NY1 Noticias Shares Inspiring Story about PEARLS Program and the Importance of Mental Health Support
English Transcript:
Host: A non-profit organization provides free in-home services to health patients who are adults older than 55 years old. The organization operates in Queens and Manhattan. Our reporter, Yennifer Martinez, spoke with one of the counsellors who works with patients, and with one Queens resident who is especially thankful for all the support he has received.
Leonard Perez, VNS Health PEARLS Client: She suffers from memory loss. Long story short…
Yennifer Martienz, NY1 Reporter: Seeing his mother in his last days of life has been a tough reality for 74-year-old Leonardo Perez.
LP: It breaks my heart to see her helpless, like a child. My father-in-law…
YM: Leonardo is retired. He’s a husband and a father of three children. He says his only brother passed away. And now, he’s in charge of taking care of his 94-year-old mother who suffers from heart problems and memory loss. It is a sort of torture for him to see his mother suffering. It causes him a lot of anxiety and sadness.
LP: It’s incredibly painful.
German Buitrago, Outreach Counselor, VNS Health PEARLS Program: Hello, Leonardo. Good morning!
YM: A pain that led him to search for VNS Health’s help. They are a nonprofit organization, and offer the PEARLS Program, which brings mental health help in-home for adults 55 and older.
LP: I’m starting to recover the peace I had already lost. I thought it was unrecoverable.
YM: This initiative is financed by the New York City Health Department and is available [from VNS Health] in Queens and Manhattan.
GB: “I have the right to be happy.”
YM: German Buitrago, an outreach counselor for the program, says there exists a great deal of stigma within the Hispanic community related to the care of mental health in elderly people.
GB: There are a lot of lonely people who don’t know where to go. They don’t know who they should talk to. They don’t know how to solve their problems. It’s like a revolving door effect. The person is going around in circles without knowing the way out. We come and tell them, “Try it this way. This is the way to do it.”
LP: Our 25th anniversary. [Looking at a photograph]
YM: People who are interested in the program do not need to have medical insurance and immigration status is not considered for qualification.
GB: So, tell me, Mr. Perez…
YM: At the end of the program, if it is needed, the program can help refer their patients to psychiatrists, psychologists, or therapists in their area. If you need mental health help, remember you are not alone. Organizations, such as VNS Health, provide this type of free assistance through PEARLS. If you would like more information regarding the participation in this program, you can call to the phone number 1-866-986-7691. Or you can visit the website V-N-S Health dot O-R-G. In Queens, this is Yennifer Martinez for New York 1 News
