The Los Angeles Jewish Home has always been able to count on its friends, supporters, and caring individuals and companies throughout the community who will step forward to provide support to its residents and staff. Never has this generosity been more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Home launched its "Helping Hands" campaign. More than 100 community leaders, members of the Home's board of directors, volunteers and community supporters have come together to provide the Home with both monetary and in-kind donations. Items donated included Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including surgical and N95 masks, gloves and surgical gowns. The Home also received iPads allowing residents to visit with their families and other loved ones during this difficult time of required social distancing. As community members reached out with their support, staff also took action volunteering to lend a helping hand. Director of Transportation Elisa Sosa stepped forward early in March, when it became apparent staff were in need of additional masks. She volunteered to spend her free time making cloth face coverings. Her initiative and hard work started a movement. Once members of the community learned that the Home was in serious need of additional face coverings, they called, offering to donate or create the cotton masks. Elisa, who has worked at the Home since 2001 consistently does whatever she can to help the Home's staff and residents. "I want to help the community. I have learned a lot from the Home, and I want everyone here to be safe," she said. In her career at the Home, she has worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) as well as in the medical records area and at the Home's Levy-Kime Geriatric Community Clinic, before assuming her current role as Transportation Supervisor for Brandman Centers for Senior Care (BCSC). She went on to share, "The Home is a big family, and I want to help out however I can, as I want to take care of my family here – the residents and the staff." Masks are not the only thing Elisa creates. She became aware that the Home was also in need of additional hospital gowns, as part of its "Helping Hands" campaign, an initiative to sew long sleeves on hospital gowns to help prolong the use of the gown while saving costs. She happily volunteered, sewing sleeves on hospital gowns to help aid the Home's residents. Joining with Elisa, the Home now has a group of dedicated volunteers who are continuing to sew sleeves on to gowns. More than 30 women from various sewing groups across Los Angeles have sewn sleeves onto more than 3,000 gowns. Remarkable people helping a remarkable organization. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge throughout Los Angeles, the state and the country, the Home continues to battle the virus and protect its residents. The need for PPE continues to grow. If you are interested in becoming part of the Home's "Helping Hands" campaign, please contact Stacy Orbach, Director of Volunteer Services at 818.774.3116 or [email protected] If you would like to donate new PPE to the Home or make a financial contribution, please contact Corey Slavin, Vice President of Community Engagement at 818.774.3031 or [email protected]

Throughout the years, the Jewish Home has benefitted from wonderful partnerships with companies in our community. During this time of COVID-19, the need has never been greater, and in addition to monetary donations, companies such as the Ford Motor Company and Harbor Freight have stepped up with in-kind donations of masks, gloves and face shields. All of this personal protective equipment (PPE) remains in high demand by the Home care teams. The PPE provided by these companies, and so many others, has played a major role in enabling the Jewish Home to keep our residents safe and healthy during this time. This outpouring of support exemplifies the essence of the Jewish Home's Corporate Partnership Program. Companies across the region and country have stepped forward to demonstrate their support of the Jewish Home and the quality of care we are providing to nearly 4,000 people annually. Everyone at the Home is grateful for this outstanding support from the corporate community. Contributions from our Corporate Partners support the Jewish Home's ability to provide a broad spectrum of elderly care services to meet the growing needs of our senior population. Corporate partners giving levels range from $10,000 to $100,000 annually. One of our most steadfast corporate sponsors is Torrey Pines Bank. "As our communities continue to face extraordinary health and economic challenges due to COVID-19, Torrey Pines Bank is steadfastly committed to standing by nonprofits, particularly those that are helping the most vulnerable and underserved populations in our communities," shares Monika Suarez, managing director of public, nonprofit and affordable housing finance at Torrey Pines Bank. "We are proud to contribute to Los Angeles Jewish Home as they continue their longstanding mission of providing seniors with access to the vital care and resources that they need, especially during these challenging times." Torrey Pines Bank is among numerous Corporate Partners who provide annual financial support to the Home. They join with many corporations from around the city and the country who have stepped up to partner with the Los Angeles Jewish Home during these challenging times. For more information on how you can become a corporate sponsor with a monetary or in-kind donation, please contact Lesley Plachta, Director of Development of the L.A. Jewish Home Foundation, at [email protected] or 818.774.3282.

