Pregnancy Is a Journey. You Don’t Have to Walk It Alone

Family: The True Modern Relationship Pregnancy Is a Journey. You Don’t Have to Walk It Alone

BROOKLYN, NY: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso on November 16, launched a multimedia, multicultural maternal health public education campaign to connect Brooklynites with information and resources for healthier pregnancies. The campaign includes English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole ads at select Brooklyn bus stops, urban panels at subway stations, and digital ads on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube that lead people to an online resource guide. The ads at bus shelters and subway stations can be found in the primarily Black, Brown, Caribbean, and Latino communities where the highest rates of maternal mortality and morbidity have been reported, including Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush, and Williamsburg. Entirely guided by the Borough President’s Maternal Health Taskforce, the campaign is his latest in a string of maternal health announcements aimed at making Brooklyn the safest place in New York City to have a baby as a Black or Brown person. Onethird of pregnancy-related deaths in New York City are residents of Brooklyn, with the ratio on average 9.4 times higher for Black mothers compared to their white counterparts and the crisis in maternal health most acute among Haitian women. Borough President Reynoso’s $250,000 maternal health public education campaign was designed with this in mind. “Every day, we’re making this borough a little bit safer for Brooklynites dreaming of growing their families,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “To truly end the maternal mortality crisis facing our Black and Brown mothers will take long-term and large-scale structural change – like our upcoming renovations to the maternal healthcare facilities at our public hospitals – but in the meantime, there are steps we can take right now to empower our expecting parents through their pregnancy journey. I’m so grateful to my Maternal Health Taskforce for their incredible expertise as we take yet another step toward saving lives and making Brooklyn the safest place for someone to have a baby.” “It's far past time that we do right by every parent and child, no matter the color of their skin or the language they speak,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “The num-

BBP Antonio Reynoso speaking at the launch with other elected officials and members of the Maternal Task Force. Photo courtesy: BBP’s Office. bers are clear: Black women are nine times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women in New York City. Borough President Reynoso has relentlessly fought these maternal health disparities and is a tireless partner working to make New York City the safest place to start a family. Today's announcement is a gamechanger as we address this crisis and ensures expecting families have the tools, information, and support they need for a healthy pregnancy." The campaign’s resource guide, found at www.brooklyn-usa.org/healthypregnancy and translated into multiple languages, approaches pregnancy through five pillars aimed at empowering individuals to advocate for more supportive care before, during, and after pregnancy that has the ability to improve maternal health outcomes. p

Safety & Health for an Aging Workforce/ continued from page 1 knowledge and expertise, essential requirements for job performance, can increase beyond the age of 80. Therefore, to succeed in any job, personal drive, motivation, and a curious mind are essential traits for learning new skills and things. These traits have been established and do not have an age limit. In this era of wokeness, it is important to have older employees who incidentally bring the cognitive diversity needed in any workplace while contributing to increasing team output. Therefore, workplaces, often out of necessity, adapt to older workers because it is illegal to discriminate based on several factors, including age or disability.

Common Health Risks Faced by Older Workers in the Workplace While there are rules to protect the senior-aged worker on the job, the impact of aging must be recognized and managed with thoughtfulness. It should be accepted as a natural phenomenon with various health conditions and situations. Aging naturally manifests with physical changes such as muscle and joint movement stiffness, respiratory and heart diseases, difficulty maintaining good posture, and regulating balance. Some individuals experience irregular sleep patterns, poor hearing, and impaired vision. Sometimes, it is normal to experience chronic health conditions and on-the-job injuries caused by aging. Thus, most workplaces are expected to have appropriate supporting programs and policies as part of their organizational processes. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) encourages these measures as they can help workers live productively and longer in relatively good health.

Chronic Conditions and Aging Experts have observed that two common health conditions affect older workers aged 55 years and above: hypertension and arthritis. They discovered that many workers often manage one or the other, while in some instances, it can be both chronic conditions without undue financial burden. Interestingly, the CDC report reveals that younger workers (19-34 years) have a significantly higher medical costs than older workers (65-74 years). For the latter group, managing diabetes appears to be the costliest chronic health condition to drive.

Safety and Aging Regarding safety on the job, findings reveal that older workers experience fewer workplace injuries than their younger colleagues. This outcome can be attributed to acknowledging their physical limitations, past job-related safety training, and other workplace accommodations over the years. However, when they experience accidents, the effect is complicated, with a lasting impact such as time off for a protracted healing process, which can be pretty stressful for both individuals and the organization. There is a loss of human resources, among other considerations related to human resources. In some cases, the risk of workers 65 and older dying while working is higher than younger-aged workers. Employers must put in place good working conditions to protect workers and consider creating preventative programs to build or maintain employees' health throughout their working life.

