LI senior couple, aided by young social worker, now have much to be thankful for

John White is well into his ninth decade of life and is retired after working more than three decades as a parking garage attendant supervisor. These days, he spends much of his time caring for his ailing wife of 58 years, Ida.

Kyle Cattell is much younger, only 24, and in the dawn of a career in social work.

But the two men share a bond -- one that has deepened over the past year as Cattell has helped White, 86, maneuver through the unfamiliar, and at times daunting, terrain of applying for a variety of social service programs, largely stemming from his wife's medical needs. She recently returned to the couple's Central Islip home from eight months in a nursing home, following surgery to remove a goiter.

"Well, before she got sick, life was very good," White said recently in an interview, thinking back to about five years ago.

Ida White, 80, has emphysema and relies on a portable oxygen tank. She spoke little, but did relate with a smile: "It feels good to be home."

About 13 months ago, on the advice of a local church, John White sought assistance from the Family Service League, a Huntington-based nonprofit agency. As medical bills piled up, he had fallen behind in paying the electric bill and faced a service cutoff, Cattell said.

With that one act of reaching out for help, the couple's fortunes began to take a positive turn -- a turn for which White is thankful this holiday season.

White, originally from Pinewood, South Carolina, said he wasn't accustomed to needing help, much less asking for it.

"I always loved work," he said, and told of laboring in cotton fields as a young boy then, as an adult, working two and three jobs at a time to provide for his growing family.

"I don't believe in a handout," he said. "But you have to have it sometimes."

Older residents' struggles

The challenges faced by John and Ida White are emblematic of the vulnerability of Long Island's older residents and are the reason each county opened an office specifically to help address such needs. The offices were established under the authorization in 1965 of the federal Older Americans Act, which defines that population segment as those age 60 and up.

"We have the largest over-60 population in the state of New York," said Holly Rhodes-Teague, director of Suffolk County's Office for the Aging. The 60-and-over population in Suffolk numbered 285,071, out of a total county population of 1,493,350, according to the 2010 census, she said.

"We are right behind them," Lisa Murphy, Nassau County's commissioner of human services, said in reference to her county's elderly population. The 2010 Census shows Nassau County had 283,610 people age 60 and up, out of a total population of 1,339,532.

Developing ways to better care for this growing population is a priority, she said.

"We don't have the same type of issues that we had 30 years ago," Murphy said, noting that families often were larger then, with more members available to care for an aging relative.

Had John White not gone first to the Family Service League, he could have come to her office for assistance, Rhodes-Teague said. The office also works with the service league and a number of other nonprofit human service agencies.

"We have people on the phones every single day who take calls from the older residents or their family members," she said. "We do a lot of help with entitlement programs . . . We help them fill out applications and how to get assistance. We contract out some services. . . . We're obligated under the Older Americans Act to contract out as many programs as we can. The 10 towns [in Suffolk] are great partners."

For White, the connection with Cattell was immediate. The social service worker then was an intern, reporting to supervisor Jessica Marques, and he set to work.

Cattell said he first contacted PSEG Long Island, informing the utility of Ida White's medical crisis and medical equipment needs.

That information qualified the couple for the utility's program that kept on their electricity on an interim basis. He helped John White get ongoing utility payment assistance, as well as food stamps, through the Suffolk County Social Services Department.

Then there was the more difficult task of getting the Whites qualified to receive transportation assistance through the federally funded Medicaid program, enabling Ida White to be taken to medical appointments.

"They want your bank account," John White said. "They want your insurance policy. They want everything. And I said, you know, that's the part that's really driving me crazy."

'He warms my heart'

Cattell praised the staff at Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Commack, who cared for Ida White, with helping to figure out the Medicaid process. "Gurwin was fabulous," he said. "There were certain things I didn't know."

"The nurses there were wonderful," White agreed.

"For the people who are elderly, it's difficult," Cattell said. "I can't tell you it's not difficult. It's hard, if they're taking care of a loved one, to have to leave that loved one to go wait for assistance, to get documentation, to fill out the paperwork. It's definitely a process."

Cattell said he and White worked as a team. White, he said, was up for the challenge.

"He warms my heart," Cattell said, and, turning to White, added, "I never said that to you before."

"He's just a resilient, resilient man," the social service worker continued. "Through it all, with his faith, he was motivating me because there was so much to do. But we were able to do it, partially because of him. He was the key to it. Mrs. White was wonderful. I'll never forget this case. It think it really solidified me wanting to go into social work because he's a good man."

During the time he was helping the Whites, Cattell transitioned from an intern to being hired as a staffer by the Family Service League. He works part-time there as a medical care coordinator while he continues to pursue a master's degree in social work at Fordham University in the Bronx.

White was equally complimentary of Cattell and his supervisor.

His 'two angels'

"Him and Miss Jessica [Marques] walked in and they started helping me," he said. "I told my wife, 'You know, I met two angels.' "

Cattell also praised the couple's family, which includes three adult children who live in various parts of New York City and outside the state.

Murphy, Nassau's human services commissioner, pointed to NY Connects as an important tool for family members. NY Connects links county offices for the aging around the state and can provide family members -- whether near or living away from elderly relatives -- with information about available resources.

"Every county in the state has this type of program in place, so you can help in the caregiving from a long distance," Murphy said. Both county Offices for the Aging have links to NY Connects on their websites. In Suffolk: suffolkcountyny.gov/aging. In Nassau: nassaucountyny.gov, then click on the "Departments" link, then on the "Aging" link.

For John White, assistance was close at hand.

In the days before Thanksgiving, the deeply religious man, who was wearing a large silver cross around his neck, was asked what thoughts came to mind as the holiday approached.

He said simply: "I'm thankful just for the things God has done for me" and the people God had brought into his life, naming "Brother Kyle."

Then White began to recite, from memory, the 25th Psalm, one verse of which says: "Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie