Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Breaking Bronx features a health-related story, event or tidbit as part of an online expansion of our Be Healthy! column.

Gov. Cuomo Calls to End Fingerprinting for Food Stamps
Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State address early this month, and one item on his agenda has food and hunger advocates cheering. While addressing his plans to eliminate child hunger in New York, the governor called to end the controversial practice of fingerprinting food stamp applicants in New York City.

“I’m saying stop fingerprinting for families with children for food. Stop it all across the state, and let’s stop it this year,” Cuomo said, echoing the concerns of hunger advocates who say the requirement further stigmatizes the food stamp program and discourages New Yorkers in need from accessing the benefits. New York City is one of only two places in the country — the other is Arizona — that requires food stamp recipients to get fingerprinted before receiving benefits. Mayor Bloomberg has defended the practice as a necessary protection against fraud.

But advocates and local officials have criticized the requirement as unnecessary and time-consuming.

“Mountains of evidence prove that the practice keeps nutrition benefits away from eligible families, costs the state millions of dollars and, even when working properly, finds only duplication that can be detected through less costly, less intrusive methods,” said Joel Berg, of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

Free Resource Book for Family Caregivers
A new resource guide for Bronx residents caring for an aging parent, spouse, partner, child with an illness or disability, or someone else close to them is now available from Montefiore Medical Center’s Office of Community Health and the Montefiore Caregiver Support Program. “Caring for Yourself While Caregiving: A Bronx Resource Guide” provides 32 pages of helpful, low-cost and easily accessible resources, with information on support groups, lowering stress, staying healthy, seeking spiritual support and expanding your creativity/social life.

“Caring for a loved one can be a wonderful experience of giving, sharing and receiving, yet it is common for caregivers to neglect their own emotional and physical needs,” said Ronit Fallek, director of the Healing Arts Program at Montefiore. “The reality is, we are better caregivers when we are also taking care of ourselves.”

The guide is available free of charge, in both English and Spanish, by calling (718) 920-6576, or by emailing PCareSupport@montefiore.org. You can also download a PDF version by clicking here (for English) or here (for Spanish).

Ask Be Healthly! Send Us Your Health Questions.

Got a pressing health, fitness, or nutrition question on your mind? Send them our way! We’re ready to tackle your queries about food, sex, illness, health insurance, prescription medications–any health-related topics that puzzle or interest you.

We’ll answer your question in a Q&A feature appearing in the Norwood News‘ Be Healthy! column. If we don’t know, we’ll ask the experts. You can sign your name or send it anonymously.

Send your queries to: norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

Here’s a link to the first installment of Ask Be Healthy!

Advertising Note: If you’re a business or advertiser interested in targeting our Be Healthy! audience online or in print editions of the Norwood News, call Marketing and Advertising Solutions (MAS) at (718) 676.1626 or email info@masmarketingny.com.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.