2011 Annual Report - Visiting Nurse Service of New York

12 ANNUAL REPORT 2011
Fook
Chuen
Ng
The VNSNY Chinatown
NNORC connects seniors to the
community, connects them to health.
In the Chinatown apartment where he has lived for 42 years,
Fook Chuen Ng connects Eastern and Western cultural and
health care traditions. In his kitchen, he keeps the prescription
medicines he takes to manage his diabetes and hypertension. He
also has shelf upon shelf of Chinese herbs believed to enhance
health and prolong youth. There is eucommia bark to strengthen
bones; herbs to reduce gray hair (indeed, Mr. Ng looks well
younger than his 67 years); and for his wife, there is angelica
sinensis, thought to boost women’s health.
“He follows Western doctors’ instructions, including taking
medications and keeping his sodium and sugar intake low, but
he also practices Eastern medicine to make him stronger,” says
Hing-Lin (Helen) Sit, a social worker with VNSNY’s Chinatown
Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community
program (NNORC).
Fook Chuen Ng’s sense of order and organization helps him maintain collections of
Chinese herbs, karaoke laserdiscs and robust plants in a small apartment.