A Change of Course
Governor of Sailors Snug Harbor
Sea Level, Monday,
August 10, 1998
...let me say a couple of things right up front...first of all, we've not been sold..I've
heard in the last two or three weeks that we've been sold to a Japanese conglomerate....not
true...I've heard that we've been sold to a Jewish group...not true...I heard last week we were sold to Disneyworld, that's my favorite one...it's not true
either...we have not been sold at all...I want to make a few comments this morning,
and I'm gonna work kind of off of a script...what I'm gonna tell you is a little
complicated...there are a number of factors and nuances and reasons why we're trying to do
what we're doing...you, of all people, are entitled and need to know...after I finished
these comments, I'll answer any question that you'll have to the best of my ability..............forty years ago, there were nearly five-hundred residents at Sailors' Snug
Harbor...thirty years ago, there were four-hundred...even when the move was made
in nineteen seventy-six, there were over a hundred and ten...today we have a census
of eighty-two mariners, even though our eligible population for admissions is the highest
it has been in the history of our existence...there are more seamen eligible for
admission today, than in any times since we were chartered in eighteen-oh-six...so,
twenty-thousand fivehundred seamen are eligible for admission...you are factor one of eighty
two, you reside here...I don't think that our desirability as a retirement facility
has diminished...in fact, I think we offer more amenities today, than in any time
of the past, or services on site, transportation...I don't think it's our location, as
we have very few mariners who come, stay a short period of time, and then leave...in
fact, I hear most of you say, you really enjoy the tranquil and rather safe environment that we have...crime is not a concern, we have a good local homegrown staff, and
I think our location has in fact been one of our blessings...after a number of years
of study and thought and observation, I believe that the foremost reason that we're
caring for a fraction of one percent of the mariners who are eligible for assistence, is
because of changes in the way our maritime industry and our maritime industry retirees
are living...approximately two thirds of all retired seamen today are married...of
the remaining one third, a high percentage have been married, have children, nieces,
nephews, other family connnections...for obvious reasons, retired seamen have no
more inclination to move away from their loved ones than any other segment of the
population...since the Second World War, the maritime industry seamen have sailed in a different
fashion...many of them had the opportunity to purchase homes...they become integrated
into, so to speak, the main stream of society...they've joined civic clubs, churches, they have property, friends and neighbours...well, these ties, these connections,
they certainly are a connection to the community...when we opened in eighteen-thirty
three, the Sailors' Snug Harbor was the sole means of assistence for seamen to get
help...the seamen needed a place to live, didn't have money enough to eat on, needed
medical help...there was only one place to go, and that was Sailors' Snug Harbor...today
there are retirement communities, retirement homes and nursing homes in every county
of the United States...there are senior citizen retirement facilities, there are community
assistance programs available...there are even electronic devices that one can wear
around his or her neck or wrist: push a button and you got help...there's medicare...so, the demand for seamen to come to one central location ceases to exist...when
Captain Randall drew his will, absolutely no one could have envisioned the changes
that have occured in the ensuing two-hundred years....there are many retired seamen
living in the conditions that I've just described...married people, people with other
family connections, people with civic ties, or people living and enjoying their participating
in other means of assistence, who have marginal incomes...some frankly have inadequate incomes to enjoy a comfortable retirement...I don't think anyone here would
argue that these people would live a better life if they came to Snug harbor...the
Trustees did not want to ask these people to abandon their families and to leave
everything that they worked for, just like any other retiree...they thought that that was not
what Randall envisioned....in October nineteen ninety-two, I announced a pilot project
to provide outreach assistence to seamen in need...this would be financial help for
seamen who are eligible for admission but who, for compelling reasons, could not move
to the Sailors' Snug Harbor...the pilot project was a huge success...the people who
participated in it, recorded that they were going from a situation where many of
them had not enough money to pay the light bill, not enough money to pay the rent, couldn't
afford prescription drugs, to the point where they'd have two or three-thousand dollars
left over in their pockets at the end of the month....they could continue residing where they wanted to live...the Trustees, obviously pleased at the results of the
program, have petitioned the Court in the State of New York for permission to make
that program part of what we do to take care of retired seamen...after a period of
a little better than a year from the time that that petition was filed, the Court approved
the petition...now, this decision opens the door for the Trustees to further improve
the community outreach alternatives programme...simply put, if an eligible seaman
files an application for assistence, it will be reviewed...often a social worker will
review the home situation, a recommendation is formulated to the Trustees, who will
approve or disapprove a stipend...the stipends are paid directly to service providers,
or vendors of services...in other words, we write checks each month to landlords, insurance
companies, utility companies...we've even had one situation where we established
a charge account on which we paid monthly to a grocery store...so, there can be quite
a number of ways to go that sole desire...the intent is to see to it, that a seaman
who doesn't have enough money to live comfortably, can live comfortable...this decision
means that over the next years, over the next hundred and sixty-five years, many
more thousand seamen can be helped...it's not inconceivable that with this approach we
can have several hundred seamen at one time receiving benefits...and I hope, because
of your relationship to the Harbor, and your relationship and thoughts about Captain
Randall, that you share my excitement about this opportunity to provide help...for I
know, beyond a shadow of doubt, the reason you're here this morning at nine o'clock
on a Monday, is to find out what this means to me.....as retired seamen continue
to learn about the outreach program, the applications for admission will continue to decline...we'll
have fewer applications with each passing year, that's been happening for quite some
time...however, the cost of providing care at the Harbor is not insignificant as you might imagine...the Trustees do not want and will not cut back on services....so
another method of maintaining the (100) service had to be found..the Trustees simply
didn't want to be faced with the prospect of saying, 'It's too expensive to care
for thirty or forty seamen', and not be able to carry on the work...because, in the
absence of some alternative, that's assuredly what will happen....as a result, the
trustees are seeking another individual, cooperation, person, a (105) profit group,
with whom they can work to purchase the facility, who will provide the care at the same level,
same situation that it is now, but will use their resources to fill our forty empty
beds...by filling our nearly one third empty beds the additional revenue can help
offset the cost of providing care for the diminishing number of mariners we have here...we
can not, by law, admit non seamen to this facility, we can't care for anybody, except
retired merchant seamen....so, that's not an option we have available to us...I believe that high quality retirement services like this are in demand and in fact will
probably be more in demand in the future...it's not inconceivable that expansion
could take place here...I think that, instead of becoming a smaller facility, the
opposite will occur...we'll see more going on here, we'll see more people living here...we'll
see more activities and more amenities provided here...the new owner has (120) to
be a cooperation, an individualut Captain
Randall, that you share my excitement about this opportunity to provide help...for I
know, beyond a shadow of doubt, the reason you're here this morning at nine o'clock
on a Monday, is to find out what this means to me.....as retired seamen continue
to learn about the outreach program, the applications for admission will continue to decline...we'll
have fewer applications with each passing year, that's been happening for quite some
time...however, the cost of providing care at the Harbor is not insignificant as you might imagine...the Trustees do not want and will not cut back on services....so
another method of maintaining the (100) service had to be found..the Trustees simply
didn't want to be faced with the prospect of saying, 'It's too expensive to care
for thirty or forty seamen', and not be able to carry on the work...because, in the
absence of some alternative, that's assuredly what will happen....as a result, the
trustees are seeking another individual, cooperationeameaintai...happe areto bmission dingsold bodyi proyhthate...pprove had aecause,
day,