Brooklyn's Progress
January 2003

Cobble Hill Health Center, the renowned, skilled nursing facility located at 380 Henry Street in Cobble Hill has begun tapping the surfeit of talent available in artist-filled Cobble Hill, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights and-just over the nearby bridge- Manhattan for the benefit of elderly and handicapped residents. A new program, dubbed POSSE (Professional Outreach for Senior Self Esteem) calls for the artists to share their craft, art form and talent with Cobble Hill residents through live performances at the facility.

The program is being spearheaded by Cobble Hill's Director of Volunteers, Rosemary Stern and coordinated by Jacqui Roytman, a professional dance instructor and Cobble Hill volunteer. Although still in its incipient stage, POSSE was conceived as a perfect melding of the artist's craving for an audience and Cobble Hill's desire to keep residents intellectually stimulated and entertained. "I am asking members of my dance troupe, as well as friends and acquaintances to come to Cobble Hill and try out their material on the residents," said Ms. Roytman. "They will be able to perform in front of a live audience that could not be more appreciative."

Ms. Roytman has been a volunteer at CHHC for many years and although her dance troupe disbanded not long ago, the Brooklyn Heights resident still comes to the facility every week and is a familiar presence; greeting almost everyone she meets in the facility by name.

As a personal trainer and physical therapist, Ms. Roytman involves wheelchair bound residents in the lively gyrations of the dancers she recruits to perform with her. "I see the progress many of the residents make as time goes on," she says. "It makes me feel great to see that I am accomplishing something so positive, both physically and mentally for these wonderful people."

According to Ms. Stern, CHHC's Volunteer Director, the goal is to have performances throughout the facility at least twice a week. Plans are underway to recruit talent into the program with Ms. Roytman acting as liaison between the performers and Cobble Hill staff. "I know that once performers in the area find out about how they can give so much to others through their skills whether it's reading a chapter from a book they have written or playing the oboe, the program will be a tremendous success."

Cobble Hill Health Center's Volunteer Program is an innovative and all-encompassing network of volunteerism that reaches out to all groups and ages in the local community. Volunteers range in age from 15 to 80.  "Our volunteers are really outstanding in their commitment," said Ms. Stern. "We have a volunteer who has been with us for the past 27 years and is over 80. Then we have high school kids who have 100% attendance and never miss a day."

Cobble Hill Health Center, established in 1976, is one of the largest, voluntary, not-for-profit multi-service skilled nursing facilities in New York City. It is a leader is providing superior care and has developed several new programs that anticipate and meet the diverse needs of the elderly, physically handicapped and people with Alzheimer's disease.

"After 9/11 we see that people have begun to think in terms of how they can give back to society," Ms. Stern commented. "That is why we are offering a variety of volunteer opportunities so that anyone who qualifies can join and feel good about their contribution to others."