QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, December 10, 2020 Page 22
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New Community Coordination Officers off to rousing start by Susan Van Brackle Public Safety Committee Chairman Talib Bey, committee Co-Chairman Clifton Stanley Diaz and Public Safety Chief Adolph Osback held a meet-and-greet session in conjunction with officers from the 113th Precinct on Wednesday, October 7. The gathering was held in Group 1 just outside of Count Basie Middle School 72 where officers Renzulli and Easton introduced themselves to cooperators, provided information and distributed safety flyers about auto theft, mailbox phishing and more. Rochdale’s new Neighborhood Coordination Officers Renzulli and Easton are the official replacements for NCOs Edwards and Bradley. Chairman Bey, Co-Chair Diaz and Public Safety Chief Osback also gave the NCOs an introductory tour of Rochdale’s command station and the cooperative’s grounds along with NCO Supervisor Sergeant Raymond Persaud and other NCO officers that are installed at the 113th Precinct. Here in their own words are greetings from Rochdale’s new NCO team:
Officer Michael Renzulli “I’m Officer Renzulli, new to the NCO Unit, which is the Neighborhood Coordination Unit. I’ve been inside the precinct for four years now dealing with the community and helping everybody out so I look forward to working with just the Rochdale Village and helping with any necessary problems that we can both work towards.” Officer Anthony Easton “Hello, how’s it going? I’m Officer Easton with the 113th Precinct. Before this I was the Youth Coordination Officer in the precinct. Before that I was also a Baisley Houses NCO so I’m familiar with all the things that come with being an NCO. Looking forward to helping out the Rochdale Village…It’s a beautiful neighborhood; a beautiful community. I like that you guys are a real strong…black community. I really appreciate that. Coming from Brooklyn New York and an area that’s just like this, it’s really nice to see that you guys all come together especially during times like this and COVID-19.
113th Precinct Neighborhood Coordination Officer Michael Renzulli, left and Officer Anthony Easton join RV in place of NCOs Bradley and Edwards. COURTESY PHOTO
Social Services reorganization of NORC program is complete by Susan Van Brackle At the end of June 2020, directors of Rochdale’s Social Services Board announced that the NORC program would undergo a major reorganization due to COVID-19-related state and city budget cuts. The program switched to a system of remote management and reduced staffing. Three JASA/ NORC office staffers including then-program director Cendy Theophile volunteered not to continue with the program when the City Council’s fiscal year ended June 2020.
Welcome New Program Director and New Team
LIVING IN ROCHDALE VILLAGE • WINTER 2020
Masters Level program director Phara Carolei has taken the reins of the program and is working to re-establish it under the still relevant pandemic restrictions. Also joining the team is Sade
Afolabi. Ms. Afolabi has years of experience in the healthcare field and has lived with her family in Rochdale Village for more than 16 years. Masters Level Social Work Student Emilia Nhaissi, who studies at Hunter College, is looking forward to helping Rochdale Village residents by running social groups on Zoom and by phone. Irvica Galla, Rochdale’s NORC nurse, is not new to this community. Nurse Galla has been working here for many years. In addition to helping individual residents with their health issues, Irvica will be running health workshops every Thursday.
How can NORC assist you? If you are 60 years old or older, the Rochdale Village NORC Program is here to help you! The social work team can help with preparing Medicare and other paperwork, inform about new
programs that might be able to assist residents, and any issues you have related to the COVID pandemic. Nurse Galla is available to help you manage your health conditions and to better communicate with your doctor. We offer Zoom and phone workshops to help you stay healthy and active. Please call to see how we can help you.
Lineup of program offerings from NORC Join Nurse Irvica Galla every Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in English and 12:30 p.m. in Creole for Virtual Health Workshops with NORC. These workshops will be held via Zoom and by telephone. Topics include: The Importance of Flu Shots; Staying Healthy this Winter; Exercising at Home; Home Remedies and Herbal Medicines, Do They Work? Let us know what other topics you’d like Nurse Irvica to cover. Call the NORC Program to register.
Enjoy Free Live Music by Zoom and telephone, brought to Rochdale Village by Concerts in Motion. You can enjoy Broadway Music/ American Standards every Wednesday at noon, and talented young performers playing a variety of music every Monday through Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Call the NORC Program to get the dial-in information. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all NORC services are being offered primarily by telephone and Zoom until further notice. Our office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you need help with something specific or want to learn more about the other services and programs that the Rochdale Village NORC offers, please call the Rochdale Village NORC office at 718-525-2800. When prompted press extension 2. We look forward to speaking with you!
Public safety recruits conduct training at Rochdale
Rochdale Village Public Safety Chief Adolph Osback, Human Resources Director Dolores Benner, President of Rochdale’s Board of Directors Jean Castro with Public Safety recruits in training PHOTO BY LARRY LOVE MOORE and Public Safety’s Lieutenant Ernest Gaither.
by Olayemi Okeniyi Rochdale’s Public Safety division is in the process of turning its latest recruits into full-fledged officers. The cadets were put through rigorous training on Thursday, October 22 by Public Safety veteran Lieutenant Ernest Gaither and Sergeant Chinnery, Rochdale’s newest officer on the Public Safety team. According to Chief Adolph Osback, “They will become officers once they graduate.” The fast-paced training involved making a delivery up five flights of stairs, a wheel chair rescue, a simulated citizen rescue from a burning car and a mad dash with a fire extinguisher, which every recruit had to perform from start to finish. Lieutenant Gaither kept records and made notes each time the drill was completed making sure that each recruit was able to run the full exercise. Sergeant Chinnery comes to Rochdale Village with 21 years of experience as a retired detective with the New York Police Department as well as public relations
acumen. He was equally involved with the training procedures as he captured the recruits’ progress on film and even ran with them up and down the flights and more. Sergeant Chinnery is very familiar with Rochdale Village having spent time over the years in and around the community in neighboring areas. Public Safety is tasked with preserving peace and safety on the Rochdale Village Campus, a task further complicated by the restrictions of COVID-19, but Chief Osback believes that the department, with the added help of Rochdale’s new recruits, is up to the task. “The purpose of this training is first and foremost to give them an awareness of their physical fitness at the level they are at. It’s also to develop a camaraderie between the recruits. It’s just to inspire them to get more physically fit, more physically active and to unify them as a team by developing relationships and friendships from the academy training and hopefully that will transfer over into when they get assigned to the Public Safety department,” he said.