Subject: Your support means so much.

Seniors’ Lives Improved, Thanks to Your Help
Of the more than 1200 New Yorkers with serious mental illness housed by The Bridge, more than 400 are over the age of 60. Like the seniors that so many of us know in our families and communities, they face the physical challenges of aging. However, unlike seniors in the general population, older adults with serious mental illness often deal with health-related side effects of antipsychotic medication, barriers to health care, and stigma. As a result, older adults with serious mental illness often face early mortality, disability, reduced functioning, and greater rates of nursing home placement and high-cost hospital services.
In 2014, The Bridge launched the Aging Services program, an innovative grant-funded effort designed to help these senior clients gain better access to medical and community services and to be able to “age in place.” The ongoing program has clearly 
demonstrated the value of this multi-faceted approach of assessment, training, advocacy, community engagement, and direct nursing and social work services.

The stories of the seniors who are benefiting from the Aging Services program range greatly. Aging Services program staff have encouraged and accompanied clients to long-needed medical appointments and treatments, and advocated for clients to access home health care, meal delivery services, and benefits. They have helped clients manage hospitalizations, and deal with the challenges of end of life decision making. Thanks to the agency-wide assessment and training and ongoing program services, seniors in Bridge housing are benefitting every day from better health and decreased rates of emergency room visits and hospitalization.

As we look to year end, we invite you to support The Bridge and our important programs, including Aging Services. Your support is vital to our work. On behalf of all of us at The Bridge, thank you.


The Bridge, 290 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10027, United States
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