This morning, Jewish Home CEO-President Molly Forrest and Jewish Home CMO Dr. Noah Marco met with representatives Scott Abrams from Congressman Brad Sherman's office and Ian Anderson from Assemblyman Matt Debabneh's office. The group toured the Eisenberg and Grancell Village campuses and then sat down to discuss the Home's exciting future. Molly was delighted to meet with the gentlemen, "It's wonderful to have federal and state representatives visit us and learn about the Home's commitment to seniors."

On Sunday, May 14, 2017, the Jewish Home will host the twenty-third annual World’s Largest Mother’s Day Celebration. The event will honor the Home’s mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and even great-great-grandmothers on both the Grancell Village and Eisenberg Village campuses. The Mother’s Day Celebration will begin at 10:30 a.m. Everyone can enjoy a festive brunch while listening – and dancing – to the music of the Skye Michaels Orchestra. Chaired by Marcee Weiss and Debbie Weiss, the event promises to provide a wonderful opportunity for 1,000 seniors and their families to gather together to celebrate this special day. Tickets for adults (age 12 and older) are $25.00 each and children’s tickets (ages 5-11) are $12.00 each. There is no charge for Jewish Home residents and children under age 5. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, May 5th. For more information and to purchase tickets to the World’s Largest Mother’s Day Celebration, please contact Denise Horowitz at [email protected] or (818) 774-3324.

Last month, seniors gathered in the Brandman Centers for Senior Care (BCSC) to participate in the Center’s newest activity —a healthy cooking class. The course, one in an ongoing monthly series led by BCSC activities coordinator Karla Lopez, showcased simple recipes for vegetable-centric meals and snacks. Seniors sat at their work stations, donning aprons and gloves, excitedly awaiting instruction. Equipped with knives, cutting boards, skewers, and an assortment of fresh vegetables, the participants had everything they needed to begin. Karla started the lesson with an announcement. “Today we will be making grilled vegetable skewers – a delicious, balanced meal that only takes 25 minutes to make.” The room began to buzz with excitement. Participants followed Karla’s detailed directions, carefully peeling onions, chopping bell peppers, halving mushrooms, and finally skewering the mixture of colorful vegetables. Once the fresh components were assembled, Karla placed three skewers on a pre-heated portable grill, demonstrating how to properly prepare the food. Participants took turns manning the grill, patiently waiting to flip the skewers until vegetables were tender and the edges were slightly browned. After only a few minutes, the batch of skewers were cooked to perfection. Seniors took their seats and prepared to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Karla said, “And now it’s time for the best part, the taste test.” Seniors bit into the juicy, grilled vegetables and were delighted with the results. “These are delicious!” Brandman Center participant Maria Hernandez exclaimed. “I never knew making a healthy meal could be so easy. I love coming to Karla’s classes, I’ve learned so much about nutritious cooking.” BCSC’s registered dietician nutritionist Randi Drasin explains the importance of the class. “Eating healthy is an essential part of living a long life. Seniors and people of all ages can greatly benefit from maintaining a healthy diet, high in fruits and vegetables. BCSC’s new cooking class exposes participants to delicious plant-based meal options and fresh cooking concepts, showing seniors eating healthy can be easy, inexpensive, and fun.” “At the Brandman Centers, we offer a variety of unique activities to engage, educate, and inspire seniors,” says Jillian Simon BCSC director. “Our monthly cooking classes provide our participants with an exciting, hands-on experience they can easily recreate at home. Activities like these provide seniors the tools they need to continue to lead active, independent lives in the comfort of their own homes.” For more information about adult day healthcare at the Brandman Centers for Senior Care, please click here to visit the BCSC website or call 818.774.8444.

As a philosophy, hospice care provides pain and symptom management to those needing end-of-life care. At Skirball Hospice, our team of physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual counselors, home health aides, office staff, and volunteers provides biopsychosocial and spiritual comfort, throughout the greater Los Angeles community and at the Los Angeles Jewish Home. After the death of a loved one, the bereavement team provides support to family members for 13 months in the form of counseling, referrals, and mailings, as well as guidance with logistical concerns. An important part of our support is our Annual Skirball Hospice Memorial Service – a time to remember and celebrate the legacy of the patients that died in the previous year. This year, the Memorial Service was held on Sunday, March 5, 2017, at the Skirball Cultural Center. Led by members of the Skirball Hospice team, attendees joined together through songs, readings, and prayers. Stories of love and laughter were shared as the memories of loved ones came to life throughout the day. Family members and friends expressed their gratitude to the hospice team for their support and guidance; team members rekindled relationships with those they had regularly been in communication with in the year past; and everyone experienced a sense of fulfillment, hope, and peace in continuation of the journey through grief and through life. Skirball Hospice is a program of the Los Angeles Jewish Home. If you have any questions or comments you’d like to share with the Skirball Hospice team, please feel free to contact us at any time on our 24-hour line at 818.774.3040. We look forward to connecting with you, and thank you for giving us the honor of serving you and your loved ones during a most sacred time.

The Los Angeles Jewish Home was the proud recipient of a 2 year, $250,000 grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles in October 2016. The Foundation awarded grants that demonstrate ‘cutting edge’ programs to serve the Jewish Community. The Jewish Home was given grant money to implement the Resident-Centered Medical Home Model in residential care areas on the Eisenberg campus, in addition to supporting the Connections to Care Interoperability Platform database. The Medical Home Model follows 50 Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) residents over a 2 year period, with the goal of improving quality of life, maintaining residency in RCFE, reducing hospitalizations and ER visits, and rapidly intervening and treating any changes in conditions or functioning. Their participation does not interfere with their relationship with the primary physician, but rather adds an additional layer of services that are available to them. Doreen Delgado, Nurse Practitioner, and Ann La Clair, LVN, are coordinating efforts for this project, and to date there are 41 seniors enrolled. "The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive." Ann explains, "Participants are thrilled they've been given the opportunity to voice their opinions and make a meaningful contribution to the Jewish Home and the community as a whole." The project's initial intake ranges from 45 to 90 minutes, and obtains critical medical, psychosocial, functional and cognitive information. Participants are also given an opportunity to complete an Advance Directive, which helps direct the plan of care based on the client’s wishes. Over the two year period, residents will have easy access to a clinical provider and get their needs and concerns taken care of immediately. Care services can be delivered in the Levy-Kime clinic or in resident's rooms if needed. “As a prominent leader in geriatric services, the Los Angeles Jewish Home continues to develop groundbreaking technology and innovative care delivery models that will provide continuity of care to seniors here at the Jewish Home and to community seniors in the future," says Doreen. "Thanks to the generous grant from the Jewish Community Foundation, we are another step closer to developing a successful personalized model of care that can be translated to thousands of Los Angeles seniors that will enhance their quality of care and lives."

This year on National Caregivers Day, February 17th, we acknowledge the caring individuals who dedicate countless hours providing compassionate care to their senior loved ones. In the United States, 44 million people —about one in five American adults—act as unpaid, family caregivers. Day and especially night, caregivers make meaningful contributions to help maintain the well-being of the senior they care for. They provide assistance through a variety of services—meal preparation, hygiene, housekeeping, shopping, transportation, medication, companionship, and financial support to name a few. Informal caregivers act as the unsung heroes of a senior’s care team. Caregivers become personal advocates and care coordinators for their loved ones— communicating with medical professionals, performing difficult nursing tasks, and navigating the health care system. Despite their important role, most family caregivers do not receive the training, preparation, or ongoing support they need. The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), established in 2000, provides support and assistance to family caregivers so they can care for their loved ones at home for as long as possible. Caregivers can access counseling, training, respite care, and supplemental services through the Administration on Aging website. Through the loving care they provide, caregivers are able to form a close bond with their frail family member. Caregivers often gain a better understanding of their family member’s medical condition and experience a sense of relief from knowing their loved one is well cared for. While providing care for a family member can be a very rewarding personal experience for a caregiver, it can take a serious toll on the person’s career, family life, financial situation, quality of life, and overall health. Caregivers can become over-stressed and exhausted or experience an increased risk of depression or excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. They are also more likely to have a chronic illness such as heart disease or obesity. Caregiver burnout is a common cause of hospitalization of the frail elderly and has been shown to be a factor in elder abuse cases. “In order to continually provide high quality care, caregivers must first focus on their own self-care,” says Dr. Noah Marco, chief medical officer of the Jewish Home. “By regularly practicing self-care activities such as maintaining a balanced diet, exercising regularly, engaging in social activity, getting enough sleep, and making a yearly visit to a doctor, caregivers can enhance their physical, mental, and emotional health, allowing them to better serve their loved ones for many years to come. The third law in the classic novel House of God by Samuel Shem was 'At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure was to take your own pulse.' The rule is also appropriate for people providing care to their family members." To all caregivers— thank you for your commitment to providing compassion and care to those who need it most.

