Greetings! Welcome toThe Nursing Office.Com Taking Care of Communities. (where Com stands for Communities and Communications) It is my great pleasure to announce that The Nursing Office.Com has developed programs to extend its health and wellness services to the community. 

The Nursing Office Richmond Hill Community Center has opened its doors to serve communities in greater New York area. This is perhaps the first time that a Nursing Office will be made available to communities serving the minorities, ethnic groups and marginalized population of Richmond Hill and its neighborhood. This Community Bulletin will be printed monthly to serve as your official source of news, programs, services, events and other resources you need to live happy and healthy, while preserving your cultural identity.

The Nursing Office is now OPEN, The Nurse is In “How may we help you?

Richmond Hill Love Letter is a storytelling, art, and oral history program that is strengthening local community by highlighting all there is to love about Richmond Hill, Queens! This series presents free workshops and community events from April-October 2016, leading up to a big culminating celebration in November 2016.

Produced by the Five Boro Story Project, Richmond Hill Love Letter aims to increase neighborhood pride and transform strangers into neighbors. In addition to storytelling, art-making, and writing workshops, Richmond Hill Love Letter will include facilitated discussions that explore neighborhood history and assets, examining positive and negative attributes of the greater Richmond Hill area, and envision the changes we hope to see. Sharing local stories provides a connection to the past and a platform for planning the future, helping neighbors move forward with a shared understanding of our neighborhood.

Richmond Hill Love Letter has two components:

1. From April to October 2016: Community activities, including story circles, community discussions, and art-making and writing workshops in local libraries, community centers, and parks, will deeply engage participants with our neighborhood and neighbors. At select workshops, participants are invited to bring in Queens memorabilia and photographs for inclusion in the Queens Memory archives at Queens Library’s collections.

2. In November 2016: A culminating event will showcase performances by community members of true life stories, poems and other art inspired by Richmond Hill. It will be an ode to the neighborhood like we’ve never seen!

Richmond Hill Love Letter is made possible with the support of the New York Council for the Humanities and Citizens Committee for New York City. For more information and event dates, visit www.fiveborostoryproject.org

CELEBRATING RICHMOND HILL COMMUNITIES

A Concept Closest to the Hearts of Immigrants

Richmond Hill is a “rich” enclave in New York City’s central southern Queens County, which is known to be the most richly diverse community in the world. Almost all the countries on Planet Earth are represented in Queens County. Asians comprise 24% of the population, second only to Whites (35%); and are larger than African Americans (18%), Multi-racials (14%) and Other ethnicities (13%).  It is a place like no other --- foods, arts, languages, and cultures from all parts of the world are open and available to anyone curious enough to experience the myriad mosaic of sights and sounds, music & dance, arts & crafts that only multi-cultural diversity can offer.

LOVE and Kindness flow on THE RIVER FUND NEW YORK

The Nursing Office is proud to present a Certificate of Appreciation to The River Fund New York for their unstinting, consistent, and high-quality support of the Richmond Hill community and for providing innovative safety nets to fight hunger, homelessness, and poverty in dozens of city neighborhoods.

Beyond hunger relief, The River Fund provides nutritional education, income support and benefits enrollment services, including pre-screening for 40 social-service benefits that save people the expense and frustration of physically visiting dozens of government offices just to know if they qualify for a benefit.

At The Nursing Office, we are honored to be a Partner of The River Fund in delivering our community-based approach to health care delivery and services, as we promote a Culture of Health based on individual self-empowerment and taking responsibility for self-healing.  The River Fund’s empowerment programs and systems are compatible and profoundly complements our mission of nurses taking care of families and communities.

The Nursing Office Community Center supports women and minority-owned small business

 Since early 2016, the Center has been hosting Saima Rahman, who together with husband Shah, started their small business “S & H Collection” selling colorful, hand-made Pakistani & Indian dresses, shoes and jewelries, which also offers tailoring and repair jobs. Saima is a young mother of two boys, ages 5 and 9. Shah works as taxi driver to support his family.

According to world-wide economic research, bringing more women into the business and labor allows women to use their earnings and increased bargaining power to buy goods and services that benefit the health and welfare of their families.  This creates a virtuous cycle that develops human capital and fuels economic growth in future years.

The Nursing Office mission integrates women empowerment through business  and increased labor force participation, by coaching and mentoring on business development; providing shared store-front space for maximum advertising and marketing; enabling vital contacts with other small businesses and potential partners; and creative strategies for growth and sustainability.

