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Newsletters 2008
February
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
February 11, 2008
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results
An exasperated Queens man contacted my office after making several fruitless calls to 311 to complain about "ponding" rainwater in front of his building. Eventually a 311 operator told him that his complaint had been forwarded to the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and that DEP, in fact, had unclogged a catch basin, which was supposed to drain the unwanted pond. "The job," the 311 operator told him, "is complete." Not so, he told us: "The problem still exists," with water pooling to a depth of three to four inches.
He suspected that workers had unclogged the wrong catch basin. To make sure that this didn't recur, one of my ombuds staffers asked the man to draw a detailed map that showed the site of the correct catch basin. He did so, and we sent copies of the hand-drawn map to DEP as well as to the city Department of Sanitation (DSNY). In good time, the targeted catch basin was unclogged, and the street was swept and otherwise cleaned. In a letter thanking us for our intervention, the man said that he personally can attest that, during recent heavy storms, "the water was draining very rapidly."
DOE Budget Cuts Must Be Reversed
Last week I urged the city to reverse the Department of Education's (DOE) planned budget cuts, which average about $70,000 per school. This comes at a time when annual salaries for 18 DOE employees each top $190,000. It's also a time when DOE has paid tens of millions of dollars to outside consultants and, since 2003, has awarded more than $300 million in no-bid contracts.
The school cuts no doubt will affect art, music, sports, after-school and special-education programs. And, coming as they are in the middle of a school year, they likely will disrupt many lives. In a letter to Chancellor Joel Klein, I say that I'm aware that the city must prepare for changes in the financial landscape. Even so, a mid-year cut to schools seems both unnecessary and unjust. For one thing, principals base plans for their schools on a set budget for an entire school year. Announcing cuts with little notice is unreasonable and counterproductive.
In the letter, I also ask Chancellor Klein to provide a detailed accounting of what DOE is doing to share the burden and cut administrative costs. Surely more cuts can be made within the DOE central administration. Cutting school budgets should be a last resort. For a news release on this issue, along with the text of my letter, click here.
Maternity Data Should Be Easily Accessible
Last week I spoke at a City Council Health Committee hearing on Intro 575, a bill I introduced last May, and more broadly on maternal and newborn health. My bill would require the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to display on its website, in a user-friendly format, hospital and birth center statistics on Caesarean sections and other maternity procedures.Intro 575 is designed to make sure that vital maternity data is as accessible as possible.
The good news is that the state Department of Health (DOH) has begun posting maternity data on-line. However, it is not easy to find. Before the hearing, I met with state DOH Commissioner Richard Daines to suggest possible website improvements. It was refreshing to talk with a commissioner who is open to a good suggestion when he hears one. I commend him for his willingness to discuss this matter, and I am confident that our dialogue will continue.
At the hearing, I am pleased to report, representatives from Childbirth Connection and Choices in Childbirth spoke in support this bill, and the Bronx Health Link submitted written testimony, also in support. While DOHMH, as I understand it, opposes Intro 575, it would be open to linking to the state DOH website. This is a good solution, so long as the state makes the data easy to find. If not, we plan to move forward with Intro 575. The bill was co-sponsored by Council Member Joel Rivera, chair of the Health Committee. The text of my remarks is posted here.
Improvement Needed in Access to Prenatal Care
Another issue that came up at last week's hearing was access to prenatal care, which is linked to reduced risks of birth defects, low birth weight, premature birth and infant mortality.To be fully effective, prenatal care should begin in the first months of pregnancy. Yet in 2005, nearly 28 percent of women who gave birth in New York City received no prenatal care in the first trimester. This fact is especially disturbing in light of the high infant mortality rates in some city neighborhoods, such as Central Harlem, Mott Haven, Bronxville, Astoria and Corona.
Last year my office investigated access to prenatal care at city Health and Hospital Corporation (HHC) facilities and found several administrative barriers that may discourage or delay timely pre-natal care. For example, two-thirds of the facilities reached in the survey offered no weekend or evening prenatal appointments. Also, more than 70 percent of those reached required women to make in-person visits before making an appointment to see a physician. And more than 50 percent did not know or did not volunteer information about health insurance for uninsured pregnant women, which is available through the state Prenatal Care Assistance Program.
