Talk Bronx New York

 ”If You Don’t Ask You Don’t Get” .. To Teen Program Activists RE Funds

 A Bronx neighborhood has done an end run around a city agency to get an after-school program for its teens, after years without one.

John Fratta, district manager for Community Board 11, has been complaining for months about the lack of after-school programs for local teens.

But the Department of Youth and Community Development responded that since no one in the district had applied for funding when they should have years ago, local kids were out of luck.

So Fratta, politicians and community leaders got creative.

The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center went grant hunting and secured $100,000 from the Boys and Girls Club, hopefully to be matched by the city Housing Authority for a program in the Eastchester Gardens Community Room this year.

“I know deep in my heart you are not going to get the bad kids off the street no matter how you try,” Fratta said.

“But we’re going to get those marginal kids that might become bad kids if they don’t have something to do.”

He said several other teen programs outside of the city youth agency are in the works, including one at an unused gym at Jacobi Medical Center that might become a community center.

Leaders are looking for funding for a Police Athletic League program.

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Fire officials said a blaze at the Hunts Point meat market started at Master Purveyors, a family-owned business that opened in 1957. It was unclear what effect the blaze had on its stock of beef. 

02/11/2008 

Hunts Point Market Fire Causes Millions In Damages 

Fire damaged the buildings of several wholesale meat suppliers in the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the South Bronx on Monday night, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage, fire officials and business owners said.

The fire disrupted office and warehouse operations at several companies. Other businesses that escaped the flames will step in to fill meat orders to supply the region’s grocery stores and restaurants, one company executive said.

The fire started about 5:30 p.m. in a large two-story building at 355 Food Center Drive in the market’s meat section, which is separate from the produce and fish markets. The Fire Department declared the fire under control shortly after 7 p.m., though it was still smoldering a hour later.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Fire officials said there was no indication of foul play.

The market’s meat businesses were generally closed when the fire struck, and no civilians were hurt. But three firefighters suffered minor injuries and were taken to Jacobi Medical Center for treatment, fire officials said.

The building that houses Master Meat Purveyors, Desola Provisions and several other businesses appeared to be the most badly damaged. More than two dozen windows were broken, and the roof was scorched. Water-soaked computer equipment had been set out on a loading dock in an attempt to dry it.

Vincent Pacifico, the owner of the Vista Food Exchange in the building next door, said the loss of goods and equipment, the cost of rebuilding and the lost business while companies are restoring operations would cost tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Pacifico, a member of the market’s board of directors, said, “There are 43 cooperatives in the market, so New York will still be supplied with fresh, quality meat from the facilities that were not affected by the fire.”

SOURCE: NYTimes.com

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Jacobi Hospital Shortages Helps Woman Go From Desk To Scrubs

Facing a shortage of nurses, Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx turned to an unlikely prospect: clerical worker Ewa Stasiewicz. The hospital sent the Brooklyn mother of two to nursing school–for free.

“They were paying for my tuition and my books, and I was getting my regular salary,” says Ms. Stasiewicz, 32, who began her studies at the College of Staten Island in 2003.

Three years later, she swapped her 9-to-5 job at Jacobi for 12-hour shifts on a medical/surgical floor.

Health care is one of a handful of industries across New York City in the vanguard of the battle for talent. Because of especially high demand, health care, engineering and online advertising are suffering from acute worker shortages.

Confronting the reality that even higher salaries aren’t sufficient to draw new employees to their fields, businesses in all three industries have turned to education for the answer. They are focusing their efforts not only on luring individuals already working in those fields, but also on producing new ones.

“It’s very competitive, which is why we look at building training programs and hiring from undergrads,” says Pete Stein, general manager for the New York office of online ad firm Avenue A|Razorfish, which currently has 50 to 60 openings.

The wider business world might take note. More than 77 million baby boomers are expected to retire by 2020, and only about 40 million workers will be available to take their places. In New York City–where roughly one in six workers is 55 or older–shortages are expected across key industries.

SOURCE: CrainsNewYork.com

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Chase In The Bronx Leads To Shooting..

In the ninth shooting to involve police during the first seven days of 2008, police officers shot and wounded an unarmed suspect who led them on a car chase through the Bronx yesterday, police officials said.

The confrontation happened at about 11:30 a.m., as plainclothes anti-crime officers on patrol attempted to stop the suspect as he was driving near Jerome Avenue and Kingsbridge Road, police said. The suspect fled in his car as the officers approached, prompting them to jump in their unmarked car and give chase, police said.

After the suspect’s vehicle became stuck in traffic near West Kingsbridge Road and Aqueduct Avenue, about three blocks away, police tried to stop him again. According to police officials, the officers approached the vehicle and demanded to see the suspect’s identification.

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50,000 in the Bronx may be diabetic; many remain undiagnosed

Some 50,000 Bronxites are walking around with diabetes - and they don’t know it.

With Diabetes Awareness Month underway, that’s the estimate for the disease, which claims the highest rate of victims here than in any other borough.

“In a place like the Bronx, everybody knows someone who has the advanced complications of diabetes,” said Dr. Charles Nordin, professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and chairman of medicine at Jacobi Medical Center.

Nordin said anxiety over such complications as blindness, heart disease and amputation from poor circulation is partly responsible for the estimated high number of undiagnosed cases.

The estimate is from the city’s 2004 Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which found 3.8% of the adult population - about 207,000 people citywide - had undiagnosed diabetes.

But early detection, exercise, improved diet, medications and monitoring of blood-sugar levels are critical to delay or avoid the complications of diabetes.

“There are very effective treatments to prevent the complications,” Nordin said. “It’s very important to get out the message that diabetes is not a hopeless condition.”

In a 2003 study of screenings at Bronx churches, community centers, shelters and streetcorners, Nordin and colleagues found that 3 to 5%of about 800 people tested had undiagnosed diabetes. A 2006 survey of 1,000 patients at Jacobi found an estimated 6% were likely to have undiagnosed diabetes.

Besides fear, Nordin said barriers to diagnosis include not being aware of the early signs, such as frequent urination, extreme thirst, hunger and exhaustion, and no routine screening.

“It’s a very slow-developing disease,” said Carol Stockert, director of chronic illness management at the North Bronx Healthcare Network. “You don’t just wake up one morning and have diabetes. If you start to see any of these symptoms you need to go and see your doctor.”

The Bronx has a high prevalence of risk factors for diabetes, including the city’s highest rates of obesity, which is linked to the illness, and large black and Hispanic populations, which have a higher incidence of the disease.

In the South Bronx, where those risk factors are the highest, the city health department has launched several initiatives to prevent and manage the illness, such as free exercise classes at recreation centers, working with bodega owners to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and raising awareness.

“If you don’t know you have the disease, you may not change your diet, you may not exercise,” said Dr. Shadi Chamady, director of the health department’s diabetes prevention and control program.

SOURCE: NY Daily News

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