conversations that can lead to support.

“As a professional barber in New York City, we frequently serve not just as grooming professionals, but also as confidants, sometimes stepping into roles that resemble informal therapists or counselors,” said Michael DiGregorio, a barber at Chaps & Co. Barbershop NYC. “Having some foundational knowledge in handling sensitive issues may not be a bad idea. It would help us offer better support and be a more positive influence on those who open up to us about personal matters.”

New York requires aspiring barbers and hairdressers to complete several hours of training and pass several exams to become licensed. Some other states, including Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Washington, have added domestic violence prevention training to their licensing requirements.

“That hair salon chair makes people more relaxed, and they can open up about what is happening in their lives,” said Luis Burgos, director and founder of the Chicago-based nonprofit Don’t Forget About Me, which focuses on wellness for survivors of trauma. “For some people, it is embarrassing to admit that their relationship did not go well, or they are going through something. Showing empathy is a human connection that we can all learn.”

Burgos started the organization after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017. He now works alongside volunteer hairstylists, nail technicians, massage therapists, and makeup artists in Chicago, New York, and Puerto Rico to provide care for survivors of traumatic experiences. Over the past few years, he has listened to and supported clients who have survived abuse.

New York’s proposal would train aspiring hairdressers and barbers to not only recognize indicators of domestic violence and sexual harassment, but also to connect people with resources.

The New York bill likely won’t pass the current legislative session, which ends Thursday, but national momentum is growing for the idea.

Salons against Domestic Violence was formed in 2004 to train barbers and hairdressers to recognize warning signs. Programs like Cut It Out provide online training to makeup and salon professionals, as well as flyers that can be posted in salons.

Salon professionals recognize they can have a role in identifying sex trafficking and intimate partner violence and responding to abuse and exploitation, according to a Purdue University study published in March.

Through surveys and personal stories in that study, 334 salon professionals in Indiana said they want better training. Specifically, they need help learning how to talk with clients who may be experiencing abuse, how to respond appropriately, and what steps to take without overstepping. They also said it’s important to work with police and local organizations, like domestic violence shelters or crisis hotlines, so that clients can get help quickly and easily.

Most agreed that training on issues like domestic violence and sex trafficking is necessary across the beauty industry. About 64% supported the idea of making the training mandatory for getting licensed. Some professionals said they would be more likely to take part in training if it were offered virtually, due to busy schedules.

Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar, a co-author of the study, said, “We developed an online training with modules. That way they could complete when they had time, then do a quiz before they moved on to the next module.”

Since 2018, the NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence has run a voluntary program that provides prevention education to the city’s cosmetologists and barbers, who can receive an Intimate Partner Violence 101 training in Spanish or English. But outreach to cosmetologists has decreased over the past few years.

“Outreach efforts never fully stopped, they’ve slowed due to reduced capacity following team restructuring,” said Tesa Arózqueta, deputy commissioner of community initiatives and external affairs at ENDGBV. “Additionally, outreach has become more challenging as the field is now saturated — many cosmetology businesses already receive mandated training through corporate trainers or other community organizations whom we still work with.”

Advocates and researchers say teaming up with community groups to make the case for the required training, backed up by research, could help get the bill passed eventually.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or intimate partner violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or visit thehotline.org for confidential support, resources, and live chat assistance 24/7.

This story was produced in partnership with the Health & Science Reporting Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.