Helping Hands In Need

It’s not a typical glimpse at life in the Hamptons, far removed from the luxury enclaves and glamorous parties, 83-year-old Joyce Norwood sits in her recliner, anxious for the help that comes every Wednesday morning. Once a week, Norwood receives a visit from a homeworker from Helping Hands, the non-medical branch of Dominican Sisters’ Home Health Care Services, which provides her with groceries, laundry service, housekeeping and a few hours of conversation. Homebound by severe arthritis, the homeworker’s midweek visit is Norwoods’ most vital connection to the outside world.

For Norwood and 120 other homebound residents using assistance from the Helping Hands Program, their homeworker’s visit may be the only visitor they have all week.

For fifteen years, the Dominican Sisters’ Family Health Services, has been serving the needs of homebound residents in the Town of Southampton. The organization is divided into medical and non-medical branch, with Helping Hands being the non-medical component.  Unique in many ways, it’s the only service agency of its kind in Suffolk County, providing non-medical services to homebound elderly free of charge.

But in the last few years, Helping Hands has seen its corporate donations and special grants all but stop, and with last year’s holiday donations way down over fifty percent, the organization is relying on the community to help keep its services going.   

“People hear Dominican Sisters and are not really sure what we do,” said Marianne Bogannam, development coordinator at Dominican Sisters Family Health Service in Hampton Bays. “We are visiting nurses that service Hampton Bays and the surrounding Southampton area. We are a certified health service agency for the elderly and disabled, but Helping Hands is a little different, since its non-medical care.”

Open 365 days a year, the Hampton Bays non-profit employs six homeworkers, which draw their salaries from grant money granted by the Town of Southampton or from donations garnered through fundraising efforts.

“We do get local grants from the towns we serve, like Southampton, but we rely heavily on donations and they are down,” said Bogannam.  “If we had additional funding, we would love to expand the program in the future, but right now we are just looking to sustain the clients we have and we need a lot of support.”

The homeworkers care for three to four clients a day and are not medically trained; however they do possess a more important qualification, which is being fond of seniors.

"She is so fantastic that girl.” said Norwood, the Pennsylvania native who retired at 78-years-old when finally disabled by her chronic arthritis, “I have been receiving services for almost five years. Grocery shopping, cleaning, doing laundry, changing my bed sheets are all the things I can no longer do, due to my condition. Its nice to have someone to talk to sometimes.” 

For more information on how to provide a donation to Helping Hands of the Dominican Sisters Family Health Services call Marianne Bogannam at 631-728-0937.