Parker Jewish Institute received 3,000 N95 masks in memory of Par-Moo-Ro and Chin-Tze Lin Ro, who were active Parker’s Adult Social Day Care participants for nearly four years before returning to Taiwan in 2015.
“They enjoyed the program very much,” said their daughter, Sylvia Huang, a recently retired social worker. Huang, along with her siblings, Sandy Su and Chun-Hwai Tom Su, donated the masks to Parker.
The siblings donated similarly to 30 hospitals, nursing homes and police districts in the region as well as in North Carolina and California to help areas hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, Huang said. But they selected Parker in particular because they wanted to honor their father, who lived to 93, and their mother, who lived to 96.
Their parents looked forward to each weekday morning, when a bus would bring them to Parker’s Adult Social Day Care, Huang said. There, they made friends, enjoyed lunch and snacks, and returned to their home in Flushing, fulfilled.
At Parker, they could take part in exercises, activities and entertainment that they likely would not have ready access to otherwise. And Ms. Huang, a singer and dancer, had opportunity to perform for the group, gaining a first-hand appreciation as to why her parents enjoyed the program so much.
“It’s really tough for senior citizens when they sit home alone when their children are not able to take care of them,” Huang pointed out. “But the staff at Parker were supportive, loving, and caring.”
Led by a highly experienced professional staff, the program is now called Parker on Madison Adult Social Day Care. It is located in a homelike venue in Hempstead, and provides a safe and stimulating environment for older adults and the memory-impaired, while also offering relief and support to caregivers and families. The program, which includes door-to-door transportation, enhances quality of life through stimulating physical, cultural and social activities that engage participants. Currently the program is on hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, the family’s donated masks are worn by Parker’s front-line workers, helping to protect them and the patients and residents they care for against the COVID-19 virus.
“On behalf of all the front-line workers at Parker, we humbly extend our heartfelt thanks to Sylvia Huang, Sandy Su and Chun-Hwai Tom Su for their generous donation and for honoring the memory of their parents in such a meaningful way,” said Michael N. Rosenblut, Parker’s president and CEO.
