Community Planning & Innovation Center
Aging Symposium A Project of the Jewish Senior Services Council
Friday, June 1, 2012 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Jewish Federation of San Diego County 4950 Murphy Canyon Road San Diego, CA 92123
Jewish Federation of San Diego County
www.jewishinsandiego.org
Jewish Senior Services Council The Jewish Senior Services Council (JSSC) was established to improve the quality of life for senior Jewish adults in San Diego County through community planning, collaboration, coordinated service provision and advocacy. JSSC was first convened in 2004 following the community strategic planning process, which identified caring for the Jewish elderly as a top priority. Comprised of both volunteer and professional leaders, the JSSC is dedicated to helping the San Diego Jewish community determine, and work towards fulfilling, the priority needs of seniors. JSSC strives to help maximize the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of current senior services. The Council also seeks to assist our community to stay current with best practices, to engage the best minds in the field in order to develop a vision for a thriving senior Jewish community, and support innovative efforts to achieve this long-term vision. JSSC is an integral part of Federation’s Community Planning & Innovation Center, and seeks to serve as a community voice for supporting senior services in San Diego County. Partner organizations on the Council include, Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, Jewish Family Service of San Diego, Jewish Federation of San Diego County, Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Lightbridge Ohr Ami Hospice, San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego Rabbinical Association, Seacrest Village Retirement Homes, Senior Community Centers, St. Paul’s Senior Homes & Services and others.
Two Jewish Perspectives on Aging “A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.” — Abraham Joshua Heschel “If society teaches us to see life as an expendable resource, something that gets used up as we live it, then we will be dismayed at the prospect of growing old. Each birthday will send us the message that we have less life remaining than we did a year ago. But Judaism helps us to learn to see life not as something that gets used up, but as the accumulation of treasure.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner, Forward to A Heart of Wisdom
PROGRAM D’var Torah Rabbi David Kornberg
President San Diego Rabbinical Association
Opening Remarks Dr. Steve Solomon
Chair Jewish Senior Services Council
Key Note Address The Changing Aging Population Landscape Paul Downey President & CEO Senior Community Centers
Panel Presentation Practical Conversations for Aging Jewish Adults and Their Families Pam Ferris President & CEO Seacrest Village Retirement Communities
Hospice and Navigating Health Care Jill Mendlen President & CEO LightBridge Hospice & Palliative Care
Civic Engagement: Options for Staying Involved Dr. Jong Won Min
Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar, Associate Professor School of Social Work, San Diego State University
Technology as a Research in Aging Jonathan Mack
Director, Clinical Research and Development West Wireless Health Institute
Families Caring for Seniors Dr. Adam Shapiro
Dean, Collage of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences California State University, San Marcos
Closing Remarks Dr. Steve Solomon
Chair Jewish Senior Services Council
Paul Downey joined Senior Community Centers as President and CEO in 1995. The agency provides an array of supportive services focused on keeping low-income seniors healthy and independent at 10 sites throughout San Diego County. Downey has been a leader in providing affordable housing for seniors. In 2003, he opened the Potiker Family Senior Residence, a 200-unit, low-income, senior housing complex in downtown San Diego. A second project, a 150-unit affordable housing complex for seniors in City Heights opened in 2007. The newest facility, the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center, opened in 2010. Services include case management, healthcare utilizing the latest in wireless technology, mental healthcare, life-long learning and civic engagement for the seniors. It’s considered a national model for the comprehensive provision of supportive services for seniors in poverty. The agency also operates 37 units of transitional housing for homeless seniors. Downey, who serves on the JSSC, is the elected President of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP) based in Washington DC and a Steering Committee Member for the California Elder Economic Standard Initiative. He is past chair of the City of San Diego’s Senior Affairs Advisory Board and past chair of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the College of Health and Human Services at San Diego State University. Pam Ferris is President and Chief Executive Officer of Seacrest Village Retirement Communities. She joined the organization in 1989 and has been involved with the growth and development of the 10-acre campus in Encinitas, which includes skilled nursing, assisted living, memory support, synagogue and fitness and aquatic center. She is also directly responsible for the Nellie Cohn Residence in Rancho Bernardo. Ferris is the President and CEO for Generations Management Group which is a specialized entity that consults to other homes around the country. A noted speaker and Board Member of the Association of Jewish Aging Services, Ferris is known as a leader in the field of senior housing and healthcare. Ferris, who serves on the JSSC, holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from San Diego State University with an emphasis on Gerontology, and is a licensed Nursing Home and Assisted Living Administrator. She has served on the San Diego board of the California Association of Healthcare Facilities and has chaired national conferences on aging. Jill Mendlen serves as the President and CEO of LightBridge Hospice and Palliative Care, which specializes in the delivery of hospice and palliative care services to individuals who reside throughout San Diego County. Mendlen also serves as the President and CEO of Family Choice of New York, a Special Needs Plan which provides clinical programs under a managed care model to individuals who reside in nursing facilities and in the community to improve quality of life and enhance clinical outcomes while reducing costs. Mendlen, who serves on the JSSC, is a nationally recognized expert in clinical program development, management, reimbursement and strategic direction for managed care systems designed specifically to provide care to frail elders in a variety of settings including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospices and in the community. She has presented on numerous programs throughout the
country for organizations including the California Association of Healthcare Facilities, the American Healthcare Association and the Group Healthcare Association. Dr. Jong Won Min is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at San Diego State University. Min completed his doctoral degree at Department of Social Welfare, UCLA and has taught at SDSU for the last 12 years. He was selected as the John A. Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholar from 2002-2004. Min has served as a faculty research coordinator with collaboration between SDSU College of Health and Human Services and Senior Community Center of San Diego. His primary areas of research include health disparities, social determinants of health, minority aging, long-term care, and cultural diversity. Recently, Min conducted a program evaluation study of the impact of civic engagement program on mental health and social support of vulnerable senior populations. Jonathan Mack is the Director of Clinical Research and Development at West Wireless Health Institute. He leads initiatives for the development of prototype medical devices, human subject research, as well as programs geared towards care delivery models to advance the Institute’s mission of lowering health care costs. Mack has a distinguished career which merges healthcare delivery, engineering and clinical informatics. His postdoctoral research focused on systems and technology integration and is published in the areas of health care delivery and informatics. Prior to his role at the West Wireless Health Institute, Mack served in various clinical leadership positions including Administrative Director for Inpatient Clinical Services for the Scripps Health System; as well as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nurse Executive roles for several Southern California area hospitals. In addition to his role at the Institute, he currently serves as Program Coordinator for the Graduate Health Care Informatics Program for the University of San Diego and maintains active clinical licensure as an Emergency Nurse Practitioner for a Southern California Health system. Mack volunteers his time as board member for the AgeTech Institute which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding technology solutions for aging in place. Dr. Adam Shapiro is Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences at California State University San Marcos. As an administrator, his work has focused extensively on curricular innovation and the use of technology, faculty development, and fiscal entrepreneurialism. Committed to community engagement, Shapiro advocates for community partnerships that enhance faculty scholarship, student learning, and community social and economic development. Shapiro’s scholarship centers on social gerontology and family sociology. He has taught and published extensively and has been awarded several grants from foundations, and local, state, and federal organizations to conduct research on aging and eldercare. He has also consulted and lectured on constructing creative solutions to issues associated with the aging of the baby boom cohort. Shapiro, who serves on the JSSC, holds a B.A. from the University of Florida with honors and election to Phi Beta Kappa, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Selected Opportunities for action Civic Engagement and Volunteerism LightBridge Hospice & Palliative Care and Ohr Ami, The Jewish Hospice Program offers volunteer opportunities to help better serve the needs of patients and their families. All volunteers participate in an extensive volunteer orientation program and receive ongoing training and support from the professional staff. For more information visit visit www.lightbridgehospice.com/volunteer or contact Director of Volunteer Services at 858.458.3602. Jewish Family Service of San Diego offers a multitude of volunteer and engagement opportunities for all ages. To find the right match, please visit www.jfssd.org/volunteer or contact Melinda Wilkes at melindab@jfssd.org or 858.637.3050. Seacrest Village Retirement Communities offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups who enjoy spending time with seniors. Please visit www.seacrestvillage.org/volunteer or contact Jenell Coker, the Volunteer Coordinator for both Encinitas and Rancho Bernardo campuses, at 760.632.0081, extension 1216. Senior Community Centers has volunteer opportunities for one person or a large group. If you have questions or would like more information about volunteering please visit www.servingseniors.org/how-to-help or contact Tim Ruis, Volunteer and Activities Manager, at tim.ruis@ servingseniors.org or 619.487.0727. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS has a Senior Adult Department that promotes Jewish cultural heritage and values by providing social, educational, and recreational programs. For more information contact Melanie Rubin at melanier@lfjcc. com or 858.362.1141. Many other organizations in San Diego provide volunteer and civic engagement opportunities. Please contact the outreach desk at the Jewish Federation of San Diego County for a full list of those agencies at outreach@jewishfederationsandiego.org or 858.571.3444. Aging Advocacy The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County educates, advocates and acts on issues at the local, state and national levels to advance Jewish concerns in the public arena. California, still in a fiscal crisis, has made $15 billion in cuts in the past four years to Health and Human Services. These cuts affect programs aiding the most frail and vulnerable members of society. Although the capacity for services is slowly declining, the needs are growing larger than ever. Two current pieces of legislation affecting seniors are Food for Health: Aligning Medi-Cal and Nutrition Assistance and Support Food Stamps in Farm Bill.
