|
|
Newsletters 2007
May
Besty Gotbaum This Week
May 29, 2007
Real People, Real Stories, Real Results, Case #1
Under a tight deadline, my staff intervened to help a Bronx widow attend a memorial service for her late husband. The state Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had refused to issue the grieving widow a non-drivers photo ID, but without one she couldn’t board a plane for Puerto Rico, site of the memorial service. (There was no time for a passport.) Despite a Social Security card, birth certificate, marriage license, husband’s death certificate, phone bills, bank statements and Medicare card, the widow remained one point short of the six needed for the state-issued ID. My staff contacted the DMV, and a supervisor agreed to make an exception and issue the desperately-needed ID. I’m proud of my staff’s quick and compassionate work.
Real People, Real Stories, Real Results, Case #2
An exasperated 78-year-old Staten Island woman called my office for help with a long-standing Medicaid headache. The woman literally had spent months trying to arrange for Medicaid for her 17-year-old adopted daughter, who was attending a therapeutic school in Alabama. But Medicaid wouldn’t honor her claims. Feeling she was being given the run-around, the woman called my office. After multiple phone calls, we were referred to the Medicaid Interstate Compact in Albany. The mother faxed the appropriate papers to that office, and the Compact staff later advised that the daughter’s Medicaid benefits would begin in about 10 days. The mother, enormously relieved, later called to thank us for our quick intervention. She stressed that no one else had been willing to help her access this essential service. Once again, I’m proud of my can-do staff.
City, State Should Increase Fingerprinting of Children
It’s time we did more to protect New York kids. As a first step, I’m providing parents with child identification kits. Produced by the National Child Identification Program, the ID kits contain inkless fingerprint kits, laminated wallet cards and DNA collection swabs, all tools that may be essential in locating missing children. In New York City alone, 5,000 children go missing each year. During a visit to a Head Start program in Washington Heights last week, I urged the city and state to increase efforts to fingerprint New York’s children.
Live Smart: Get a Mammogram
With other concerned women, I stood on the steps of City Hall last week to encourage New Yorkers to get their annual mammograms, the most effective test for early detection of breast cancer in women aged 40 and older. This routine exam can reduce the risk of breast cancer mortality by more than 30 percent. Yet in 2005, nearly 28 percent of New York women 40 and older failed to get mammograms. For the sake of your family, your friends and yourself, please make your annual mammogram appointment, and keep it. For the uninsured and under-insured, some city hospitals and clinics offer mammograms free or at reduced cost. For more information, click here.
A closing note following this Memorial Day holiday. As we honor the brave men and women fighting around the world and reflect on their great sacrifices and commitment, let’s also continue in our efforts to get them home safely and as soon as possible.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
May 21, 2007
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results
A distraught mother contacted my office after an obvious mix-up in which the city discontinued food stamps for her 4-year-old son. Her file, inexplicably, had been transferred to a center that processes benefits for single adults. The effect? Her young son was cut off. The mother's efforts to get her son reinstated went nowhere. A member of my staff quickly contacted the appropriate office. She explained the hardship and persuaded a supervisor to take immediate steps to re-enroll the 4-year-old. Mother and son now receive their usual amount of food stamps, and their file was referred to the correct center. Once again, my staff came through.
New Report Finds Barriers to Prenatal Care
Women face significant barriers when trying to access basic prenatal care at clinics run by the city Health and Hospitals Corp. (HHC). My new report, Hurdles to a Healthy Baby, finds that more than 70 percent of HHC clinics require in-person visits -- in some cases multiple visits -- before expectant mothers may meet with a physician. Two-thirds of these clinics offer no weekend or evening appointments. Last week I joined childcare advocates in calling on HHC to waive the prior-visit requirements and to remove other administrative barriers. This step will help extend access to timely prenatal care to all women. Better access to prenatal care means healthier babies. It also means less of a burden on taxpayers, who bear the costs when uninsured women bear pre-term or low-weight babies. To see the report, click here.
DOE Should Expand State-Certified CTE Programs
I released a white paper last week on the benefits of state-approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The city Department of Education (DOE) recognizes nearly 500 career-oriented programs in its high schools as CTE, yet only 54 of them have been reviewed and approved by the State Education Department. I recommend that the DOE further develop existing career-oriented programs in high-demand job sectors and then submit them for state review and approval. For my CTE white paper, click here.
Join Us to Honor Mothers
Join us this Thursday, May 24, in presenting an Honoring Mothers program that features the documentary film "The Motherhood Manifesto," along with a panel discussion and cocktail reception. The Working Families Party, 1199 SEIU and MomsRising.org join me in sponsoring this event, and representatives from the New York State Paid Family Leave Coalition, the Community Service Society of New York and the National Association of Women Business Owners will take part.
Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Place: Penthouse, 33rd Floor, 330 West 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Please RSVP at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
May 17, 2007
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results
A mother of five, mired in the tortuous red tape of several housing agencies, recently called my office for help. She had been told that if she renewed the lease on her duplex apartment but later moved, she’d lose her rent subsidy. Trouble is, she did plan an eventual move, since she and one of her kids were mobility-impaired and had difficulty going up and down the duplex stairs. And if she refused to sign the lease, the rent on the duplex would jump to market rate. With deadlines looming, and after multiple phone calls and faxes, my staff arranged for an exemption from the lease-signing. We also arranged for a transfer package that allows the mother to keep her subsidy when her family moves to more suitable quarters. I’m proud of my staff and their can-do persistence.
New Legislation to Create Online Maternity Database
I introduced new legislation last week that requires the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to create an on-line database of vital maternity information for expectant mothers. The database would include rates of C-sections, epidurals and episiotomies in area hospitals. City Council member Joel Rivera joined me in sponsoring this legislation. By state law, hospitals must provide this information in pamphlet form, but surveys I conducted in 2005 and 2006 showed that many do not. Since then, I've been in contact with hospitals to make sure that they comply with the law. As of last week, 41 of 44 hospitals with maternity wards have made this information available.
DOE Leaves Special Ed Programs in Crisis
Face it, special education in this city is in a state of crisis, as I noted last week at a meeting in Staten Island of the Citywide Council on Special Education. Multiple school reorganization plans mean still more changes to special ed programs, and the city Department of Education (DOE) remains unresponsive to parents. I’ve called on the DOE to implement a series of common-sense reforms: The DOE must ensure that parents’ calls to Committees on Special Education be returned within five business days, must make sure that all Committees on Special Education and parent coordinator phone numbers and voicemail systems work, and must contract with a telephone-based translation service.
Honoring Mothers on May 24
On Thursday, May 24, MomsRising.org, the Working Families Party and 1199 SEIU join me in presenting an "Honoring Mothers" documentary film, panel discussion and cocktail reception. Representatives from the New York State Paid Family Leave Coalition, the Community Service Society of New York and the National Association of Women Business Owners will take part. Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Place: 330 West 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues. Please RSVP at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Here's the flyer for the event: click here.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
May 7, 2007
New Survey Shows DOE's Failed School Safety Policies Undermine Efforts to Improve Student Achievement
The city Department of Education (DOE) has pumped more than $20 million into its school safety budget over the past three years, an amount that should have been matched by a plunge in school crime. But no. School crime soared by 21 percent for the first four months of 2006 compared with the first four months of 2005.
In a new survey, "Conflict Unresolved," conflict resolution providers said that the DOE neglects the root causes of conflict, opting for punishment rather than prevention. I've called on the DOE to reform its school safety policies by creating a central Conflict Resolution Office, establishing a conflict adviser position in select schools and establishing a school safety planning committee.
To read "Conflict Unresolved", click here.
Most City Hospitals Finally Provide Maternity Information
Good news for expectant mothers: Most city hospitals with maternity wards have prepared pamphlets with vital information about C-sections, induced labor, episiotomies and other childbirth procedures, thanks largely to the efforts of my staff. Forty-one of 44 hospitals with maternity wards prepared these pamphlets, as required by the State Maternity Information Act.
And it's about time. In 2005 and 2006, I released two reports that showed that none of these 44 hospitals complied with this law, designed to help moms-to-be make informed, healthy decisions.
As a next step, this week I plan to introduce legislation that requires the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to make C-Section and other required childbirth statistics easily accessible on its website.
In a related matter, I was so pleased last week to be honored by Childbirth Connection for my work in fostering compliance with this law. Childbirth Connection is a national non-profit advocacy group that promotes safe, effective and satisfying maternal care.
City Responds to Hunger Hotline Report
It took awhile, but the Hunger Hotline has improved. Among other things, it hired operators who are bilingual in Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Haitian Creole, and its automated telephone message soon will carry information about food stamps and instruction on how to reach a live operator. These changes came as a direct result of a report I issued last August about the city’s Hunger Hotline, titled "Help's Often Not on the Menu."
In a recent letter to me, Robert Doar, Commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration, outlined these and other improvements to the Hunger Hotline. I'm pleased that we could work together to improve the lives of vulnerable New Yorkers. Even so, more work needs to be done to improve this vital service.
Join Me for a Special Ed Meeting This Wednesday
The Citywide Council on Special Education, which advises and comments on special ed services in City public schools, meets this Wednesday, May 9, at the Hungerford School PS 721R, Staten Island. Time: 6 p.m. Place: 155 Tompkins Avenue.
Save May 24 for an "Honoring Mothers" Program
On Thursday, May 24, MomsRising.org and 1199 SEIU join me in presenting an "Honoring Mothers" program. It features the Paid Family Leave Coalition and the Community Service Society of New York. Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Place: 330 West 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.
|
|
|
