The Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service is a small neighborhood organization working with the families of East Harlem since 1958.

We address the many dimensions of family health - physical, emotional, educational and spiritual. Our programs are designed to empower those who are most vulnerable and who have least access to the basic necessities of life, in the conviction that the entire community grows when individuals and families are affirmed in their own dignity.

Our overall goal is to help families in East Harlem become self-sustaining, contributing members of the community. We work flexibly with families for as long as necessary, and never refuse or interrupt work with a family for lack of government funding or other reimbursements.

Description:
LSA has developed a range of services in five basic program areas:

• The Certified Home Health Agency provides skilled nursing, physical therapy, aide services, social work and pastoral care in the home.
  
  
• The Community Life Program offers classes and group activities aimed at socialization, education, recreation, and employment. In addition to tutoring and ESL classes, there are parent education groups, a support group for grandparents raising grandchildren and a gardening group. Our thrift store, the Sharing Place, has become a resource for the whole community as a place to buy low-cost, high quality items.
  
  
• The Family Support Program works closely with parents/caregivers in severely stressed families whose children are at risk for abuse or neglect, so that family unity is not disrupted and children are spared the trauma of foster care placement.
  
  
• The Early Childhood Program is designed from birth to age three. It has three components: Home-Based Child Development, the Toddler Nursery and the Early Intervention Program. Healthy child development is the focus of this program, and includes parental support and counseling.
  
  
• The Advocacy Program helps families gain access to services to which they are entitled and brings the needs of poor families to the attention of public officials. Our Emergency Food Pantry provides emergency food packages to families who have exhausted all other resources, and especially for pregnant women and new mothers whose nutritional needs are most acute.



History:
From the beginning, LSA had a vision: that the inherent strength of families is a bedrock on which to build. When we opened in 1958, our primary focus was on providing skilled nursing care to poor families in their own homes - especially to pregnant women, new parents and their babies, and the elderly homebound and infirm.

Today we offer a broad range of health care, social services, education, advocacy and crisis counseling services to hundreds of the most vulnerable families in the community. We work with the poorest families, many of whom are recent immigrants who speak little English. Our staff is comprised mostly of professionals: community health nurses, social workers, educators, child development specialists, and advocates.

Volunteers play a very important role at our agency, and offer a vital presence to all our programs.

Our agency could not run the way it does without volunteers. Some of the areas volunteers can assist include child care, thrift shop help, Toddler Nursery assistance, tutoring, mentoring, computer/tech help, ESL teaching, Spanish literacy -- to name just a few of the areas volunteers are active at the LSA Family Health Service.




Contact person: Trish Gough, Volunteer Director, (646) 672-0434, (email)
Office fax number: (646) 672-5212

Address:


333 East 115th Street New York, NY 10029 (See a map)


Web Site: http://www.lsafhs.org

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