Skip to main content

 Logo with members 3                          

Good Neighbors of Park Slope

OUR PURPOSE

Good Neighbors of Park Slope (GNPS) is an all volunteer, non-profit, aging-in-place organization, open to residents of Park Slope and surrounding areas who are age 50 and over. Our goal is to create a network of members to make life in our neighborhood easier and more fulfilling, while maintaining our autonomy and quality of life in our homes.

Members: Be sure to log in with your username and password to have access to 'member only' features of our website.

What's Happening?
For more information and to register go to:


Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events

SCROLL TO SEE MORE

To post activities on our Calendar, contact
Activities Coordinator
or fill out this
2023 Activity Form

Only Members of GNPS can post an activity
on our calendar

To request funds for your activity/event
Activity Funding Request Form






Accordion Widget
E-Blast and IMPORTANT GNPS INFO 
IMPORTANT GNPS INFO AND E-BLASTS


For the safety of all members, please be fully vaccinated and take a Covid test if you are not feeling well. 

 

___________________________________________________________________________

CURRENT E-BLAST


________________________________________________________________________________________


MEMBER CHECK-IN INFORMATION
Good Neighbors of Park Slope is offering to connect you with another member who also wants a regular check in. 
GNPS will make the initial connection, and after that it will be a mutual relationship between members 
who call/text/email one another on a regular basis, with no further GNPS responsibility.
Please fill out this survey and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Member Check-In Information

______________________________________________________________


A group of members has prepared information to help other groups start an organization like ours, which gives history of the organization. It is 
available here: 
Starting an Aging-in-Place Organization.





Accordion Widget
UPCOMING GUEST SPEAKERS, PRESENTATIONS, AND NEW EVENTS
UPCOMING GUEST SPEAKERS, PRESENTATIONS, AND WORKSHOPS


Accordion Widget
IMPORTANT COMMUNITY INFORMATION
IMPORTANT COMMUNITY INFORMATION

Compost Carnival
Compost Carnival 10.1.2023


Bridging the Gap
Intergenerational Debate at BPL
10 weeks startint Sept 19
https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/bridging-gap-kensington-auditorium-20230919



OMNI is now available for reduced fare customers!

Learn More Here



  Park Slope Library Events

First Wednesday of the Month:
Plum Papercraft: Origami
registration thru library website:
Park Slope Library Calendar
***
Every Monday from 11:00am - noon
Gathering Wool: Knit and Crochet
drop in session, no registration
GatheringWool_ParkSlope.docx
***
Every Thursday 
Total Body Fitnewss from Shape Up NYC - All Levels Welcome
Registration required

Shape Up NYC at PS Library

 
Concerts On The Slope 2022-2023 Calendar





IF YOU ARE STAYING HOME TO STAY SAFE...

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS OF THINGS TO DO!

Covid Activities - 2022




Accordion Widget
7TH AVENUE SENIOR CENTER (PSCSA) PROGRAMS OPEN TO GNPS MEMBERS
7TH AVENUE SENIOR CENTER (PSCSA) PROGRAMS OPEN TO GNPS MEMBERS
Park Slope Center for Successful Aging 
invites Good Neighbors of Park Slope
to participate in ALL activities!

See what is available on a recent PSCSA schedule:

PSCSA Schedule

Tai Chi for Arthritis program on zoom.
Start date changed to August 28

  Monday, August 28 for 16 sessions (twice a week)
Tai Chi for Arthritis-Mondays and Wednesdays, 11am-12pm 
 August 21st through October 16th.
No class on Monday, September 4th.
PSCSA Tai Chi for Arthritis: 

For the most up-to-date information
become a member of PSCSA and receive their weekly schedule.

________________________________________________________





SPECIAL WEBSITE FEATURE: MEET OUR MEMBER!

Meet Ellen Heaphy
(by Ruth Gastel)



(For previous member profiles: Meet Our Members)  



 
😁To access the joke of the day at the bottom of this page
you must be logged into the website as a member😄




 

Free Covid Tests Available

https://special.usps.com/testkits
As of September 25, 2023, residential households in the U.S. can order one set of #4 free at-home tests from USPS again. Here's what you need to know about your order:
  • Limit of one order per residential address
  • One order includes #4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests (COVIDTests.gov has more details about at-home tests, including extended shelf life and updated expiration dates)
  • Orders will ship free starting the week of October 2, 2023

Open Enrollment for Medicare  Oct 15-Dec 7
Do you have the best plan for you?
Do you know how to choose?
GNPS Presents: Medicare Mondays!
**********


Monday October 2nd at 10:00AM - In Person Event

at PSCSA, 463A 7th Street
Join HIICAP Aging Consultant Eric Hausman for a presentation on the 2023 Medicare Open Enrollment Process

HIICAP (Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program) helps people understand Medicare and related insurance, as well as programs that may be able to assist people with limited incomes. HIICAP is a completely free resource.

