Dr. Monica Sweeney, chairperson of Health Policy and Management at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, tells students at Brooklyn College about the success achieved in protecting infants in New York City from HIV. “In 2015, as far as we know, not one baby in New York City was born infected,” she said. Sweeney spoke at a May 12 conference that underlined the importance of public health policy. Radhika Viswanathan reports for Brooklyn News Service.
Brooklyn News Service reporter Deidra Brisco explores some of the drawbacks in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship program, which provides free tuition at public universities to students with a household income of under $100,000 and, at a later stage, $125,000.
Brooklyn News Service reporter Lisa Flaugh explores efforts to return New York City to its one-time status as the world’s oyster capital.
Violence is up in New York City’s Rikers Island jails even as the number of detainees has dropped below 10,000. Albert Craig, a trustee of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, has become an outspoken voice for correction officers as city officials struggle to bring the jails under control. He argued during an Oct. 11 hearing of the city Board of Correction that the level of violence against correction officers is being overlooked.
Brooklyn News Service reporter Shanece McGregor followed up on the meeting by speaking with Craig in this interview.
What can government do to help the poor break out of poverty? According to Jeffrey Maclin, spokesman for the Community Service Society of New York, the answer is that it’s a lot.
Against that background, Brooklyn News Service reporter Deidra Brisco explores how presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are responding to such concerns as poverty, workforce development and the possibility of economic mobility for everyone.
For Mental Health Awareness month, Renee Beyda reports on Chirlane McCray’s efforts to enhance New York City’s aid to the mentally ill.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, First Lady Chirlane McCray visited Washington for three days starting May 10 to advocate for improved mental health services in New York City, and to raise funding for her initiative ThriveNYC: A Mental Health Roadmap For All.
In Washington, the city’s first lady met with members of Congress and urged them to pass bills that would overhaul the nation’s mental health services. She supported the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016, sponsored by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and the Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act. McCray also held a leadership discussion regarding minority mental health.
Chirlane McCray is leading ThriveNYC. (NYC.gov)
McCray said the lack of infrastructure and resources for mental health is a national crisis and that “it will take attention from every level – city, state and federal – to make the kind of progress we need.”
Last November, Mayor Bill de Blasio and McCray announced the $850 million mental health program called ThriveNYC that McCray is heading. It is made up of 54 initiatives aimed at supporting New Yorkers’ mental health.
City officials say that Mental Health Awareness Month offers the chance to focus on a neglected area of healthcare. “Thrive NYC is New York City’s ambitious and wide-ranging plan to address mental health and substance misuse challenges across the lifespan and across the continuum of care,” Deputy Mayor Richard Buery said.
As part of ThriveNYC, McCray launched “Today I Thrive” in April. It is a new mental health awareness campaign telling victims’ stories on TV, social media, buses, and subways, last month. The ads aim to open up the conversation about mental health, and invite New Yorkers to de-stigmatize the common issue. The campaign focuses on eight men and women who have struggled with some kind of mental illness.
McCray says that telling these stories will help erase the stigma associated with mental illness. “I hope this campaign encourages others to share their stories and talk honestly about mental health. Together, we can change the mindset around the mind,” McCray says. “We can make it as easy to talk about anxiety as allergies, so no one else suffers in silence.’
For McCray, the journey of mental illness hits close to home. Both of her parents suffered with depression, a close family member was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and one of her childhood friends committed suicide. But mental illness hit closest to home a few years ago when McCray and de Blasio’s daughter Chiara revealed her drug addiction, anxiety, and depression. Today Chiara is in recovery, and sharing her story to help others overcome mental illness.
Thrive NYC aims to change the conversation about stigma surrounding mental illness, and close the treatment gaps by providing equal health care to all New Yorkers. Over one thousand new providers will be trained to provide buprenorphine, a drug that prevents withdrawal symptoms in substance abuse users. Thrive NYC will help promote, prevent, detect, and treat mental illness in New York, to make a happier and healthier city. For all New Yorkers, NYC Support, a program finder which helps people quickly and easily find resources they may need.
Ludny Jean-Alcime discusses how she learned to live with Type 1 diabetes. (Christell Cherenfant)
By CHRISTELL CHERENFANT
Ludny Jean-Alcime, a freshman at York College in Queens, remembers herself as a pudgy child. But that began to change after she discovered she had Type 1 diabetes.
“When I was first diagnosed, I lost a lot of weight so I became anorexic,” said Jean-Alcime, 18, who has been living with Type 1 diabetes for almost nine years. “[Aside from being anorexic,] I would eat and throw up because I was scared to gain weight again.”
There are two main types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. The New York State Department of Health says that just 5 percent of diabetics have Type 1, which is often referred to as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. The most common theory for this specific type of diabetes is that a viral infection affects the autoimmune process, usually at a young age. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce an adequate amount of insulin.
