Retirement Housing for seniors of Indian origin planned
Ajay Ghosh
The National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens (NIAASC) had its 13th Conference on April 29 at the Vaishnav Community Center in New Hyde Park, Long Island. It was undertaken in collaboration with Indo-American Senior Citizen Center of New York and the Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center. Attended by nearly a hundred participants from the New york region, the one-day conference and the interaction on the issues discussed evidenced the success and satisfaction of all the participants.

Immediately following the breakfast, formal presentations commenced, and the conference coordinator, Rajeshwar Prasad, Executive Director of NIAASC, requested participants to observe one-minute silence in memory of Virginia Tech's 32 innocent victims, including two Indians, who were shot dead by a student who committed suicide. He also requested to remember Romesh Tewari, NIAASC Board member and former Treasurer, who died on March13. Dr. Ashwin Pandya, NIAASC President, welcomed all on behalf of NIAASC as well as on behalf of the Vaishnav Community Center.

Guest Speakers for the morning session, Patricia Walsh Perez, APRN, BC, psychotherapist, Bereavement Consultant, and Wellness Psychologist, and Rose V. Bruy, LMHC, NCC, Consultant to the New York City Board of Education, were introduced by NIAASC Vice President, MK Ramasubramanian. Their excellent and comprehensive presentations on "Issues of Single Seniors with Focus on Bereavement Support System" with handout packages and visual explanation, were very well received and invited an intensive and emotional interaction among all participants. Ms. Perez handed out a detailed resource directory of bereavement services that included General Sources, Hospital-based Groups, Special Focus Groups, and County-based Bereavement Support Groups. The session moderated by Dr. Pandya provided impetus to all and that Indian American seniors should take steps to develop a resource entity for their benefit.

Perez identified differences between Grief, Mourning and Bereavement and elaborated on practical reactions to loss. She continued "Grief is the natural response to letting go of someone we love very much." Common reactions to grief are emotional, physical and behavioral. Emotional reactions may include many facets such as sadness, guilt, despair, anger, bitterness; physical reactions may include deep sighing, decrease in activity, sleep disturbances, neglect of self, increased blood pressure; and behavioral reactions could include crying, seeking solitude, seeking forgiveness, searching for what was lost, detachment from surroundings. She indicated that grief is expressed differently by each individual, and mourning is impacted by social, cultural, religious background of each individual.

Bruy, complementing the presentation of Perez, related a story from the publication "Old Pig" where a grandmother and granddaughter explaining to one another what was happening on 'Living and Loving as well as Giving and Taking' The picture presentation covered the entire cycle: Beginning, Living and Ending. Participants, many of them having gone through their personal losses, admired both the presentations and asked specific questions. The speakers handled interactive portion, which at times was very emotional, in a very professional manner with a great solace to all.

Prasad alluded to a recent study by Yale University on grieving and hurting. The study has been published in the Journal of American Medical Association. It studied 233 people 80 percent of whom had recently lost a spouse. NIAASC will make efforts to get the study and post it on its web site for the benefit of seniors.

The afternoon sessions addressed by Iggy Ignatius MBA from Lansing, Michigan was on "Retirement Housing for Seniors of Indian Origin." Dr. Samir K. Dutta, NIAASC Vice President introduced the speaker and Mr. Ramaswamy Mohan MBA, NIAASC Board member moderated the session. Ignatius who had direct experience in real estate field in USA, and had done pioneering work on Time-Sharing in India, focused that he and his wife, Shanti, have decided to undertake this ambitious project on a not for profit basis and volunteer their 100% time to make it a success. It was their first formal presentation in their pursuit to seek input from seniors and different organizations throughout USA. Their vision is to build "Bharat Vilas" in a complex of some 25 acres where retirees could rent or have a condo. The complex will have 8 Vilas in a circle around a Club House with swimming pool and other community facilities in the center. Symbolically it will be like a pizza with eight slices. Each Vila could accommodate 10 residents with three double bedrooms and four single bedrooms.