Simple Strategies for an AgeFriendly Workplace Despite the seemingly extra care needed for making a workplace age-friendly for older workers, most effective workplace solutions have been adjudged simple and inexpensive. Instead, most solutions are deemed highly beneficial when workers are consulted for their views, with evidence of commitment towards implementation and unwavering management support. Thus, to create a safe, healthy, and older-age-friendly workplace, employers should consider the following suggestions: continued on page 7

Safety & Health for an Aging Workforce/ continued from page 6 •Design ergonomics-friendly work environments – introduce the right tools, right seating equipment, properly sized workstations, and other considerations to promote workers' good health. •Practice work flexibility (like work from home, hybrid option). Employers should permit flexible work arrangements, as many workers prefer jobs with a high level of flexibility over additional benefits. These employees cherish workplaces where they can contribute to designing their work schedule, location, tasks, and conditions. •Promote pacing self on the job, break repetitive tasks, and encourage self-directed rest breaks. •Match employees' tasks to abilities. •Make aging workforce management skills training mandatory for management and leadership roles to build organizational culture. •Irrespective of age, prolonged sedentary work is harmful. Put in place opportunities for onsite physical activity opportunities or connections to low-cost community options. Design workstations that sit or stand and encourage walking around to promote blood circulation. •Develop teams and teamwork strategies to resolve aging-associated problemsolving •Introduce healthy promotions and lifestyle measures, like healthy meal options, physical activity, coaching, onsite medical care, screenings, and other therapeutic measures. Accept medical self-care in the workplace and time off for health visits and reasons. •Invest in training and building worker skills at all age levels while supporting older employees to adapt to new technologies. •Include reasonable accommodations, safe and paced return-to-work process post-injury or illness. •Manage hazards such as noise, slip/trip hazards, and physical threats, which are most times the cause of challenge to an aging workforce. Strategies to Help Older and Younger Workers Stay Safe and Healthy at Work There are numerous ways employers can protect their older workers, primarily by preventing health and safety issues within the organization. However, not all employers are committed to the idea. Instead, they become discriminatory and create a hostile working environment without the right policies. The proactive employer knows that an employee-centered approach, combined

Research suggests that these seniors, who prefer to continue working, are more engaged, enthusiastic, connected to the organization, and are less likely to quit.

with workplace designs that meet the team's physiological demands and a flexible work schedule, benefits everyone despite age, race, or other demographics.

Ways Workers Can Protect Themselves Older workers must ensure they are safe and remain healthy in their workplace. It is essential to look out for things that can harm one's general well-being and know your rights in the workplace. When in doubt, seek clarification from appropriate channels from human resources. As an employee, ensure that you follow safe work practices and include them in the yearly performance assessment by setting safety goals and holding everyone accountable for their delivery. Also, ensure that other workers or the employer must be notified when any default can harm you or other employees. Finally, provide an established system for reporting unsafe environments that can result in injuries, hazards, illnesses, and accidents.p

Be Equity Smart NYC Comptroller Outlines Framework for Comprehensive Property Tax Reform

NEW YORK, NY: At a City Council Finance Committee hearing on property tax reform Tuesday, November 15, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander will present a framework for addressing inequities in NYC’s convoluted property tax system. Lander argues this is a critical moment of opportunity for comprehensive reform to link long overdue relief for overtaxed homeowners with a better way of taxing multifamily development in the wake of the expiration of the 421-a property tax break for new development. Building on the NYC Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform’s 2021 recommendations, Lander proposes changes to address an opaque system with gaping inequities between homeowners in different neighborhoods and building types, while including a phase-in and protections for potentially vulnerable homeowners in areas where rates would rise over time. The Comptroller’s framework would also incentivize new rental housing production by reducing their base tax rate approximately 30% to be on par with condos, and tie tax breaks to the actual cost and affordability of buildings. In place of the widelypanned “130% AMI” program under 421-a that built subsidized housing unaffordable to the vast majority of residents in those neighborhoods, Lander proposes a new, 21st century version of the Mitchell-Lama program to create permanently affordable, cooperative homeownership for tens of thousands of working New Yorkers. “New York’s opaque and inequitable property tax system is hurting working families across our city, while inhibiting the housing development our city needs amidst a housing crisis,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “We have a unique moment this year to solve several problems at once, with structural changes to the tax system to bring fairness and common sense to our city’s largest revenue stream. If we get it right, we can address the unfair burden of high property taxes in the outer boroughs and create new affordable homeownership and rental opportunities that maximize public dollars to bring down costs for New Yorkers.”

Lander proposes bringing together long overdue reform for overtaxed homeowners with changes to multifamily taxation in the wake of the expiration of 421-a.

Framework would bring fairness and transparency, incentivize new rental Housing production, tie tax breaks to actual affordability...

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander Photo: NYC Comptroller’s Office

Promoting Fairness Among Homeowners In December 2021, the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax reform released a set of recommendations, following eight in-person public hearings during 2018-2019 and five remote public hearings during 2021. Those hearings focused on three core problems with the current tax structure:

1-3 family homes, co-ops and condos are not subject to the same rules for valuation. Large rentals are taxed at approximately double the rate of condo and co-ops. The system is generally opaque and difficult to understand. Variation in assessment ratios by property type confuses owners and makes the system less transparent. The differences in effective tax rates across neighborhoods is too wide. Outer-borough homeowners pay far higher rates than upper- and middleclass Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. p