Adult Protective Services (APS) is one of the busiest units within the Nassau County Department of Social Services. “Many times, people are left alone, in awful situations, too ill to care for themselves, physically or mentally,” Caseworker II Sondra Gold said. That was the case in a specific situation of an 85 year old Baldwin woman who was living in quite deplorable conditions, until a neighbor came along to help.

 

Mark Logan has lived down the block from this woman for 37 years, and has witnessed the good and bad of her life from afar. “Up until five years ago, she was mowing the lawn, and cutting the hedges herself,” Logan said.   But in recent years, deaths of family members very close to her had a grave impact on her life, and left her with very little strength or desire to care for herself.

 

Once Logan noticed this, he contacted APS. APS offered to have Meals on Wheels delivered, to have her house cleaned, but the client refused. Finally, Logan was able to convince her to let him clean out the house. “The bathroom was a mess. Flies were everywhere, soup and sardines were all over the floor,” Logan said. But, he spent dozens of hours at her residence cleaning everything up. He even convinced her to see a physician, which she had not done for years.

 

“If it wasn’t for Mark Logan, I believe this woman would have died,” Gold said.

 

County Executive Ed Mangano and CSEA Local 830 President Jerry Laricchiuta honored Logan on June 11 with citations. Logan is a MTA Bus Operator for New York City.

 

Currently, the woman is in the hospital, but she is being cared for, which likely would not have happened if it wasn’t more Mark Logan and Nassau County Adult Protective Services who continue to monitor the health of this woman.