October 13th, 2021
A nonprofit will use $1.4M in federal money to provide culturally responsive at-home care
to older adults in the Hispanic/Latinx community.
BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Seniors in Bed-Stuy and throughout Brooklyn can soon receive home-based, culturally-responsive mental health treatment thanks to federal grant money awarded to a city nonprofit.
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has given $1.4 million to the Institute for Community Living (ICL), a behavioral health nonprofit that will use the funding to deliver care to Brooklyn seniors.
Funding will go to the ICL’s Older Adult Recovery Support project, which aims to reduce the inequities in health care faced by older adults in the Hispanic/Latinx community who live in Bedford-Stuyvesant and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Brownsville and Bushwick.
ICL will use the money to provide treatment and peer support that will address mental health challenges in seniors who have faced “barriers to adequate services” during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said in a news release.
The OARS team will connect clients to physicians and psychiatrists via telehealth, and will also provide in-home/outpatient treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation and intensive care management that is culturally and linguistically responsive, flexible and trauma-informed, officials said.
“The pandemic has made it extremely difficult for older adults, many of whom were already struggling with mental health issues, to access the services they need to live happy, healthy lives,” Jody Rudin, President & CEO of ICL, said. “We thank SAMHSA for this generous grant, which will allow us to… better deliver services that meet the whole health needs of older adults, particularly in Hispanic/Latinx communities, in Brooklyn neighborhoods that have been devastated by the pandemic.”
The program will be located in the East New York Health Hub, located on the border of East New York and Brownsville.
