By Stephanie Smartschan and Jennifer Lader JFLV Director of Marketing and Editor, HAKOL Every Monday, Marty Goldstein, 87, walks from his home on 22nd Street to the Jewish Community Center for Friendship Circle. It’s something he won’t be able to do if and when the JCC moves further west, not that he begrudges the need for the change. Having never driven, he’s no stranger to public transportation either, but buses don’t go that way, he said. “Seniors have limited places to go. There are a lot of them that can’t drive,” he said. “If they do get out, [Friendship Circle is] a good place that they can go every week, they look forward to that. They get lunch and they get entertainment and I just think it helps fulfilling your life a little better, it makes things worthwhile.” Addressing the need for transportation for seniors is just one piece of what the strategic planning team will be looking at in the months and years ahead. Caring for seniors, as noted in the Jewish Community Strategic Plan approved by the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley’s Board of Directors last year, is critical to the future of the community. “To me, finally working on what we’re going to do with our older adults is something that’s really important,” said Wendy Born, president of the Federation during much of the strategic planning process and a member of the committee that will now address senior issues. While the concern has always been there, having a roadmap will help the community hone in on what can realistically be done, by when and at what cost, she said. According to the plan, the community should expand the availability of formal and informal supportive services to older Jewish people that allow them to maximize their well‐being and independence and be connected to Jewish life. This should include seniors “aging in place” and living in residential facilities. The Beth Tikvah Model Yes, having a fully supported Jewish residential facility would be ideal. But, it was quickly determined, in a community of this size, it just isn’t feasible in the 21st century.
“The community could not sustain a senior living facility. That’s one of the things that was very difficult to move away from,” said Barry Halper, current Federation president and co-chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee. “It took some time for people to realize there just isn’t the demand that could satisfy the need for an entire facility. Once you make that decision, then you have to look at, OK, there are still seniors that are living in residential facilities, how do you provide a Jewish atmosphere for them?” The question goes way back. “It started with the first settlers,” said Allentown native Ruth Sachs Meislin. “They bought land … in my grandfather’s time because they were determined to have a ‘home for the elderly.’“ Meislin succeeded her aunt on an exploratory committee that also included Robert Margolis, z”l; Al Pell, z”l; and Rabbi Allen Juda, thus representing Allentown and Bethlehem. The group soon involved representatives of Easton and “went all over,” Meislin said, in the quest, first to find a way to build a Jewish home, and when that group, too, deemed the project not feasible, to customize a unit or floor of an existing building. Some of the committee members had connections to former Pennsylvania Gov. George Leader. “He and his wife, Mary Jane, took a tremendous interest in personalizing a wing when they were building Leader Nursing Center [in Bethlehem],” Meislin said. They built a 31-bed wing for Jewish residents, later expanded to 41 beds, that included a kosher kitchen, Jewish chapel, dining room and lounge. Sandy Wruble was hired as the personal services manager for the unit. “Sandy was the glue that made it work, that made it unbelievably successful,” Meislin said. The idea of a Jewish wing in a non-sectarian facility was a good one; the Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service were nationally recognized for Beth Tikvah with a Council of Jewish Federations’ Schroeder Award. Looking back, Wruble is able to view the facility from both a Jewish and a care provider viewpoint. “It was purely skilled nursing, with rehabilitation and activities,” she said. Some of the residents of Beth Tikvah hadn’t kept kosher, but Wruble
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Strategic plan envisions increased support for seniors
Rabbi Melody Davis celebrates at a festive meal with residents of Country Meadows Residential facility in Allentown. would tell their adult children, “Yes, but I’ll bet your mother would like a bowl of chicken soup, or a nice brisket with kugel.” The Beth Tikvah program was subsidized by the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley. Nevertheless, the number of Jewish residents declined because of the desire for the seniors to be closer to their children or their doctors and the changing needs of seniors entering such facilities. “The assisted living facilities came into being, with the freedom and independence they offer, even though it’s not kosher,” Wruble said. In the early 21st century, the wing was filled mainly with non-Jewish residents, and the nursing home ended the partnership because the nature of skilled nursing care had changed over the years and because the business model of the facility was updated to meet new market realities. Jewish Residence Life Today Although the ending of formal community support was troubling and upsetting for some, there is a legacy that continues today: Leader’s son, G. Michael Leader, is president and CEO of Country Meadows, a senior residential and assisted living facility whose Allentown campus stands out from other Valley facilities in its