For more information and/or if you would like to receive action alerts, please contact Linda Feldman, Director of JCRC at lindaf@jewishfederationsandiego.org or at 858.737.7138. Senior Community Centers offers a way to stay informed on issues affecting older adults. This may be a small but measurable step towards making a difference in the lives of seniors everywhere by joining Seniors First San Diego™, a county wide network comprised of seniors, people who care about seniors, and organizations to stay informed on issues and be the voice for seniors. For more information, please visit www.servingseniors.org/advocacy Philanthropic Support Jewish Federation of San Diego County - By contributing to Federation your dollars are leveraged to benefit seniors and other vulnerable populations locally, in Israel and overseas. Federation grants to Seacrest Village Retirement Communities here in San Diego, provide needs-based scholarship for seniors who wish to live at Seacrest but can’t afford to. Federation also staffs and facilitates JSSC to strengthen the community and provide for collective action to support Jewish seniors in San Diego. Through our partner the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), your funding helps support the ESHEL program which provides home care for housebound seniors, elderly employment programs, and supportive social and cultural programs for Holocaust survivors in Israel. Overseas, JDC funding provides critical welfare services: home care, medicines, food, and winter relief to the world’s poorest Jews in the Former Soviet Union, many of whom are seniors. Please visit www.jewishinsandiego.org/whereyourmoneygoes to learn more and to help Jewish seniors worldwide. San Diego Jewish Hospice Program Fund - Ohr Ami accepts donations via a non-profit foundation that LightBridge has established through the Jewish Community Foundation. To make a donation please make a check payable to Jewish Community Foundation with a donation designated for the San Diego Jewish Hospice Program Fund. Please send all donations care of LighBridge Hospice. The Potiker Match - Senior Community Centers is dedicated to the “wellness” of our seniors. Donors play a critical role by investing in our meals, case management, healthcare, mental healthcare, civic engagement, transitional housing for homeless seniors and permanent supportive housing. An exciting way to become involved is being offered thanks to a generous bequest from Sheila Potiker through the Jewish Community Foundation. This gift will match, dollar for dollar, up to $1 million to retire the remaining debt on the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center. Seacrest Village Retirement Communities - Make a contribution at any time to the Charitable Mission of Seacrest at Home. Please visit www.seacrestvillage.org/ways-to-give.
for more information about... Jewish Senior Services Council Contact: Lisa Haney, Director, Community Planning & Innovation Center lisah@jewishfederationsandiego.org or 858.737.7140 Contributing to senior services worldwide through the Jewish Federation of San Diego County Contact: Debbie Kempinski, Major Gifts Officer debbiek@jewishfederationsandiego.org or 858.737.7138 Jewish Community Relations Center Contact: Linda Feldman, Director, Jewish Community Relations Center lindaf@jewishfederationsandiego.org or 858.737.7133 Hospice and/or palliative care programs and their benefits or the Ohr Ami Fund Contact: Jill Mendlen, President & CEO, LightBridge Hospice & Palliative Care Jill@lightbridgehospice.com or 858.458.2992 Making an annual gift or participating in the “Potiker Match” campaign for Senior Community Centers Contact: Paul Downey, President & CEO, Senior Community Centers paul.downey@servingseniors.org or 619.487.0650 or Brent Wakefield, VP Development brent.wakefield@servingseniors.org or 619.487.0608 Aging issues and options for senior care and/or services offered at Seacrest Village Retirement Communities Contact: Pam Ferris, President & CEO, Seacrest Village Retirement Communities The Melvin Garb Foundation Presidential Chair pferris@seacrestvillage.org or 760.632.0081 Civic engagement and volunteerism Contact: Dr. Jong Won Min, Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, at SDSU jwmin@mail.sdsu.edu or 619.594.6893 Other related programs and services and/or information • Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS 858.457.3030 or visit www.lfjcc.org • Jewish Family Service 858.637.3000 or visit www.jfssd.org • Jewish Community Foundation 858.279.2740 or visit jcfsandiego.org
Jewish Federation of San Diego County
www.jewishinsandiego.org