As The Nursing Office is a “new kid on the block”, there is a lot to learn about this community of Richmond Hill. Every migrant group is a valuable member of this cultural mosaic. The challenges are real, but with our community partners, we are able to maximize returns. Our mission is to find and know more about them so that we can determine their needs as individuals, families and communities. The design of their care will be based from this assessment in order to be truly beneficial to them. We continue to engage, interact, and connect with this community in a continuous dialogue that reflects the goals of this mission. 

Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites you to participate in a stakeholder teleconference on Tuesday, November 15 from 2-3 p.m. Eastern to discuss updates to the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program.  During the teleconference, we will provide an overview of updates to the FWVP program that were published on our website at www.uscis.gov/FWVP and answer your non-case specific questions. 

Kira

The FWVP program allows certain U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to request parole for their eligible family members if: 

• They are either a U.S. citizen or LPR living in the United States;
• They have established that they are either a Filipino WWII veteran or are the surviving spouse of such individual;
• The Filipino WWII veteran or surviving spouse filed a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for a family member and it was approved on or before the date they filed the request for parole; and
• An immigrant visa is not yet available for their relative.

If approved for parole (and subject to CBP paroling the individual at the port of entry), eligible family members will be able to reunite with family members in the United States before their immigrant visas become available and apply for work authorization.

If both the veteran and his or her spouse have passed away, certain individuals may self-petition for the FWVP program. 

To register for this teleconference:

• Visit our registration page to confirm your participation
• Enter your email address and select “Submit”
• Select “Subscriber Preferences”
• Select the “Event Registration” tab
• Provide your full name and organization, if any
• Complete the questions and select “Submit”

If you have any questions, or have not received an email confirmation within two business days, please email us at Public.Engagement@uscis.dhs.gov.  

Collaborators, Partners & Resources

AARP*

AKA Healing & Wellness Circle

Assemblyman David Weprin’s Office

Book Mobile

Choices Women's Medical Center

Continental Health Care

Community Board 9

Darby Foundation*

Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, NYC

DHOL from Sikh Cultural Society

Diabetes Health and Wellness Academy*

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield

Empire Medical Services

Five Boro Story Project/Queens Library/ Bridget Bartollini

FHAA (Forest Hills Asian Association)*

Fidelis Care*

Friends of Richmond Hill Library

Lefferts Library

Marquis Home Care 

My Baryo, My Borough    

MK & The Neighborhood Nextdoor                  

PPSEAWA*

Quality Health Care

The Queens Bookshop Initiative

The Queensway

Queens Memory 

Richmond Hill High School

Richmond Hill Historical Society

River Fund New York

Aging Immigrants

Administration on Aging (AoA)

The Administration on Aging (AOA) is the principal agency of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services designated to carry out the provisions of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (OAA), as amended (42 U.S.C.A. § 3001 et seq.). The OAA promotes the well-being of older individuals by providing services and programs designed to help them live independently in their homes and communities. The Act also empowers the federal government to distribute funds to the states for supportive services for individuals over the age of 60.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml

http://www.aoa.gov/

Homelessness

Offering a comprehensive portfolio of services and programs, New York City addresses the issue of homelessness head-on, always meeting its legal and moral obligations to assist those in need. All New Yorkers should be proud to live in a City that prevents homelessness to the fullest extent possible, and one that remains focused on helping families and individuals transition back to homes of their own.

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dhs/index.page

Elder Abuse

Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services

The Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services manages the operation, administration, and assessment of the elder abuse prevention, legal assistance development, and pension counseling programs funded through the Older Americans Act and leads the development and implementation of comprehensive Adult Protective Services systems in order to provide a coordinated and seamless response for helping adult victims of abuse and to prevent abuse before it happens. Also implements and coordinates innovation and demonstration activities, and develops standards to improve delivery and effectiveness of such services, and provides support for the Elder Justice Coordinating Council.

 http://www.nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml

Immigrant Families

Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

Building on its Charter mandate, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs promotes the well-being of immigrant communities by recommending policies and programs that facilitate successful integration of immigrant New Yorkers into the civic, economic, and cultural life of the City.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/imm/html/about/about.shtml

Women & Children

Help and Assistance:

For more information 1-877-4DAD411 [1-877-432-3411]. The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse is a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance