Neponsit Adult Day Health Center Threatened with Closure
By Katie McFadden
Since 1988, the Neponsit Adult Day Health Center (NADHC), located at 230 Beach 102nd Street, has been serving Rockaway’s seniors with services like nursing, physical therapy, nutrition assessment, occupational therapy, medical social services, psychosocial assessment, rehabilitation and socialization, as the only medical adult day center on the peninsula. However, on November 7, its patients were sent home with a letter from New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), saying the facility will be closing by March 31, 2025. As a vital resource for the community, its patients, their family members and caregivers, staff and elected officials are demanding that HHC keeps NADHC open.
“It’s a really unbelievable situation, and it really breaks my heart to think of the place closing,” Morris Paller, a 15-year patient of NADHC said. For Paller and his healthcare proxy, Jean Fitch, the center that he visits a few days a week has been lifechanging as he’s gotten older and needed more care. From providing physical therapy to improve his endurance and help with his COPD, to providing him with nutritious meals, to providing a social outlet to make friends and even go on day trips, NADHC is instrumental in his quality of life. Paller has been so involved that he serves as president of the resident council at the Center. “We really don’t have many other options like this in Rockaway,” Fitch said.
Paller knows what it means to come close to losing the NADHC, and what it was like to lose it temporarily. Due to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the facility was closed for more than two years and patients were redirected to the DSSM Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brooklyn. The Rockaway facility didn’t reopen until January 2015. In 2019, Paller started to notice that the Center was turning away new patients, raising a red flag about possibly losing the facility. He immediately turned to NY1 for help. In the story, HHC confirmed turning away clients, saying they were evaluating the center’s programming and staffing needs. However, they said they had no plans to close. A few months later, the facility was forced to close in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. It didn’t reopen until August 2022. And on November 7, Paller was sent home with a letter saying the NAHDC will be closing for good on or before March 31, 2025.
The Rockaway Times reached out to HHC to confirm the news. A spokesperson provided similar reasons given in the letter to patients, saying the decision to close was “influenced by factors such as inadequate Medicaid funding, declining utilization, and a growing demand for alternative services, such as Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Programs (CDPAP) and the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).” The facility, which is state licensed to serve up to 50 patients five days a week, said as of late, the facility had an average daily attendance of only 15 registrants. “Since the facility reopened after the pandemic, it made every effort to promote its services to residents living in and around the community. The facility conducted targeted outreach to community organizations, local businesses, and other health care providers to increase awareness and enrollment,” the spokesperson said. Up until July of this year, the Center was even advertising in The Rockaway Times. However, despite these efforts, the spokesperson claims “there was not an increase in enrollment.
“The decision to close a facility is never an easy one, and our focus is on the handful of registrants who remain part of the program,” the HHC spokesperson said. “We will connect current registrants and their families to other providers and identify alternative care facilities or other specialized programs that will meet their needs. We will have dedicated social work services to support appropriate discharge and provide consistent communication with everyone involved.” They added that employees would be reassigned to other HHC facilities.
However, the clients and their caretakers say they are left with no good options, as Neponsit is the only medical adult day center on the peninsula. All other nearby day care centers are social centers and do not have medical staff to help patients with their specific needs.
A now retired longtime employee at the NADHC, told The Rockaway Times that HHC is allegedly not being honest in their reasoning for the closure, disclosing that the lease for the building is up in April 2025, and claiming HHC allegedly paused enrollment between 2018 and 2020 and kept numbers low once it reopened after the Covid. “They are claiming that the program only has a total of 15 registrants that attend the program, however there are actually 40 total registrants,” the former employee said. They claimed registration opened again in January 2023 but was again closed in May 2024, without reason. However, in that time, 26 new clients registered to join, and there is allegedly a waiting list of others who wish to enroll.
John Creamer, a social worker for VNS Health, has been working in Rockaway for 29 years, and says he refers most of his older adult Rockaway patients to the NADHC. “They’ve done a phenomenal job there and always go above the call of duty,” Cramer said. So, he was surprised by the news of the impending closure. “They stopped enrollment for such a long time and opened it back and forth and I was surprised that they put a chokehold on enrollment. The program has been really great. If they close, I won’t be able to refer anyone in the Rockaways, and that would be a travesty. There are a lot of patients that would have to be put in a nursing home. NADHC doesn’t just benefit patients, but it’s a respite for caregivers so they can have some help and live somewhat more of a normal life. CDPAP is able to pay people to be home health aides but a lot of times, there aren’t family members that can provide that.”
A local woman named Catherine, who cares for her father who lives with dementia, is one of many family members who appreciates the respite that the NADHC has offered since her father enrolled last year. “All the staff there are friendly, professional, and compassionate. Having my dad go twice a week gives us some respite and we know he is cared for and a participant in the various activities and services offered. It gives him routine and helps keep him engaged. It also gives us peace of mind to know he is safe and happy there and that they will help him as needed with basics that can be much harder for someone with dementia,” Catherine said, adding that she doesn’t know what she would do if it were to close. “My father can’t go to a regular senior center because of the dementia, and he doesn’t do well with long rides as he has motion sickness and anxiety. I’m hoping it stays open because this is really a needed service.”
Upon being made aware of the impending closure, Councilwoman Joann Ariola held a meeting with HHC last week to hear more about the decision and was told the enrollment numbers were the main reason. In response, on Monday, November 18, Ariola sent a letter to the New York State Commissioner of Health, as the state will have the ultimate say on the closure, urging them to reconsider.
“I understand that HHC has cited a significant decline in daily attendance, stemming from post-pandemic changes in managed care approval practices, as the primary reason for the decision to close the facility. However, this reasoning does not absolve us of the responsibility to explore alternative solutions. These individuals and families depend on Neponsit’s services not only for their health and well-being but also for their ability to maintain their livelihoods and care for their loved ones,” Ariola wrote. “I urge the Department of Health to reevaluate the necessity and impact of this closure and to explore viable alternatives that would allow the Neponsit Adult Day Health Care Center to remain operational.”
