Service Program for Older People

Last updated
Service Program for Older People
Founded1972
FoundersHealth care and Social workers
TypeCommunity Service
FocusSilver Community
Location
MethodPartnership with NGOs, Project Grants, Personal Donations
Revenue
~$3MM
Endowment Mary Hutchins Foundation, Sidney & Judith Kranes Charitable Trust, The Starr Foundation, Collegiate Church Corporation
Employees
21-100
Volunteers
107
Website http://www.spop.org/

Service Program for Older People (SPOP) is a nonprofit community-based mental health agency that serves adults age 55 and older. It is one of only a handful of agencies in New York City that focus entirely on the mental health needs of older people. [1] SPOP's services include individual counseling, group therapy and support groups, mental health home visits, medication management, psychosocial assessment, family counseling and caregiver support, information and referral and education. [2]

Mental health is a level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness - the state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioural adjustment". From the perspectives of positive psychology or of holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, inter-generational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others." The WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health".

Caregiver person who helps another individual who is older or with an impairment with his or her activities of daily living

A caregiver or carer is an unpaid or paid member of a person's social network who helps them with activities of daily living. Caregiving is most commonly used to address impairments related to old age, disability, a disease, or a mental disorder.

Contents

SPOP has received national awards from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association and AARP.

SPOP is known for its program of home visits to disabled clients and outreach through senior centers in Harlem, the Lower East Side, East Village and Yorkville neighborhoods of Manhattan. The clinic offers treatment in five languages. SPOP is also home to New York State's only PROS/Personalized Recovery Oriented Services program exclusively for older adults.

History

Originally called New York Service Program for Older People, SPOP was founded in 1972 by a consortium of health care and social service providers that recognized the need for mental health services among the older population of Manhattan’s West Side. Beginning as a program called Selfhelp Community Services, Inc., SPOP became an independent, nonprofit organization in 1979 with funding from the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation & Alcoholism Services (now the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene). In 2006, the agency’s name was changed to Service Program for Older People.

The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side. The major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper West Side, Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, West Village, SoHo, and Tribeca. The 8th Avenue and West Side subway lines connect all parts of the West Side. The main north-south roads servicing the West Side are the Henry Hudson Parkway in the north, and the West Side Highway in the south. The Hudson River Greenway separates them from the west shore of the island.

A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating for a shared point of view. In economic terms, it is an organization that uses its surplus of the revenues to further achieve its ultimate objective, rather than distributing its income to the organization's shareholders, leaders, or members. Nonprofits are tax exempt or charitable, meaning they do not pay income tax on the money that they receive for their organization. They can operate in religious, scientific, research, or educational settings.

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcement. The New York City Board of Health is part of the department. Its regulations are compiled in title 24 of the New York City Rules. Since September 1, 2018, the commissioner has been Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

Finance

Funding for SPOP is provided by city and state agencies; Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance reimbursements; fees, and the contributions of foundations, corporations and individual donors. SPOP is a member of The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, which receives Federal grants. SPOP organization is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity.

Medicaid United States social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources

Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as "a government insurance program for persons of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care." Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with low income in the United States, providing free health insurance to 74 million low-income and disabled people as of 2017. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments and managed by the states, with each state currently having broad leeway to determine who is eligible for its implementation of the program. States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. Medicaid recipients must be U.S. citizens or qualified non-citizens, and may include low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid.

Medicare (United States) United States single-payer national social insurance program

Medicare is a national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1966 under the Social Security Administration and now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It provides health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older. It also provides health insurance to younger people with some disability status as determined by the Social Security Administration, as well as people with end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Medicare is funded by a combination of a payroll tax, beneficiary premiums and surtaxes from beneficiaries, and general U.S. Treasury revenue.

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