Jeanette Crane is a fighter. At age 100, she beat the odds and fully recovered from COVID-19. "She's tough," says her son Jeff. "Day-by-day she just keeps getting better!" Jeff Crane attributes Jeanette's recovery to her overall resilience and also to the doctors and nurses who care for her at the Jewish Home's Max Factor Family Foundation Nursing Building on the Eisenberg Village campus. "They all love my mother," Jeff says. "They were with her throughout her recovery." He specifically credits Dr. Hangnga Vu with getting his mother to "slowly come back" from the virus. "Dr. Vu is my mother's best friend," Jeff says. "That's true!" Dr. Vu says with a laugh. "But all of the nurses are her friends too. Everyone loves her." Vu, who is a geriatrician, says that she got to know Jeanette when Jeanette was living in residential care at Eisenberg Village. Jeanette moved to the Jewish Home at age 93, when son Jeff says his mother began to feel unsafe living on her own. "We became friends," Vu recalls. "We used to talk about her childhood. She always told me how much she loved life." "One day I learned that Jeanette had generalized weakness and lost her sense of taste," says Vu. "Then she tested positive for COVID-19." Jeanette was moved into a room where she was isolated from the other residents. "I wanted to cry when I saw her," Dr. Vu recalls. "We thought we were going to lose her. She wasn't eating. At age 100, to get COVID, can be a death sentence." But Dr. Vu and the nursing staff didn't give up on Jeanette. "My gut told me that she wanted to live," says Dr. Vu. Through their layers of PPE, Dr. Vu and her team sang to Jeanette to get her to eat and drink. "She recognized us despite all of the PPE! I visited her every day," Dr. Vu says. "We took turns offering her food and drink, even throughout the night. When we got her to take a teaspoon of food or a drop of juice, it felt like a triumph." Slowly, Dr. Vu and the nurses began to notice that Jeanette's eyes were open wider. Then, one day Jeanette had the strength to blow a kiss to Dr. Vu. "She beat the odds," says Dr. Vu. "After a month in isolation, we graduated her so she could receive physical and occupational therapy." "She was almost gone," says son Jeff. "But now she's able to call us via Zoom and talk to us." In fact, on a recent Zoom call with both of her sons and their spouses, Jeanette was asked if she had any good Jewish Home gossip to share. "There's always something!" she replied with a sly smile. "One day at a time, she's getting better," Jeff says. "We're so grateful she's doing so well." "Jeanette was our first victory!" says Dr. Vu. "We were so happy that Jeanette recovered, that we threw her a party!" To ensure that everyone on the team is recognized for helping Jeanette Crane recover, Dr. Vu requested that their names be listed: Luisa Lacson, Olivia Matusalem, Editha Andrada, Daisy Estrada, Johanna Duncan, Elsy Rivas, Lupita Cedillo, Marife Bautista, Ingrid Lemus, Kusum Kapoor, Sydelle Aquino.

