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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released an audit finding that the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) does not properly monitor the physical condition of its senior citizens centers.

The audit – which can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – unearthed a litany of troubling factors that contributed to hazardous conditions at a sample of 20 senior citizens centers around the city. As none of the sampled centers owned the buildings in which they operate, Thompson harshly criticized DFTA for not addressing a variety of serious safety issues and concerns.   

“Simply stated, DFTA’s lack of follow up is putting seniors at risk for injury,” Thompson said. “It is mind-boggling that many of the hazardous conditions uncovered by my office were previously cited by DFTA in its own annual assessments. We were provided with little evidence of any efforts on its part to work with center management and landlords to correct these problems.”

DFTA plans, administers, and coordinates the provision of services that assist many of the City’s 1.3 million elderly adults to participate in their communities and maintain their independence. DFTA funds and administers a wide range of services for the elderly directly, as well as through contracts with community-based organizations. Services include congregate and home-delivered meals, transportation, case management, social services, legal assistance, and home care.

“As the City moves forward with plans to fundamentally restructure senior centers and services, we must ask the question: How can we trust DFTA to address the growing needs of seniors when it does not attend to basic safety and health requirements at locations currently under its purview?” Thompson said.

DFTA contracts with 329 senior citizen centers throughout the City’s five boroughs to provide services to the elderly. As part of its oversight and monitoring of these centers, DFTA conducts an annual assessment of each senior center through inspections by a program officer and a nutritionist.

Though the survey is primarily geared towards the evaluation of the center’s social and nutritional programs, it also concerns the maintenance of the center. Centers that need improvement in service or maintenance are required to implement improvements by a specific date. Improvements in services are funded by the center, while improvements in maintenance can be funded by either the center or the building management.

To assess DFTA’s monitoring of physical conditions of senior centers, Thompson’s auditors selected a sample of 20 centers from across the five boroughs. Visits to the centers were conducted between October 3, 2007 and February 15, 2008. Upon visiting the senior centers, auditors found evidence that the maintenance of many centers’ safety, cleanliness, and physical conditions needs to be improved.

One of the major audit findings was that there were fire and personal safety problems at 12 of 20 (60%) of centers that would significantly impede a senior’s ability to safely exit in case of an emergency. Examples of these issues include: exit doors that were either locked or blocked by garbage bags and other obstacles; lack of illuminated exit signs; and inadequate lighting or broken handrails in exit passageways.

Thompson’s audit also found that that many centers lacked the proper place-of-assembly permits and fire inspections. Furthermore, although fire drills must be conducted at each center twice a year, many of them did not maintain the proper documentations that such drills had taken place. Also problematic were a lack of inspection of adequate maintenance of fire and safety systems, including fire extinguishers, emergency lights, and smoke detectors.

Furthermore, though DFTA requires that all rooms in each center should be clean, and that paint, plaster, and flooring be in good condition, 14 of 20 centers (70%) had hazardous conditions in the men’s and women’s bathrooms. Examples of these dangers include: damaged or missing tiles, peeling paint, rust and mildew on the sides of the stalls, floors, and ceilings; dirty toilets and floors; and toilets, urinals, and sinks not working properly.

.”This audit raises serious concerns about the cleanliness and physical conditions of the bathrooms at a number of centers,” Thompson said. “Regular maintenance and upkeep is vital in providing seniors with a clean and sanitary environment. DFTA should work together with the centers and landlords to ensure that all seniors have acceptable bathroom conditions at their centers.”

Thompson’s audit also found that 9 of 20 centers had cleanliness and other deficiencies in kitchens. Specific concerns included filthy stoves, dirty refrigerators and/or freezers, and a lack of internal thermostats and temperature controls in refrigerators and/or freezers.

Furthermore, 7 of 20 center directors interviewed during the course of the audit complained that landlords and building managers would not pay for exterminators.

“Unclean and hazardous conditions where food is prepared is unacceptable and poses health risks – from contaminated food to rodent and insect infestations,” Thompson stated. “The fact that centers are forced to dip into their tight budgets to pay for their own exterminations without help from DFTA or their landlord is appalling.”

Thompson previously issued an audit in June 2005, entitled Follow-up Audit Report on the Monitoring of Senior Citizen Center Conditions by the Department for the Aging, which found that facilities in senior citizen centers were not properly maintained.

“A previous audit done by my office found that there were fire safety problems at many of the centers we visited, as well as problems concerning cleanliness, physical condition, and accessibility,” Thompson said. “While some of these issued have been addressed, it is clear that DFTA must do more to ensure that seniors feel safe and secure when visiting centers.”

As a result of the audit Thompson made 13 recommendations, namely DFTA should ensure that:

• The centers cited for problems with exit passageways immediately correct them.
  
  
• All senior citizen centers possess either current place of assembly permits, if required, or documentary evidence indicating that an annual fire inspection was conducted (or requested).
  
  
• All of its senior citizen centers conduct fire drills at least twice yearly and that they maintain complete documentary evidence of such drills.
  
  
• All senior citizen centers regularly inspect and document tests of their fire and safety systems.
  
  
• All of the centers fully comply with safety issues and concerns noted in this report.
  
  
• All of the bathrooms of the senior citizen centers are monitored on a regular basis, properly maintained, and repaired immediately when a problem is noticed.
  
  
• All senior citizen centers maintain safe and sanitary conditions in their kitchens, including maintaining a clean environment, ensuring that thermostats are placed in all freezers and refrigerators, and ensuring that all food is stored at proper temperatures.

In its response, DFTA generally agreed with 12 audit recommendations and partially agreed with 1 recommendation.

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