The radials from the Vilas will have 80 condos that will be more like independent living. There will be maid services in each Vila and condo owners could also take advantage of this service. The focus is on Adult Community. There is also a possibility that some units could be occupied by other ethnic groups. Iggy also elaborated on legal, zoning, fair housing laws and other implications which will be considered during the development process. During his input-gathering tour Ignatius will be specifically asking participants to give their suggestions on the following major components; each component having several subcomponents on the need for such an initiative.

His power point presentation was followed by a video where he showed how the Vila look like from outside and inside and how the complex would look like from an aerial point? Based on preliminary estimate Ignatius predicted that a resident could rent in a Vila for $750.00 per month that will include rent, food, maid services, utilities and maintenance. The condos will be based on specific need basis. During the question/answer session participants expressed general satisfaction with the project and they also provided some useful suggestions. Ignatius distributed a booklet on "Bharat Vilas" and was pleased with the response. He said it was the beginning!

The event also included brief presentations from collaborators: Chandubhai Patel from Indo-American Senior Citizen Center of New York, and EM Stephen, Executive Director and Jose Chumar, President of Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center. Comments were also made about other ongoing senior programs: Nirmala Ramasubramanian from Hindu Temple Society of North America, Chandrakant Shah from Jain Temple, Chan Jamoona from United Hindu Cultural Council Senior Center, Avinash Suri from India association of Long Island, Ardaman Singh Madan from Guru Gobing Singh Senior Center.

Usha Foods provided vegetarian buffet lunch, and the Vaishnav Temple Senior program recognized all senior programs and guest speakers with a symbolic bouquet of flowers. Mr. Satpal Malhotra, NIAASC Secretary, proposed a Vote of Thanks. The event was covered by ITV and the reporter interviewed about half a dozen community leaders including guest speakers. The channel 57 TV also covered the event.

Issues and aspirations of seniors of Indian Origin
Rajeshwar Prasad
General Description
The issues and problems faced by seniors of Indian origin in the United States have been surfacing progressively and their aspirations are dimly visible. The influx of Indian immigrants to the USA started in the late sixties and early seventies of the twentieth century. These 'early' immigrants have already entered the phase of seniors. Since late eighties family members, particularly parents and siblings, of these 'early' immigrants have been joining them in USA. Many of them so called 'late' immigrants were already seniors on arrival. Though the number of seniors (60 years and older) in the USA is over quarter of a million (about 12%) out of a population of close to 2.3 million Indian Americans in USA, there is no data available at this time what percentage of these seniors are early and what percentage late immigrants.

Early and Late Immigrant Seniors
Early immigrants have worked here, raised their children and grand children here, and have adapted to the US way of life. They are also entitled to all the benefits such as Social Security, Medicare. The early immigrants and their children are adequately capable of dealing with local, state and national governmental and non-governmental entities. They are equally capable of steering through the social, economic and political systems. They have developed their own social network. In short they are mainstream Indian Americans. However, their issues are more focused on retirement housing, financial and legal management, and intra-family obligations.

The late immigrants have a daunting task to adapt to the US way of life. Their support system or social network is limited to their family, and at best the family friends. Many of them face language and/or accent problems; are unable to maneuver the transport system; receive limited or no economic and health benefits; over a period of time encounter family conflicts; and are not fully aware of programs for seniors. This group is at a loss to spend their time productively. They feel lonely as their adult children are at work and their grand children in schools and colleges. By and large they are financially dependent on their children, which make them feel uncomfortable after a span of time.