It is difficult for pre-teens, adolescents and young adults with Type 1 diabetes to deal with their body’s changes. The term “Diabulimia” is heard frequently. It’s not yet recognized in the medical field but many of those who suffer from Type 1 diabetes know exactly what this word means. When people are diagnosed with Type 1, the disease often becomes tied to an eating disorder, whether it be anorexia or bulimia. These eating disorders affect females more than they do males.
“It’s crazy. I was born with diabetes, as doctors say but I didn’t know until I was 22. I’m 23 now,” said Devonte Wong-Wai, a John Jay College alumnus who discovered that he’d been living majority of his life with Type 1 diabetes. “It changed everything. I didn’t find out from a regular checkup. I had diabetic ketoacidosis, [which almost] led to my death.”
Wong-Wai took this diagnosis seriously and changed his lifestyle. “I had to cut out all sugars that weren’t natural and I can’t even eat certain fruits because of too much sugar,” he said.
Type 1 diabetes can definitely be life altering. For the patient, the only thing that seems to be in control is the amount of insulin that gets injected into the body as well as the amount of food that is eaten. In order for these adolescents to keep from gaining weight, they sometimes skip the necessary insulin injection.
“When people skip their insulin, they lose calories through the loss of glucose in their wastes, mostly through urination,” said Louise Drouillard, a licensed practical nurse at Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. “I’ve been a nurse for about 10 years and it’s always the same thing with people with Type 1 diabetes. The residents with Type 1, their weight is always fluctuating but of course we keep them under a close eye,” she said.
For the past 24 years, students from around New York City have waited on long lines every school day morning to undergo a tedious search procedure just to get into their building — as if they were going through airport security. Now, Mayor Bill de Blasio and school officials are reconsidering that. Sophie Dweck reports.
Kat Lloyd interviews Jimmy McMillan, founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party and frequent candidate for public office.
By LA QUINTA CLARK
New York City can be a tough place for up and coming chefs, and like those before her Veronica Espinoza found that out.
The Texan native worked as a paralegal for several years in Austin, but decided to start anew after a painful breakup with a longtime boyfriend.
“I was dating someone for a long time and it didn’t work out and I was heartbroken. I had a cousin invite me to Mexico to this little town where the grade level was seventh grade and they would have people come in and show them how to make sweet bread and sell it so they could make profits for themselves,” she said. “I had a piece and it was delicious and at that moment I figured out no matter where you go I was still going to be heartbroken…I felt like I needed to change something about myself.”
She combined her love for the arts with her passion for desserts and enrolled at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin, gaining a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. She pursued a pastry culinary degree in order to help others by creating foods with love and care that would touch their soul.
Espinoza had not intended to switch gears and become a pastry chef. In her mind she had everything one could ask for—a budding career, a good relationship, and a strong family bond. The thought of moving thousands of miles away from home never occurred to her, but with the curve ball life threw, she decided it was time to make a change. Making sweet breads in Mexico jump-started the idea and ultimately set her on the path to becoming a pastry chef in New York City.
Most restaurant patrons rarely see the chefs, and probably do not think much about them; but they do appreciate presentation, taste, and quick service, and it is the chef’s job to provide all three.
Espinoza began her career at the Ausable Club, a country club on the Adirondack Mountain Reserve in upstate New York, acquiring the title of executive pastry chef. From there she moved to Maine where she owned and operated a small non-profit business, Cakes for Kids in Care, in which she baked for children in need. Due to life changes, she sold the business and moved back to New York City.
Upon moving back, she worked as a pastry chef alongside the then sous chef and current executive chef, Scot Burnett, at the Carlton Hotel restaurant Millesime on Madison Avenue for an entire year. Afterward she partnered with Savory Chef Chris Van De Walt to open a catering service, Yummy Perfection, stationed in Manhattan. Her usual days are filled with catering events from weddings to corporate dinners, including vegan dishes.
Espinoza is no stranger to hard work and going after what she wants, and she also believes in not settling for less. She is aware of the battle for minimum wage increases and the disparate pay between female and male chefs in New York City and would like to see change in the future.
“It starts with today; you have to know what you’re worth,” she says.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 11,140 chefs were employed in New York City with an hourly mean wage of $24.24 in 2014. This could be a livable pay for other areas, but in New York low pay can stretch the pockets.
With the recent protest concentrating on higher wages for fast food workers, public and freelance chefs are less likely to see an increase any time soon. Some restaurateurs are considering an end to tipping to balance the “back of the house with the front of the house.”
Is the low pay and grunt work worth it for chefs?
Espinoza and Burnett say cooking is a job, like any other. It requires patience and love for the work. The money is not the best to start but the overall experience is worth it. The most important thing is to find your niche and build from there. Espinoza also founded and dedicated a Facebook page— Chefs and Cooks of New York— in honor of the skills and hard work that they display everyday.
