By Mark Hallum
State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein presented a $500,000 grant from state capital funds to Selfhelp Clearview Senior Center at the Senior Health & Wellness Forum. The funds will go toward improvements to the building such as upgrading the lobby, auditorium, the heating system, and a handicap accessible walkway.
The purpose of the June 29 forum was help attendees manage their finances and save money.
“We want to give people an idea how to take care of their money and their assets,” Braunstein said.
According to Braunstein’s office, the city Board of Elections announced in 2015 Selfhelp Clearview, located at 208-11 26th Ave. in Bayside, will no longer serve as a polling location because the walkway has a slope in the front that makes handicap access difficult. Once the new walkway is installed, Braunstein said he will be calling upon the Board of Elections to make the location a poll site again.
More than 250 people attended the event, including guest speakers Ann-Margaret Carrozza, an elder law and estate planning lawyer who has served in the state Assembly, and Dr. William Duke, medical director of New York Hospital Queens. Also in attendance were representatives from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s Office of Unclaimed Funds, AgeWell New York, the city Department of Finance, and Northwell Health’s Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine.
Selfhelp has five locations in Queens and a 75-year history of serving the elderly in the borough as well as supporting Holocaust survivors seeking refuge in the United States. They offer progressive social services, as well as innovative aging-in-place solutions for elderly patients and their families.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
