WHOM WE SERVE

JSSA’s Holocaust Survivor Program serves members of our region’s survivor community who have the fewest financial resources. In 2022, we served 407 Holocaust survivors living in the National Capital Region Most reside in Montgomery County, 52 live in Northern Virginia and a few clients reside in Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C. Almost all our clients (92%) are from the Former Soviet Union and have limited English proficiency.

Most of our clients live on fixed incomes and rely on JSSA to help them supplement government services, including food stamps, housing vouchers, and Medicaid.

While the number of survivors served by JSSA’s Holocaust Survivor Program declines as this community ages, their increasing acuity necessitates additional hours of home care to enable each individual to continue living independently. In 2022, JSSA provided an average of 620 home care hours per client, up from an average of 596 hours of service provided to each client in 2021, and 493 hours per client in 2020. And there are still new people entering the program as their changing financial and health status make them eligible for services.

** Low functioning is defined as scoring 11 or greater on the Diagnostic Assessment Form (DAF). Data reflects Q3 of each year.

Vladimir* and Tatiana* were both born in Ukraine in the late 1930s. Vladimir fled to Uzbekistan with his mother after his father was killed during the war. Tatiana, at the age of two, was forcibly relocated to a ghetto, where she and her family remained for three years. This couple met after the war, married, and raised a daughter. A few years after the fall of the Soviet Union, they emigrated to the United States.

After two decades of life in the U.S., the couple moved to Leisure World in Silver Spring. They joined JSSA’s Holocaust Survivor Program, through which they received care management, food assistance, personal care services, and advance care planning legal support. Tragically, Vladimir and Tatiana’s daughter passed away after a long illness, and only a few years later, Vladimir suddenly died in a weather-related accident. Tatiana required much more intensive support to continue living independently in her own home without her husband, and her surviving family members wanted to ensure Tatiana was empowered to determine how she lived out her life.

With the help of our pro bono partners at Arnold & Porter, Tatiana updated her advance planning documents allowing her to remain safely at home. And JSSA provided Tatiana with an additional 37 hours of home care each week while her granddaughter and son-in-law made arrangements for her continued care. Today, Tatiana continues to live in her own home with the compassionate support of her family members and JSSA’s dedicated professionals.