Events Calendar

Visiting Nurse Service of New York Health Fair

Katherine Gordy Levin SSW ’61 directs two programs for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx that are trying to keep youth out of psychiatric hospitals through family friendly community based mental health services.

On May 21, the Visiting Nurse Service will hold a health fair at the Peace in the Community Labyrinth. The Labyrinth is part of the Camino de Paz Project, which wants to change the image of Mott Haven from one of drugs, death and violence to one of peace and community through the use of labyrinths. They would like to turn every vacant lot in Mott Haven into a labyrinth. Currently, there are three labyrinths. The first, the Rainbow Labyrinth, painted on a deserted basketball court. The second is behind St. Jerome’s Church. The third is the Peace in the Community Labyrinth, the site of the health fair.

The health fair will feature health screenings, including blood pressure readings, depression screenings, possibly free HIV screenings, as well as providing a number of health-related activities such as walking the labyrinth, demonstrations of yoga, tai chi, a story time for the children with a reading by an author, and a rock band for the teenagers. They will also be teaching how to make paper cranes for the 1,000 crane project – each year on Sept. 11, they plan to send 1,000 paper cranes to Hiroshima in the name of someone from the community who has been a major force in helping youth. Come and enjoy the activities or volunteer –– they need registrants, food servers, people to help make cranes, people to play with children and any number of talents. Contact Katherine Gordy Levine at klevine@cloud9.net. May 21, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Peace in the Community Labyrinth, East 136 St., between Brook and Willis Avenues (take the #6 subway to Brook Avenue).