Recognition of issues and problems of Indian seniors
Recognition of issues and problems faced by seniors was dormant till late 90's. There was no concerted effort on the part of community organizations to direct their attention to the unique concerns seniors, particularly the 'late' senior immigrants, have. Knowledge of these problems was confined to the seniors and their families, but did not surface as a public concern. Even today, by most accounts, if an Indian faces a problem, his or her contact is the family; it may spill over to close relatives and friends. Though there are networks - governmental and non-governmental - in USA to address such issues and problems, Indians rarely venture to take advantage of such services. There may be a scant number of cases where outside intervention has been sought.

In late 90's the seniors' problems began unfolding in public. The Welfare Reforms Act imposed severe restrictions in benefits to immigrants arriving after August 22, 1996. These restrictions affected seniors and their families adversely. Families of these seniors on whom they were financially dependent felt the economic impact of this law, and seniors also felt a loss of economic independence due to these restrictions. Hardships felt by Indian seniors and their families began unfolding in the public arena, and many communities in the United States initiated efforts to address these problems. In addition to economic factors, there were social and cultural factors for late immigrants. This encouraged communities to make the issues and problems faced by seniors' public. In communities from the east coast to the west coast, there were vibrations among community leaders in developing loose and informal mechanisms to lessen these hardships and burdens by organizing senior citizen groups. Traditional hesitation and ignorance among seniors and their families in seeking outside support was still a big handicap in their efforts to address important issues. Above all, there was no centralized Indian information and referral system. It was in 1998 a national entity for Indian seniors was initiated that led to the creation of National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens (NIAASC), with its mission to serve seniors through information, referral and advocacy efforts.

Seniors and their activities in Long Island and its vicinity
In a population of about 60,000 people of Indian origin in Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties), seniors' percentage is no different than the national one. Thus Long Island has close to 7500 seniors of Indian origin. If the figures of its vicinity primarily New York City and New Jersey are added, the Indian seniors will account for about 50,000. It is a significant number. Like Indian senior programs from east coast to west coast, the Indian groups in Nassau and Suffolk counties also initiated a number of senior programs. New Jersey State has about a dozen such programs; New York metro area has eight such programs. The NY programs are listed below with contact telephone number.
Indo-American Senior Citizen Center of New York, Ashwin Pandya, Founder, Tel. 516-292-9741; meets twice a month

Guru Gobind Singh Senior Center, Plainview, Ardaman Singh Madan, Tel. 631-368-6544; meets every Thursday

Senior Citizen Program of India Association of Long Island, Huntington, Avinash Suri, Tel. 631-269-7247, meets once a month

Senior Program of Long Island Gujarati Cultural Society, Blue Point, Praful Shah, Tel. 631-471-7799, meets once a month

Hindu Temple Society of North America, Flushing, Nirmala Ramasubramanian, Te. 718-969-1827, meets twice a month

United Hindu Cultural Council Senior Center, South Ozone Park, Chan Jamoona, 718-323-8900, meets five days a week

Indian American Kerala Cultural & Civic Center Senior Program, Elmont, Raju Thomas, Tel. 516-358-2000, meets twice a month

Jain Center of America Senior Program in Elmhurst, Chandrakant Shah, Tel. 718-934-3048

Activities in these programs revolve around social, cultural, religious and family issues; gradually expanding to economic/financial and legal matters.

Lately Indian seniors and organizations undertaking these programs have recognized the need of networking and addressing issues that have remained invisible so far. These may constitute family conflicts and compromises; communication across generations; unique problems of single seniors. NIAASC occasionally provides a forum for the above groups and groups in New Jersey and Connecticut to interact with one another. It also provides technical and logical support as and when needed. NIAASC just completed its 13th full-day conference/workshop on April 29, 2007 that addressed issues of single seniors focusing bereavement support system and Retirement housing for seniors of India origin. India Association of Long Island held its eleventh senior luncheon on May 20, 2007 in collaboration with NIAASC.

For more information visit web site of NIAASC at www.niaasc.org and Web site of IALI is www.iali-newyork.org

Rajeshwar Prasad is cofounder and executive director of National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens Inc., and former president of India Association of Long Island.