Ingenuity during a crisis can yield innovative results. That's what Rabbi Karen Bender, Skirball Director of Spiritual Life and the residents of the Los Angeles Jewish Home have discovered as they maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 lockdown. As Rabbi Bender began to consider how to convey her weekly in-person Shabbat services, she realized the most formidable challenge was how to lead the service without interacting with residents. Bender serves as the rabbi for the Home's Grancell Village (GV) campus, which includes the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center and Mark Taper Skilled Nursing Building. "If I'm just sitting in front of a camera praying at residents, I'm going to lose their interest," she says. To effectively engage Jewish Home residents, Bender recalls asking herself, "What if I tried to convey the essence of Shabbat, Shabbat's spirit?" Earlier in the year, she had successfully led the annual Seder service via video broadcast on closed circuit television from her office. "The fact that the Seder went fine, led me to see the possibilities of how to provide our services during lockdown," she says. "If we can do this, what else can we do?" "For Shabbat evenings, I decided to show the residents something different and record the videos from my house and outside in my yard with my kids," she says. "I'm bringing the residents into my home so they feel like they are in my living room or baking challah in my kitchen. The hope is to trigger memories for them." Before she knew it, Bender had become a director-writer-editor-producer—a big leap for someone who lacks professional video production experience. In addition, she also serves as the on-camera host, with staff, her children Holden and Shoshie, and dog Minnie as occasional featured guests. She records her Shabbat messages via her iPhone on Wednesday afternoon, often editing them late into the evening. Bender says she's learning as she goes, coming up with solutions as each new challenge emerges. For instance, how to get the residents to feel that they are part of the services? "No one is gathering now," Bender says. "No one receives a compliment on how they read a prayer. No one gets to hold the Torah. They see me, but I can't see them while I record." Bender notes that while she still meets with individual residents in-person, wearing PPE and remaining at a safe distance, the communal experience had disappeared. One remedy was to create the "Spirit of Shabbat" videos, with the goal to reach everyone at the same time. To generate a feeling of inclusiveness, Bender has opened up the process and recorded videos of individual residents saying, "Shabbat shalom." Another resident offered to sing the Jewish hymn, "Heenay Ma Tov" and Bender recorded her six feet apart in her room at JEK. She merges these videos into her Friday "Spirit of Shabbat" episodes. In future videos, she hopes to include staff and residents more frequently to help "create community." Bender also plans to record a tour of the GV kitchen and even prepare chicken soup "with the residents." "I'm able to include more voices and experiences now," she says. "But overall, I'm trying to encourage a feeling of closeness. I'm seeking closeness when we can't be close, we can't hold prayer services or share a hug. The residents need joy so badly right now. We are observing and celebrating Shabbat every week because I want them to smile." Watch Rabbi Bender's "Spirit of Shabbat" episodes.

If you're on Facebook, you've likely seen your friends raising money for their favorite charities on their personal pages. Jacques Soriano recently set up a fundraiser that benefited the Jewish Home so that his Facebook friends could donate to the Home. "My maternal grandfather spent his last years there and loved living at the Home," says Soriano, who is a past president of The Executives, one of the Home's major support groups. "I've been involved with fundraising efforts for the Home. It is near and dear to my heart." He knew that a Facebook fundraiser would be easy and effective. "One of the benefits to sharing my fundraiser on Facebook was that my friends who don't know much about the Home could see how the Home helps to enrich the lives of the residents," he says. Within two weeks, he had exceeded his goal, raising nearly $1100. Would he do it again? "Absolutely!" Soriano says. Soriano's not the only one to use Facebook as a fundraiser. Since 2015, more than $5 billion has been raised on the social media platform—$1 billion in birthday fundraisers alone! Now the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the strain on the Home's resources. To provide for the most vulnerable seniors in our care, we need to meet heightened costs for staffing, special supplies and equipment, materials, as well as digital technology so our residents can stay in touch with friends and family. Which means our fundraising efforts are more critical than ever. Here is how to create your own fundraiser for the Jewish Home: Tips: Invite your friends to participate.Make the post public and tag the Jewish Home.Donate to your own fundraiser. Other people are more likely to donate when they see someone they know has already contributed. Plus, it demonstrates your commitment to the Jewish Home.Increase your goal if you achieve it before your fundraiser deadline has passed.Thank your friends when they donate. Benefits to starting a Facebook fundraiser: It's free. No fees are charged, which means every dollar goes directly to support the residents at the Home.It's easy. Your friends don't even have to leave Facebook in order to donate.It's shareable. By clicking "Share" your Facebook friends can also spread the news about your fundraiser.It's safe. Donations are encrypted and Facebook has strict security measures in place. Create your own Facebook fundraiser.

