In addition to being a haven for twentysomethings that work in Manhattan, the mile-square city has quietly earned a reputation for being a high quality place to live for senior citizens that make up roughly 20 percent of the city’s population. While it may not have Florida or Arizona’s weather, Hoboken does offer its older residents a dizzying array of free services that help to ease the twilight years’ burdens through a Senior Citizen’s Program that has been providing services for 25 years. “We are trying to address as many needs of senior citizens as we possibly can,” said Vincent Barbo, who has been at the helm of the small department since it began. “We have a small budget, but that does not stop us. It’s like a challenge, or a matter of pride, to do as much as we possibly can do.” Services that Barbo and his small staff offer range from free rides to medical appointments to home care services for those who just got out of the hospital to social events like organized field trips to Atlantic City. But that’s not all. Like a well meaning parent whose family is too large and whose paycheck is too small, Barbo tries to stretch the $300,000 in city and county funding he receives to care for area seniors as far as he can. The nutrition center at 124 Grand St., where the program’s headquarters are located, is a constant whirlwind of activity. Seniors flock to the building regularly for a hot lunch, to meet with food stamp, Medicaid and Medicare experts, to participate in the center’s art program and even to play Bingo. Barbo’s commitment to no-cost initiatives that can make seniors’ lives a little easier is so unfailing that he even took the time to become a notary public so that he could initial coupons that entitle seniors to discounts on their cable bills. The hard work appears to be paying off. Earlier this year, the City Council approved the funding necessary to purchase a new station wagon that will allow the Senior Citizen’s Program to bring more residents to their doctors’ appointments. Currently Barbo says that three in 10 requests for transportation are not possible to grant since the program only has one vehicle to provide the service. The new vehicle should allow them to make about 8 or 9 visits a day, the director said. Barbo, a 70-year-old whose singing voice once landed him a scholarship at the Metropolitan Opera and still brings fans out for local concerts, is not shy about touting the progress the program has made. “We are far ahead of everyone else in the state in terms of providing services,” said Barbo as he nodded towards Francis Cracolici, an assistant who has been with him since the program began. “Of course we are fortunate because the city has had a tradition of making an effort to take care of its senior citizens.” While the five mayors who have held the keys to City Hall since Barbo began have had a political interest in providing for seniors since older people are more likely to vote, the director said that there was another reason that it was particularly important to invest in the program in Hoboken. “The children of most seniors can’t afford to live in this town,” he explained. “The family support is not what it once was.” Since many of the children of older people can not take care of their parents’ day-to-day needs, a lot of those responsibilities fall to Barbo and his staff. While he is pleased with the progress they have made, Barbo says that he would still like to do more. “We are put in a position where we have to play God sometimes,” he said. “We decide who gets something and who doesn’t. We do our best to spread it around and make sure that the people who need it most get it, but we would like to do more.”
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
