Long Island Television Series Focuses On Homebound Older Adults

WOODBURY, NY — Two Long Island nursing facilities have teamed up with an enrichment center to produce a series of television shows to engage older adults stuck at home while community centers are still closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paragon Management’s Excel at Woodbury for Rehabilitation and Nursing and Lynbrook Restorative Therapy and Nursing have joined with The Life Enrichment Center at Oyster Bay, which provides services for people over 60 years old, to produce “Wit and Wisdom” for North Shore TV, according to a news release.

The show will air Sundays at 9 a.m. on the public access channel, which is Channel 20 on Optimum and Channel 37 on FIOS, which serves 14 incorporated villages along the north shore. There are currently plans in the works to expand the show’s distribution to other public access stations, according to Paragon Management.

The show can also be accessed at NSTV on YouTube or at NSTV.org.

The Life Enrichment Center signed on to the project without hesitation right after it was proposed, according to its executive director, Judy Palumbo.

“The need to reach homebound seniors was always there,” Palumbo said. “The pandemic helped bring to light the social isolation that older adults experience in the best of times. It has been difficult to engage older adults in digital programs, so we jumped at the opportunity to bring them programs through a medium that they are comfortable with – the TV.”

The show will be co-produced by Carolyn Palladino, community liaison at Excel, and Denise Walsh, community liaison at Lynbrook Restorative Therapy. The goal is for the show to reach older adults battling depression and anxiety, which is prevalent due to social isolation, according to Palladino.

“From our experience over the last year, we have learned only about 10% of the seniors are comfortable or able to operate Zoom,” Palladino said. “In an effort to reach these seniors, Paragon Management is collaborating with the Life Enrichment Center to produce a series of one-hour shows that will cover subjects such as nutrition, exercise, meditation and more.”

As part of the arrangement, the enrichment center will provide the filming location and suggested content segments, while Paragon Management will provide content and guest hosts. There are also plans to have staff from the Glen Cove Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation and Emerge Nursing and Rehabilitation in Glen Cove contribute content to the show.

The collaborative effort will help people who are “facing the challenge of having many of their senior centers closed due to the pandemic,” Walsh said.

“We are excited to work in partnership with The Life Enrichment Center of Oyster Bay to create senior programing to be shown across Long Island throughout the pandemic and after, to any homebound person who may need the engagement,” she added.