By Alex Ginsberg
About 30 South Asians from across the borough attended a forum and guided tour at Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation in New Hyde Park Friday, part of an effort by the geriatric hospital to reach out to Queens' Indian community.
“There clearly is a growing Indian community in Queens and Long Island, and they're important to us,” Dr. Conn Foley, senior vice president for medical services, told the group. “Parker's mission is to provide the highest quality and the most compassionate health care we can to older adults in your community.”
But if Parker was courting the borough's Indian community, it was also clear that the audience – mainly from Richmond Hill, Flushing and Glen Oaks – was looking to Parker for services traditionally provided by the family in south Asian cultures.
“The future window is shrinking,” said Prasanta Sinha, a retired engineer from Floral Park who attended the forum. “You have to be realistic.”
Attendees heard a roughly 90-minute summary of the services offered by Parker, where 25 percent of the medical staff is of South Asian descent. The institute is a 527-bed geriatric care facility, providing inpatient care to both long-term patients and those recovering from serious health problems. A variety of outpatient programs are offered as well, including adult day health care and home health care.
An Alzheimer Respite Center gives adult caregivers much-needed time off from the emotionally and physically trying work of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's Disease or other forms of dementia.
The Parker representatives gave particular emphasis to the institute's Community Hospice program, which provides home care to the terminally ill.
Donna Brook, the hospice program manager, said it was a combination of 21st century medicine and the old-world tradition of spending one's final years in the care of family.
“It used to be that people took care of their loved ones until the end,” she said, adding that in the 1960s and '70s, Americans increasingly died in hospitals. “Now people are starting to come back to that philosophy.”
But even Parker programs that allow patients to remain at home are a big step for some immigrant communities, such as those of the South Asians, who are accustomed to caring for older adults at home.
“We depend heavily on our offspring, our friends and relatives,” said Samir Dutta, an area surgeon and activist told the audience. “But as the children grow they also have their future. They also have to do what they have to do. We cannot demand, we cannot depend on them. We have to go on our own.”
Sinha, the retired engineer, agreed wholeheartedly.
“I took care of my parents as long as they lived,” he recalled. But he said he did not expect that his two children – one a lawyer and the other a television news producer – would take care of him.
“I don't expect it. I doubt they would spend any money from their pocket, even though we have a very good relationship,” he said.
Suprabhat Sengupta, a community activist and leader from Kew Gardens Hills, said in an interview that Indian traditions were breaking down in the face of America's work-dominated culture.
“It used to be that way in India,” he said. “But conditions are different in this country…[People] are working 12 to 18 hours a day. They have no time.”
He hailed Parker's outreach to the Indian community as a step in the right direction, but also said medical attention was only the most obvious of needs for South Asian seniors. He said he had been trying for several years to obtain funding for a boroughwide senior center for the Indian community.
“When you grow old, what is your duty?” he asked. “To watch TV and take care of the grand children? That's the curse.”
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
