Dear friends,
It was truly wonderful to begin our week with outdoor visits for our elders and their families. It has been far too long and we were thrilled to see families reconnecting. I had the opportunity to be on both campuses on Sunday as this was getting started. As you can imagine, this was very emotional for everyone. We have continued these visits throughout the week and are scheduling them on an ongoing basis. Our process for outdoor visits has a number of steps in it. When a family wants to visit, they schedule the appointment and receive an email confirmation that also includes a copy of the informed consent that they will be required to sign when they are on campus. When they arrive, they enter the building and are asked health screening questions and have their temperatures taken. They sign a copy of the informed consent and then are directed to the area where they will meet their loved one. The elder must also sign the informed consent and then that document is turned over to our staff. Of course both elders and visitors must wear masks and maintain appropriate social distancing. During the visit, our staff are available to offer beverages and answer any questions. In addition to outdoor visits, virtual visits also continue. While we know that many of our elders would like visiting in their rooms or apartments, we are all very glad to have this opportunity and to help our families be together.
Of course the outdoor visits began on Father’s Day and there were other Father’s Day events on both campuses. At Jewish Home Assisted Living, each of our gentlemen was sporting a lovely boutonniere and Jewish Home at Rockleigh male residents received special cards made by the Recreation staff and we had music and Father’s Day themed trivia.
On Tuesday evening we held our Jewish Home Family annual meeting. It was a first as we conducted it via Zoom. It worked well but it is not at all the same as being together. We had presentations from our various board leaders and I spoke about the year that we have had, focusing a bit on the experiences of the last few months. We have learned a lot through this experience, organizationally, professionally and personally. I am very proud of this team and the outstanding job that they have done and very grateful for the ongoing support and encouragement of our board members, supporters and community.
We concluded the meeting with a brief video that really tells the story of the last few months. Hope you will take a moment and watch it, I think it is so powerful: https://www.facebook.com/884967371536568/posts/3508994595800486/
As the weather has gotten nicer, and life inside our buildings has become much more normal, we have been doing some great “spruce up” projects. The Memory Lane courtyard at Jewish Home Assisted Living now boasts new seating areas and bright plants, creating a comfortable place for elders and staff to spend time. One very special thing is that both the ML courtyard, and the main entrance to Assisted Living, have gardens of Kindness Rocks. If you remember, our elders have been painting these rocks with pictures and encouraging sayings for some time. We now have enough to create these wonderful little gardens and everyone loves the bright colors and the cheery sayings. We are in the midst of redoing the library area at Assisted Living as well—stay tuned for pictures of that in the next week or two.
Other events at Jewish Home Assisted Living this week included biographies of Edgar Degas and an interesting documentary on “An American Aristocrat’s Guide to Great Estates.” Exercise included exercise with Patrick as well as yoga and Tai Chi. Travelogues to Venice and Canada were also big hits as was a screening of the opera “La Traviata.” At the Jewish Home at Rockleigh our other special events included LaughActive Yoga, Name that Tune, Fun with Alexa, Bingo, Brain Teasers and Sing-a-longs. It is amazing to see how creative we have gotten with hallway and other distanced programming!
This was a blog week for me and here is the link: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/reuniting/ As always, your feedback is welcome.
Be well,
Carol Silver Elliott
President/CEO
The Jewish Home Family
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Jewish Home in the News and On the Web
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10 Link Drive Rockleigh, NJ 07647 | 685 Westwood Ave. River Vale, NJ 07675