Volume 101, Number 13 www.kcjc.com April 1, 2021 19 Nissan 5781
jewish chronicle The KANSAS
CITY
Providing compassionate care for all Local Jewish doctor serves homeless through medical nonprofit
By Lacey Storer Assistant Editor Dr. Jonathan Jacobs sits at a table listening to his patient describe his foot pain from plantar fasciitis. The pain was evident as the man limped up. He works on a factory line and being on his feet all day only exacerbates his condition. Jacobs examines the man’s foot and recommends an injection of Lidocaine to temporarily relieve the pain. He then walks over to the bright green bus parked a few feet away that serves as a makeshift clinic to get the local anesthetic from the pharmacist inside. This evening, Jacobs isn’t seeing patients in his office at Menorah Medical Center, where he works in internal medicine, or as part of his concierge medicine practice. He’s working his regular weekly volunteer shift with Care Beyond the Boulevard (CBB), a local nonprofit that operates mobile health clinics and provides medical care to the homeless, uninsured or otherwise vulnerable in and around Kansas City, Missouri. Jacobs has been volunteering with CBB for almost four years and is one of more than 100 CBB volunteers. He is also the president of the board and the medical director. “This group is unbelievable,” he said. “The work is unbelievable that we do.” CBB, which celebrated its fifth anniversary last week, was started by
Dr. Jonathan Jacobs, president and medical director for Care Beyond the Boulevard, visits with a patient during a recent clinic at the temporary shelter in Bartle Hall. (Lacey Storer) Jaynell “KK” Assmann and her husband. A registered nurse for more than 20 years, Assmann conceived the clinic while volunteering at a local food kitchen. She realized the patrons needed healthcare as well as food. The goal, Assmann said, is to provide compassionate healthcare to all, and particularly the “rough sleepers” who bed down outside. CBB doesn’t turn anyone away — its patients include people who have homes but no insurance and little money to afford healthcare. CBB started with a small group of
volunteers and a pickup truck equipped with a homemade pharmaceutical cabinet. A year later, they received an old school bus and the funds to renovate it into a mobile medical clinic. Assmann’s husband did the renovations. The bus includes a small exam “room” for more private exams, a pharmacy section and a storage area for non-medical supplies, such as toothbrushes, socks, umbrellas and sleeping bags. This year, CBB added a van so volunteers could make more stops and collect more donations.
The nonprofit has a busy schedule, running seven regular clinics and routes five days a week (Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays), with an additional monthly clinic in Independence. They provide care at churches and homeless camps, and in February added a weekly stop at the temporary shelter set up in Bartle Hall, pulling the van and bus in through the back and setting up a makeshift waiting room next to the rows and rows of cots. Going to where their patients are helps the CBB volunteers connect with them, said Assmann. New patients are often reluctant to trust the CBB workers. But after a week or two, “they would do anything for us,” Jacobs said. “They end up being very trusting, very grateful, very appreciative.” CBB provides several different types of care: acute care for short-term medical problems; routine care, which includes check-ups and follow ups; and seasonal care like flu shots and school physicals for children. Wound care and burns from starting fires are the most common types of injuries (although CBB has treated bullet wounds before). In the past few months, the cold has meant a lot of frostbite cases. Although the bus and van hold a lot of medical supplies, it doesn’t have everything. A common challenge is not having the specific item needed to treat a patient. When Jacobs asked for the LiSee MENORAH, PAGE 8
What is the difference between Yom Hashoah and International Holocaust Remembrance Day?
MCHE leader explains the origins of the two commemorations that fall within weeks of one another By Jessica Rockhold Midwest Center for Holocaust Education As a community, we gather twice a year to remember those lost in the Holocaust and to pay tribute to those who survived. Though similar in their desire to honor and commemorate, the origins of Yom Hashoah and International Holocaust Remembrance Day reflect different goals. YOM HASHOAH Yom Hashoah is an Israeli, and specifically Jewish, recognition of the Holocaust. Discussions about how to
appropriately commemorate the Holocaust have occurred since the very early days of post-liberation in 1945. The first conversations were held amongst the survivors themselves and centered on dates commemorating the experiences of the Warsaw Jewish community — the largest in Europe. On December 28, 1949, the first Holocaust Remembrance Day took place in Israel with the re-interment of Jewish remains moved from the Flossenbürg camp near Munich to a crypt in a Jerusalem cemetery. From that first observation, other Israeli commemorations periodically occurred, though there was no consensus on which date to com-
memorate. In 1951, the Knesset designated the 27th day of Nisan as Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the name —Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah (Day of (Remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism) — pays tribute to those lost in the Holocaust and to the heroism of the European Jews. This was codified in Israeli law on March 4, 1959. American Jewish communities soon began holding Yom Hashoah ceremonies. In Kansas City, the ceremony was initiated by survivors who met with Sol E. Margolin, executive director of the Jewish Community Center, to consider ways to commemorate the Holocaust. This meeting led to the formation of what they would call “The New Americans Club of the Jewish Community Center of Kansas City.” The following year, in 1959, two significant memorial projects emerged: the annual Yom Hashoah service, which
Jessica Rockhold the New Americans called the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Service, and the WarSee TWO, page 8