One on One counselling is available through a toll-free HIICAP helpline at 1-800-701-0501.
You can just show up or contact mabrams@heightsandhills.org with questions

Monday, October 16 at 3:00PM - Zoom
Join HIICAP Aging Consultant Eric Hausman for a presentation on the 2023 Medicare Open Enrollment Process

HIICAP (Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program) helps people understand Medicare and related insurance, as well as programs that may be able to assist people with limited incomes.

Medicare Presentation by Department of Aging - 10/16/2023

Monday, October 23 at 4:00PM - Zoom

Join Caitlin Stiene, Insurance Specialist, Medicare Resource Group for general information about
how to compare plans and choose the right one for you.
Medicare Education Event - 10/23/2023

Monday, October 30 at 2:00PM - Zoom
Julie Schwartzberg and Martha Bordman will discuss the Status of NYC Retiree Health Plan, including an  overview of the NYC Administration's attempt to move NYC retirees to Medicare Advantage, how municipal employees are fighting back and what this means for you.
Status Update of NYC Retiree Health Plan - 10/30/2023


wave_hill_1.jpg

GNPS Garden Club spent a glorious September day at Wave Hill in Riverdale. We happened to choose one of the best days in September.

wave_hill_2.jpg

Wave Hill overlooks the Hudson and has a beautiful collections of annuals and perennials, rolling lawns, specimen trees and amazing greenhouses. 

wave_hill_3.jpg

We're hoping to be able to visit the garden in late May or early June of 2024. It would be great if you could join us. 

daydrinking28sept2023.jpg



Another fun afternoon at Brewer's Row for beer and socializing on

September 28, between rainstorms.

Add you name to the Beers in Brooklyn category on the Interests Page

to be notified when these events are scheduled! 🍺


Attention GNPS Members with Hearing Aids!

A NYC based start-up is building new hearing technology that specifically addresses the challenge of hearing in background noise.  They have advanced the technology through the feedback of over 100 hearing aid wearers and are hoping to engage members of Good Neighbors who have hearing loss to test out the new device and offer feedback. 
Participants will be compensated for their time.  The company was started by founders who previously designed a portable ultrasound that became the fastest growing medical device ever and so we have confidence that they are building something transformative here as well. 
Click here to learn more:
Hearing Aid Study: Flyer: August 2023 

link to starting your own

MEET OUR MEMBER


Ellen Heaphy

 

 

 

 

Like many GNPS members, Ellen Heaphy’s adult life has been focused on helping others. 


“I trained to be a nurse in the late 1960s and in 1969 I volunteered to work in the mountains in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico as a nurse. That is where I met my husband who was Mexican. We didn’t stay in Mexico. First, we lived in Ottawa, Canada and after a year we moved to Brooklyn where I have lived ever since.”


Ellen grew up in Syracuse, New York. “I still have family and friends there.  I visit them least once a year.  I come from a large family of seven, five boys and two girls, and I am the sixth.  Some now live on the West Coast and some on the East Coast.”  


“My father had a business that catered to the construction industry. We all worked there at some point in our lives, my siblings and my parents’ older grandchildren,” she said.  My mother was an elementary school art teacher.”


As a nurse, Ellen worked in hospital emergency rooms in both Syracuse and Brooklyn. Then she became interested in long-term care and rehabilitation and received certification in both rehabilitation nursing and case management.   She worked at Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island and at Mount Sinai.  She retired from Mount Sinai in 2009.


In the 2000s, she volunteered at a medical mission in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico for one or two weeks a year for some 15 years. Although she no longer travels to the mission, she is still active in social justice programs through her church.


Ellen has followed in her mother’s footsteps.  Her mother always had ideas and art supplies on hand for us to work with, she says. And many of her grandchildren have fond memories of working with her in the basement of her house.


“Although I earned a living as a  nurse, art is my passion,” she explained. “It’s something that runs in the family. One of my two sons went to an art high school and studied art in college as did their two children.” Ellen was fascinated with  ceramics. “I took ceramics classes for 30 years at Long Island University’s Continuing Education program in downtown Brooklyn. Unfortunately, they don’t have a ceramics department there anymore,” she says.


“Now I take classes at the Brooklyn Museum for older adults.”


She joined Good Neighbors early on, she says, along with other Cobble Hill members, several of whom are former nurses like herself.   


“Good Neighbors is a terrific organization,” she says. “One of my main concerns about retirement was how would I fill my days once my career in nursing was over.  Good Neighbors has filled that gap.“  


Ellen coordinates the Spanish conversation group which meets now in person at the Park Slope public library on 9th street and 7th avenue.  “I’m a lifelong learner so I’m always trying to improve my Spanish,” she says.


“My mother was a good example for all of us. I can still hear her saying ‘you learn something new every day.’ She would have been a member of Good Neighbors for sure.” 


If you would like to join in our activities and have access to all our information, consider becoming a member -- click on our Membership page for more information.


If you are having any difficulty using this site please call us at 917-947-9121
 
 
 **    F      V     R