Across the years, across the country, senior needs vary By Debbie Zoller Executive Director, Jewish Family Service While many people look forward to retirement, they don’t necessarily look forward to older adulthood. If older adult life can continue to be the way it was in middle adulthood, with independent living and meaningful work, life goes on as always. When this isn’t possible, new needs arise. The Lehigh Valley Jewish community is now making a concerted effort to find ways to meet these needs. To make us more aware of what is possible in our own community, consider what is being done elsewhere: Jewish Family Services in Princeton, N.J. and Louisville, Ky., offer “concierge” programs that provide in-home care services that work with older adults and their families to provide the necessary supports to maintain safety in the home and help older adults stay in their homes. Participants pay a membership fee for access to the concierge services and the network is also supported through private donations. Brandywine Village Network is an aging-in-place initiative from Jewish Family Services of Delaware. Funding comes from annual membership fees which may range from $150 to more than $500 per person. Some villages receive grants and nonmember donations help subsidize the cost for low-income individuals. In the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere, transportation is a major challenge for many seniors. Jewish Family Services in New Orleans has a catch-a-cab program in which participants receive a subsidized taxi fare. Urban Jewish communities frequently offer kosher meals on wheels programs. If and when aging in place is not the best alternative, residential care in the form of independent living, assisted living or nursing care can be found. The definition of “Jewish
residence” depends on the consumer’s viewpoint and may be concerned with Jewish dietary laws, holiday observances and exclusively Jewish clients. Most “Jewish residences” today have non-Jewish residents living at their facilities. While the bigger urban areas have more “Jewish” residences, there are some smaller Jewish communities that have either Jewish nursing homes or apartment living complexes. For example, there are Jewish nursing homes in Harrisburg and in Wilmington, Del. In Savannah, Ga., an Orthodox woman runs a Jewish assisted living facility. Managers in older adult residences run by corporations have discovered that they will attract more Jews to reside there if they provide access to the Jewish community by either taking people out to synagogues or senior programs or by having services like a JFS provide Jewish programming and volunteers, along with orienting their staff to Jewish customs. Day programs are an additional alternative to residential care and those housed in Jewish environments who pay attention to Jewish observances. If held at a JCC, this concept offers a new vision of JCCs as a critical part of a whole and full life as a Jew. In Israel, there is a shopping mall run by older adults and a movie-making workshop for older adults. Programs to help older persons work, teach or share their experiences tell the older adult they have value. In addition, older adults frequently feel better about themselves when they earn money. All of these ideas offer clues as to what our community should consider as we focus on ways to make life for Jewish seniors in the Lehigh Valley easier, more affordable and more enjoyable. Please join our Jewish community in telling us how we can make a difference in the lives of the older adults you know.
offerings for Jewish seniors and currently has a critical mass of Jewish residents. Rabbi Melody Davis of Temple Covenant of Peace in Easton is the Jewish chaplain at Country Meadows in Allentown. Each Friday afternoon, she brings Jewish texts and leads a study session there. Recognizing that not everyone is drawn to large groups, Davis takes the time to knock on doors “to say hello” to some of the other 30 to 40 Jewish residents. There’s a monthly Shabbat service led by Monica Lemelman and by Elaine Langer, whose father Al, z”l, was a very long-term and much-loved resident. “They [also] have a wonderful, special dinner that Susan Wolfson and her husband provide at Pesach, High Holidays, Thanksgiving and maybe Chanukah,” Davis said. Cooky Notis from Jewish Family Service visits regularly and offers holidayrelated programming; other clergy visit, and so do the youth choir and Jewish youth groups. “There is a feeling among some residents,” Davis said, “they will go to anything Jewish, not necessarily because they want to, but because it is being provided and they have an obligation to support it because it’s Jewish.” While few can match Country Meadows’ offerings, Luther Crest holds a seder; Bnai Brith apartments, now with just a handful of Jewish residents, has a monthly Shabbat service. One idea under consideration is for the Jewish community to find ways to again partner creatively with existing residential facilities and promote them as places to find Jewish life. Those facilities would ideally need to accommodate the religious, social and dietary needs of their Jewish residents, said Patty Glascom, cochairwoman of the seniors committee and vice president of Jewish Family Service. They would also need to offer a full range of care, from independent living onward, she said. “It’s very fragmented now. There are Jewish residents in small numbers in just about every one of the retirement facilities in the area,” Glascom said. “I feel that if there was a central place, the programming could be more in-depth ... more meaningful, more often. That, I think, would be comforting for the residents and their families.” Aging in Place There are several ideas on the table about how to help older Jewish adults who want to -- or have to -- remain in their homes. Setting up a “concierge service,” whereby a single person would be the goto for the needs of seniors in the Jewish community, is one possibility the strategic planning implementation committee will explore.
Strategic Plan Continues on page 7 HAKOL LEHIGH VALLEY | APRIL 2013 3