When Judy Fenton heard about the shortage of protective gear for healthcare personnel, she knew she could contribute, but did not know where to start. "I was trying to figure out how to get involved," says Fenton, who lives at Fountainview at Gonda Healthy Aging Westside Campus. Then she learned that there was a need right in her own backyard when Charlette Ofrecio, executive director at Gonda, told her that Jewish Home staff lacked protective masks. Fenton eagerly jumped in to help. "The Jewish Home has been so good to me and I appreciate the staff so much," she says. Adept at sewing, Fenton borrowed a friend's sewing machine and got to work. "I always sewed for fun," she says. "I used to make my daughters' clothes for fancy occasions such as weddings and proms." Now she sews protective gear, estimating that she has produced 40-50 cloth masks. Toward the end of March, staff at the Home began to realize that there was a shortage of disposable gowns. Prices were skyrocketing. Kathleen Glass, executive director of the Home's Eisenberg Village campus, came up with a solution: Sew long sleeves onto traditional hospital gowns. Soon, staff and their friends and family were sewing gowns. And the Helping Hands campaign was born. Ofrecio told Fenton about the Home's "Helping Hands" campaign, which distributes medical gown sewing kits throughout the community, Fenton quickly and enthusiastically volunteered to help. Volunteer Services Director Stacy Orbach posted the Home's need for gowns onto various online sewing groups. Over thirty local women answered the call, and so far have created 1,000 gowns. "The community really stepped up," Orbach says, adding that completed gowns are still flowing into the Home on a weekly basis. Orbach reports that one volunteer has committed to keep sewing gowns until the Home reaches its 3,000-gown goal. Fenton has also joined the cause, firing up her sewing machine to sew the sleeves, which she then attaches to the gowns. She spends a few hours a day sewing, listening to music as she sews. "It's something to do as we shelter in place," Fenton says. "I feel like I'm contributing as I can't volunteer anywhere right now. Sewing makes me feel like I'm doing something to help the community." Public service runs in her family. Her grandson in Minneapolis used his Bar Mitzvah money to purchase a 3D printer and is making face shields for a Jewish senior facility near his home. In addition, her granddaughter in New York launched "Eats and Beats" for healthcare workers. A DJ performs over Zoom while they feast on donated meals. "I'm proud of my family," Fenton says. And it's also gratifying to see Jewish Home caregivers wearing the items she sewed. "The Jewish Home has been so good to me and I appreciate the staff so much," she says. "When I recognize them wearing something I made, it makes me feel so happy!" To join the Helping Hands campaign or to help out in other ways, please contact our Director of Volunteer Services Stacy Orbach at 818-774-3116, or [email protected]. Orbach will coordinate the gown distribution.

The Los Angeles Jewish Home has always taken its responsibility of being a good neighbor and giving back to the larger community in a significant way. This partnership has been present in the 108-year history of the Jewish Home. This is why we ourselves find it so gratifying to give back during this time of urgent need. For the past several weeks, the Jewish Home has been partnering with food banks and other community organizations in donating our surplus grocery items and meals. The process of donating surplus food, however, began well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In January of this year, Jewish Home CEO-President Molly Forrest asked Cindy Cordon, Director of Dietary Services at the Home, to explore the logistics of donating our surplus food to local charities that are feeding the less fortunate in our community. Cordon explains that every two years the Home replenishes its emergency supplies. Often there are high-protein food items that are about to expire that need to be replaced with new items. Also, after a holiday there are holiday-specific items leftover. All of these items, Cordon discovered, could be distributed to food banks and other nonprofits in the community. The Jewish Home’s Board of Directors approved the initiative to donate the surplus food, which they viewed as aligning with the Home’s core values. Once she received the green light, Cordon began contacting local organizations she knew were in need of extra help. An additional benefit, she says is that "the process of donating surplus food has made all of us look at how we can reutilize our food, in both kitchens and for all meals." Occasionally Cordon finds herself with leftover meals, such as cold deli plates. "Sometimes we’ll have untouched plates because one of our residents chose an alternative meal, such as a tuna or egg salad," she says. Fortunately, she found a good match to receive those leftover meals, the Hollywood Food Coalition, which serves food and other services to those in need. But what about those leftover grocery items? Turns out, Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles SOVA food pantry was delighted to receive the food donations. Cordon herself delivered canned goods, granola bars, instant Quaker oatmeal and a myriad of grocery items. "So many households have lost their sources of income and find it impossible to meet all of their basic monthly expenses," says Fred Summers, Senior Director of Nutrition, Transportation, and SOVA programs at Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. "Additional food supplies, like those from the Jewish Home, make a huge difference in our ability to meet the rising need." For Cordon, developing relationships with food banks such as SOVA is a profound experience she knows will continue once the COVID-19 pandemic ends. "It feels fantastic to be part of the solution!" Cordon says.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti conducted his daily COVID-19 media briefing for the community at the Los Angeles Jewish Home's Grancell Village campus on May 19. In his briefing, held on the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Courtyard in front of the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center, Mayor Garcetti highlighted the city's monthly COVID-19 testing requirement for skilled nursing facilities. In addition, he invited the Home's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Noah Marco to share the podium to emphasize the importance of testing. Garcetti described the Jewish Home as "one of the pillars of our community, which for so many years has brought health, hope and well-being into the lives of Angelenos." The Mayor detailed the immense challenges facing skilled nursing facilities during the pandemic. He outlined how the Home met these challenges by being the first to test its residents and staff, serving as a model for other institutions to follow. During his comments, Dr. Marco explained the importance of testing. "Our focus for these tests was to identify staff and residents who were not displaying symptoms of the disease," he said. "Like many others, we knew that the virus is brought into nursing homes by asymptomatic staff and spread by asymptomatic residents. The tests provided to us by Mayor Garcetti found 12 asymptomatic staff and four asymptomatic residents. Because of our testing efforts and our focus on infection prevention, we have had a total of only 19 confirmed infections in our 1200 residents." "Our experience proves that nursing homes do not have to be death pits," Dr. Marco continued. "We encourage all facilities to follow Mayor Garcetti's orders, and test their staff and residents. If test kits are available, not testing is medically unethical and just plain wrong." In late March, State Senator Henry Stern alerted Garcetti that Dr. Marco recommended testing be expanded to seniors living in congregant housing. Garcetti's office responded by asking the Home to pilot testing staff and residents of skilled nursing facilities. The Mayor's office provided the test kits and testing began on April 2. The program was later expanded to include Los Angeles Fire Department's Rapid Response Team and its mobile testing program. Further recognizing Dr. Marco's leadership and medical expertise -- Garcetti described how Dr. Marco partnered with city officials to help identify additional facilities in Los Angeles also in need of COVID-19 testing, and thanked him for his invaluable advice he has provided to his office. An emergency order from the mayor on April 24, required all skilled nursing homes in Los Angeles to conduct testing on a monthly basis. To schedule COVID-19 testing, visit https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs Watch Mayor Garcetti's entire May 19 briefing here: https://youtu.be/3EHPjqYnQDQ?t=235

In light of the recent developments of COVID‐19 in the U.S., senior care facilities across the country are urging family members and loved ones to refrain from visiting residents. We realize that this is heart-wrenching news for those whose loved ones live here at the Jewish Home or in other senior communities. However, we need to prioritize the well-being of our residents and staff by limiting their exposure to the virus. To help navigate these challenging times, our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Noah Marco developed the following tips for family members of residents of senior communities: Talk with your loved ones regularly. Ideally, at the same time of the day or the same day of the week. Avoid early morning hours, sundown and bedtime. You may choose to contact them via telephone, email, text messaging or Skype.Reassure them that their family is doing fine. Share with them the joyful experiences that family are involved in.Communicate with the staff caring for your family regularly. It's best to pick one family spokesperson and have that person communicate to the other family members.Inform staff if you suspect a change in their condition (physical or mental) or if a loved one expresses concern that the staff can address.Thank the staff for the care that they are providing. We are grateful for your understanding and cooperation. Stay up-to-date with the latest coronavirus information.