August 7, 2018

It has been a pleasure serving as President of the Senior Citizens Foundation of Shelter Island for the past two years. We are very fortunate that Chris Lewis – a long standing and staunch advocate for older adults – will take over as President next month.

During this time the Foundation focused on the challenges facing older adults on Shelter Island; in particular, inadequate accessibility to public spaces and insufficient health care services. To address these challenges we made grants to the Town of Shelter Island for the purchase of an almost new wheelchair accessible minivan and to the Perlman Music Program for upgrades on its campus to improve access to its concerts for seniors and others with disabilities. We purchased five teak benches that were installed in the new Lions Centennial Pavilion at Wades Beach – a large, open, shaded and wheelchair accessible structure that benefits older adults and those with disabilities. Just today we gave a grant to the Quinipet Camp and Retreat Center for the purchase of a golf cart to transport seniors and others with disabilities around its large and hilly campus.

Our advocacy efforts to expand health services on the Island are ongoing. In the summer of 2017, we conducted a mail survey of all Island property owners to determine their level of interest in an “urgent care” capability on Shelter Island, the results of which are described elsewhere on this website.   The overwhelming response in favor of increased non-emergency health care led to the establishment of the SCF Health Care Task Force, which is advocating for round-the-clock, 7-day access to health care for medical conditions that are not emergencies.  To this end, the Task Force is conferring with the Town of Shelter Island and major health providers on Eastern Long island to address this critical need in the face of an ever growing aging population.

I am very indebted to the extraordinary work of the SCF Board of Directors and to our very generous donors.  Please be in touch with us with your ideas and recommendations for projects that we can undertake.  You may send us your thoughts via our Contact Us web page and be assured that we read all submissions.

Sincerely,

Barbara Silverstone, President