I'm encouraged by HHC’s effort to become more “baby-friendly” by promoting breast-feeding. I'm also encouraged by funding for new-mother programs, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership. But HHC should expand evening and weekend hours, reduce clinic wait times and train staff to tell women about free or low-cost insurance. This should make prenatal care more accessible, particularly to low-income women. It also should help make expectant mothers' first encounter with public health services more positive, increasing the likelihood of continued prenatal care.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
February 4, 2008
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #1
For almost an entire year, a determined Manhattan man tried to get someone to replace a burned-out street light at 96th and Park Avenue. He called 311, he contacted the city Department of Transportation, he complained to Con Ed -- all to no avail.
The man said he actually was told that a one-year outage isn't so bad, since some city street lights have been out since 2001. "They only get fixed depending upon how actively the community complains," he said.
In the case of the Park Avenue light, "There were a lot of false promises," the man said. "All said the light would be fixed. However, it never was until your office got involved and took action ... At times it's very frustrating, but I don't give up." Neither do we. Credit in this case goes to one of my ombuds staffers, Elsa Suazo.
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #2
In a doctor's waiting room recently, I overheard two older women on the telephone. They were saying, in plaintive, pleading tones, that their Access-A-Ride van was two hours late in picking them up and that they needed to get home. They were speaking to an Access-A-Ride employee who, I soon concluded, was being rude and unhelpful. We were in Midtown Manhattan, and the women clearly needed Access-A-Ride -- they had too little cash for the long taxi ride to Far Rockaway, where they lived.
Given their obvious distress, I stepped in. I got on the phone and asked to speak with an Access-A-Ride supervisor. He took the call, and he did in fact speed things up. Soon afterward, the women had their ride. While it had a good outcome, this regrettable incident exemplifies the sorts of Access-A-Ride issues that have been reported to my office on a regular basis. To try to improve access to this vital service, I requested a meeting with Howard Roberts Jr., president of New York City Transit.
Roberts and I and members of our respective staffs met last week. Among other things, we learned that Access-A-Ride had recorded the conversation with the women in the doctor's office. The call was played back to the Access-A-Ride staffer who had been so rude and unhelpful. We were told that this man was shocked to hear himself and that the recording had been a useful training tool.
Roberts invited us to forward all such complaints to his office. Input such as this, he said, helps track down specific drivers or dispatch agents who provide low levels of service. Such cooperation by an agency is exactly the way government should work. We are pleased to work with New York City Transit staffers and pass along any data that may enhance their training programs. We hope that our joint efforts will prevent the sort of distasteful treatment that befell the two women in the doctor's waiting room.
City Third and Fourth-Graders Have Too Few Gym Classes
I testified last week at a State Assembly hearing called by Cathy Nolan, chair of the Education Committee,on school district compliance with required physical education (P.E.) programs. My office studied this issue four years ago and revisited it just recently. We concluded that, despite truly alarming obesity rates, the vast majority of city elementary schools continue to violate state P.E. mandates.
Based on a random sample of 100 elementary schools, 20 in each borough, my survey found that 95.7 percent of those surveyed violate state regulations that require daily P.E. for third-graders. Additionally, 88.2 percent of those surveyed violate state regulations mandating at least 120 minutes per week of P.E. for fourth-graders. And only 19 percent of elementary schools surveyed have an athletic team or sports program.
Kids need to be active. It’s that simple. In our sedentary culture, unfortunately, gym class may be kids' only outlet for physical activity on any given day. It also may be their only conditioning for an active lifestyle. For more information, see my Assembly testimony and my news release on this issue.
Vote On Tuesday!
As a member of the city Voter Assistance Commission, I strongly urge all eligible New Yorkers to vote in the Feb. 5 presidential primary. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. To find your polling place, please call 1-866-NYC-VOTE or visit http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/. If you want to vote on a ballot-marking device -- a voting machine that helps any voter, including those with disabilities, mark a paper ballot -- please go to the city Board of Elections office in your home borough.
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