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Seniors Try to Make Sense of Their Finances
By Macollvie Jean-François, Haitian Times
Haiti
December 15, 2004
A relentless drizzle failed to dampen the spirits of 30 senior citizens heading to a Dec. 11 forum on finances, hosted by the Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization (HACSO). At about 11 a.m., they began arriving at the Louis Kurtz Civic Center on North Main Street in this Rockland County village about 30 miles from Manhattan.
Though the forum was geared to provide information about accounts offered at a local bank, the seniors seized the opportunity to question bank officials about more pressing financial matters.
"We need information," said Liliane Delaleu, 70. "I don't know what they'll say, but I need to know why my daughter in Haiti didn't get a visa to come to her father's funeral."
Louise Occena, 75, for one, stood up and asked several questions at once. She wanted to know whether the government would take away her Social Security income if she kept it in a bank account. Delaleu wanted to know why the pension she and her husband received while he was alive suddenly decreased when he died in September. André Fortune, a 67-year-old retired department store clerk now on disability, asked whether his Medicaid benefits would interfere with his savings.
Seniors also tossed out immigration-related questions: When does a new legal resident qualify for benefits? One man holding a gray-tipped cane said, "I've been working in this country for 13 years. I can't any more. I'm sick. What should I do?"
Jacques Philippe, a board member of HACSO, said the banker was not prepared nor legally authorized to answer such questions. But for low-income immigrants, places to help them such as the Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization are the exception, not the rule.
"Typically, lower-income seniors don't have access, especially if there's a language barrier," said Luci Dehaan, spokeswoman for the AARP, a national seniors advocacy organization. "Particularly with everyone using the Internet now, I guess we could do a better job."
About 16 percent of the total U.S. population, or 45.8 million, are over the age of 60, the 2000 Census reports. Eighteen percent of Rockland County's 293,000 residents are over 65. Some the 36,928 Haitians over age 62 that the Census Bureau estimates reside in the United States are at the beginners' level of learning about finances.
When Haitians find centers that offer financial workshops, they attend them frequently. Rose Léandre, executive director at the Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization, said about 60 seniors visit the center to ask staff to explain basics such as reading their bank statements, opening an account, how much to deposit in the account, applying for Social Security benefits and translating. The organization is seeking funding for those services, she said.
"We're seeing a variety of needs because the language and cultural barriers make it difficult for them to access help in other places," Léandre said. "They don't understand. And there's misinformation that if they're getting assistance, they can't have a bank account in their name. But they are able to."
Last Saturday, bank officers from White Plains-based Sound Federal Savings explained the way banking works to seniors. The bank sent along a Haitian-American representative to interpret the terms and services available.
AARP's New York office provides information to low-income and immigrant seniors through forums, churches and other venues. It encourages seniors to www.benefitscheckups.com to find out what they are eligible to receive.
"We want to see all seniors receive the benefits they are eligible for," said Dehaan, of the AARP- New York State office. "Typically, it's the low-income seniors who don't know about the benefits available."
AARP presents Public Benefits Outreach Sundays, where they visit African-American churches. They provide brochures written in Spanish, Dehaan said, but lack material in Haitian-Creole.
In comparison, the AARP has information available for the city's 261,000 Hispanic seniors - or 20 percent of the city's 1.2 million residents - in Spanish through its brochures, Website and staff. Dehaan said they also work in partnership with Latino community organizations.
She said 50,000 seniors in New York City are eligible to receive more with their Medicare drug discount card. News conferences like the one scheduled for Dec.15 are meant to inform residents of such developments.
"We want people to know that Social Security will be there for them when they decide to retire," she said, hoping to counter false statements predicting that Social Security will not be around in for today's retirees.
When news conferences and brochures fail to trickle into the Haitian community, however, it seems the burden falls on the few organizations that senior citizens count on for assistance - such as HACSO.
"It was a good forum. But where am I going to find money to put in a bank?" asks Fortune, the retired store clerk. "There are so many bills to pay: electricity, telephone, people in Haiti to help. The money is spent before it gets into your hands."
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