During Year 3 of COVID, Gray Panthers NYC (GPNYC) has been busy with housekeeping. Being in social isolation helped us to concentrate internally on our infrastructure. The opportunity arose to review our outdated By-Laws with assistance from Lawyers Alliance. We are grateful to Laura Abel and Aviva Grossman from that organization who produced the updated document.
In 2021, we “Zoomed” in on working as an agent of change around improvement of Long-Term Care, specifically Nursing Home reform, via a year-long series of webinars. As you recall, the GPNYC team organized and produced a Day of Remembrance to honor the 200,000 nursing home residents who succumbed to COVID 19. This award-winning, one-hour documentary has been viewed by over 1,000 people and is available on our website.
We continued to carry this banner through 2022 and will not cease until the positive change that we are working on with our partners and elected officials is implemented. The conversation has continued with our successful monthly Transformation Tuesday webinars, which focus on key aspects of advocacy for nursing home reform.
We were proud to collaborate over the summer with EmergingAging NYC, an organization of young professionals dedicated to elder care. Additionally, Gray Panthers NYC is a founding member of the Live Oak Coalition, which advocates for positive change in the nursing home space. We may be preaching to the choir, but we are pleased that the choir is growing.
During this year of midterm elections, we supported our partner, The Riverside Church of New York, in its voter registration drive. As an active member of LiveOn NY, Gray Panthers NYC marched in support of the Fair Pay initiative for home care workers.
Gray Panthers NYC continues to speak up on behalf of Older Persons as an accredited institution with the United Nations. This summer, Gray Panthers NYC facilitated the participation of the Stakeholder Group on Ageing (SGA) members in the High-Level Political Forum. We are grateful to intern Sara Gold for her efforts in supporting that event.
It is with renewed vigor that we anticipate the next 12 months with evident progress in conquering the pandemic and working together to improve quality of life for those in Long-Term Care.
Belated congratulations to our President Jack Kupferman for his dedication and advocacy for older adults, Jack’s alma mater Colgate University has awarded him their Alumni Humanitarian Award for 2020!