Memory Lane Green House, Voting, Podcasting and More

Dear friends,

We’ve been celebrating Sukkot in the multiple sukkahs we have erected around our Jewish Home Family campuses. We hope that you’ve had the opportunity to do the same. One of the lovely stories of this holiday at the Jewish Home Family comes from Jewish Home Assisted Living. As you may remember, we are opening our first Green House home in Memory Lane on that campus. The caregivers, whom we will call yedidim or yedid, have all received their CORE Green House training and are incorporating the Green House values and philosophy into the lives of the elders. Because Green House is really focused on meaningful life and elder choice, this year our sukkah in the Memory Lane courtyard was not decorated by Recreation staff. It was decorated by the yedidim and the elders in that household and the elders were asked to share their holiday memories with the staff. It was a joyous event and a very small example of the changes that we are making, changes that we believe will enhance the lives of our elders. Yesterday we had a Zoom call with family members of the elders on Memory Lane and talked about the basics of Green House and what they could expect as we move forward. We had great participation and support and look forward to holding these conversations on an ongoing basis.

And while I am on the subject of heartwarming stories, here is one that also happened this week. We have a program called “Get Connected” that has linked community elders with volunteers. The elders and volunteers connect by phone and it is one way we hope to help ease some of the isolation we know exists in the community. Some of the elders are folks who have been Gallen participants and some are from our holiday Meals on Wheels list. The volunteers are long term Jewish Home volunteers who are thrilled to have a role to play. One of our steadfast volunteers, Susan Kaplan, offered to connect with a gentleman who has been a Gallen Center participant. This man has cognitive impairment and does not talk a lot but Susie had been his OMA (Opening Minds through Art) partner when Gallen was open so she wanted to renew that connection. She had a couple of phone calls with this man and his wife and then the wife asked if Susie would like to come and do a socially distanced visit on their deck. She was happy to do that and she brought a beautiful book on Israel to help seed the conversation, as she knew that this man had been to Israel and it was a fond memory. As they sat and talked, the man became to whistle and then hum the song “This Little Light of Mine.” That is the song that is sung by all participants and volunteers at the end of each OMA session. Susie realized that this was his way of telling her that he remembered her and remembered the connection. They sang the song together and shared this beautiful moment of recognition and memory. For me the lesson is that everything we do matters, that even though we may not directly see the impact it is there.

Our community outreach activities continue to grow. We’ve had a number of libraries offering our special Zoom programs to their patrons and had a great response. We’ve offered several introductory Wellness Boxing classes (which is a daily class, Monday through Friday, at 10 am and 1 pm) and this week had a special “Cooking for Happiness” program at Jewish Home Assisted Living. It’s a great way for us to connect, build some relationships and raise our visibility. Speaking of visibility, we’ve begun a new podcast series. We’re calling it “Advancing the Art of Aging” and you can listen here and on any of your favorite podcast platforms!

We are also working on voting on both campuses. Ballots arrived for many of our elders and others were brought in by family members, when the ballot was sent to the former address. Our Recreation and Social Work teams have been collaborating to make sure everyone has an opportunity to exercise their right to vote. In fact, we have received guidance from the State to make sure that we follow a thoughtful and thorough process.

In other highlights this week, Jewish Home Assisted Living elders began their week on Sunday with Sukkot services followed by “Holiday Chat” in the sukkah and a showing the opera “Norma.” Monday began with an exercise favorite “Stretching to the Oldies” which was followed by “Today’s Headlines,” focused on the Vice Presidential debate. We took a trip to the Grand Canyon with the help of National Geographic, enjoyed The Rat Pack musical and wrapped up our day with ice cream sundaes in the sukkah. Tuesday included “Movement to Music,” a program on Thurgood Marshall entitled “Crusading Civil Rights Activist,” a musical concert featuring Julie Andrews and Happy Hour in the sukkah. Pocahontas was the subject of Wednesday morning’s lecture followed by a lovely trip to Norway and desserts in the sukkah. Then many of us watched the debate, either in a small groups or individually. As you would expect, Thursday morning began with coffee and conversation, the major topic being the debate. We also had exercise class on the patio and then Tai Chi in the same location. In the afternoon we gathered staff and elders for a “sukkah social.” We closed out the week on Friday with Yiddish class, an interior walkthrough of Buckingham Palace and a lecture from Professor Ian Drake. His topic was “Landmark Supreme Court Cases.”

Jewish Home at Rockleigh elders enjoyed many meaningful small group activities this week as well as both outdoor and virtual family visits. Sukkot was celebrated on Sunday with Rabbi Feld’s visits to each of our units. On Monday we gathered elders from the Rubin unit in the sukkah and reminisced about holiday celebrations. On the Seiden unit our elders enjoyed “Wake Up to Music” as well as a great program on colors in art. Kaplen 2 elders had fun with individual art programs and Community Circle and on Kaplen 1 we used our It’s Never 2 Late (iN2L) system for some individual programming. In the afternoon we celebrated “Long Walk Day” with a series of walks around the pond and enjoyed the sun on our faces. Tuesday began with Kaplen 1 elders in the sukkah for trivia and Rubin elders enjoying “Name that Tune” and “Chair One Fitness.” In the afternoon some of our Seiden elders went outside to talk about the holidays and enjoy some Jewish music. Every year we celebrate Cultural Diversity month at the Jewish Home at Rockleigh and this year is no exception. On Wednesday we focused on the Philippines with delicious treats and music. We also had a chance to learn about Philippine customs and history. In the afternoon we had Philippine line dancing and we had dancers on the units, on the patio and even dancing in the windows! On Thursday we launched our “traveling bakery” bringing delicious, fresh treats to our Kaplen 1 elders in their rooms. Kaplen 2 elders enjoyed American History table topics in the morning and Photo Club in the afternoon and Seiden was filled with the joyous sounds of Rhythm Band and Karaoke. Rubin elders had a Great Inventors discussion in the morning and a discussion on the debate in the afternoon. We wrapped up the week with some programs in honor of John Lennon’s birthday as well as Men’s Club, friendly visits and more.

This was a LeadingAge blog week for me and here is the link: https://leadingage.org/members/leadership As always, your feedback is welcome. Don’t forget to register for the Jewish Home Family virtual Gala on October 18: https://gala2020.jewishhomefamily.org/ It is going to be a great evening and we hope to have you there!

Be well,

Carol Silver Elliott
President/CEO
The Jewish Home Family