While the media is known for portraying sex as something meant for only the young and beautiful, more and more seniors are finding a gratifying sex life is attainable and enjoyable at any age. Seniors who frequently engage in sexual activity enjoy the benefits of boosted immunity, lower blood pressure, pain relief, and better sleep. Through these intimate encounters seniors strengthen the physical and emotional connection with another person, combating feelings of isolation, depression, and loneliness. Sex can also enhance one’s mood, self-confidence, and overall health. Seniors who engage in sexual activity regularly tend to be happier, healthier, and more satisfied with life For many, sex gets better with age and experience. In the latter years of life, we tend to become more patient and attentive to our partner’s needs. Additionally, by this stage in life most people have learned what brings them the most pleasure, and are more inclined to share this information with their partners. Another great benefit of having intercourse after menopause is that there is no need to worry about an unwanted pregnancy; however, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) pose a risk to all who engage in sexual activity, no matter their age. The Centers for Disease Control reports only 6% of adults over the age of 61 use condoms in sexual encounters. STDs are often left undiagnosed in aging adults and can complicate pre-existing medical conditions. In order to prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases, seniors should always practice safe sex. While sex can be pleasurable and beneficial at any age, seniors may experience many physical changes and medical issues that make it more difficult. Changing hormone levels, illness, chronic pain, and disability can greatly affect a senior’s satisfaction and performance in the bedroom. Additionally, drugs, alcohol, and some prescribed medications can lead to sexual problems such as decreased libido, erectile issues, and delayed orgasms. Feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, and insecurity may also affect one’s ability to perform sexually. "Seniors should feel comfortable discussing their sex life with their healthcare providers." says Dr. Noah Marco, chief medical officer of the Jewish Home. "Senior sex is natural and healthy, and most doctors are comfortable and experienced with helping their patients maintain an active sex life. Clinicians can diagnose and treat STDs with simple exams and tests. Doctors can also suggest ways to improve one’s sexual experience, and prevent sex-related injuries and accidents. Because of physical changes caused by aging and some diseases, seniors (both men and women) will often need to be prescribed medication in order to have intercourse. Remember, your healthcare provider’s goal is to help you maintain all the things that you enjoy doing so don’t be hesitant if one of the things that you need help with is your sex life."

What is Home Health? Jewish Home Care Services – a home health program of the Los Angeles Jewish Home – is a full suite of doctor-prescribed restorative services completed in the individual’s home. Medical care, social services, and more are provided according to a personalized plan of care jointly developed by the referring physician, the person receiving care, the caregiver, and others. What services does Home Health provide? Skilled nursingPhysical, occupational, and speech rehabilitation therapiesMedication infusionPain managementWound careVaccinationHome safety assistanceBathingDressingGroomingEatingExercising Who needs Home Health? Adults over 19 years of age in the Greater Los Angeles area.Adults who have health problems and need careful monitoring and the support of medical professionals in the comfort of their own home.Adults who can learn how to better manage and monitor their conditions, preventing future hospitalizations.Adults who will benefit from therapy services to improve their strength and overall health so they can safely navigate their environment.Patients who are returning home after surgery and need care, training, or assistance with health conditions, medications, and therapy.Patients who have complex treatments that require the use of medical equipment and/or medication monitoring.Patients who are recovering from accidents or injuries, and whose caregiver could manage their care when educated by a professional home health staff.Patients and caregivers who want peace of mind knowing that an experienced healthcare worker will be there when needed.Patients who are under the care of a physician who determines the medical necessity of the care and the provision of service by a skilled nurse and/or therapist.Millions of Americans with acute, chronic, or exacerbated diseases, conditions, and disabilities, such as Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney disease, respiratory disease and lung conditions, diabetes, or musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthritis. How can I get Home Health care? For more information about Jewish Home Care Services, please contact Karine Keshishyan, Home Health Administrator, 818.655.0411, or [email protected].

Anxiety, an experience of tension and apprehension, is an ordinary response to a threat or danger. Excessive anxiety that causes distress or interferes with daily life is not a normal part of the aging process. Michael Fresé, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist specializing in geropsychology. He recently sat down with e-Connections to talk about the signs and symptoms of anxiety among seniors. Have you experienced heart palpitations, feeling out of breath, or a sensation of being suffocated? Are there times when you sense numbness or tingling in your fingers, chills or hot flashes, restlessness? How about difficulty concentrating, memory gaps, irritability, or feeling like you are at the end of your rope? If so, you might be experiencing anxiety or have an anxiety disorder. Among older adults, many worry about their increasing number of health issues, family, limited finances, and their own mortality. More often than not, these worries can become exacerbated when individuals experience either a mental or physical decline and a loss of autonomy. When the anxiety is at a level which causes significant impairment in daily functioning and is a source of distress, it is considered an anxiety disorder. Some of the causes of anxiety in older adults include losses during the aging process (loss of autonomy, health, intellectual capacity, loved ones) as well as having thoughts of danger and vulnerability associated with losses. Similar to depression, when asked, many older adults deny feeling anxious. Individuals might admit to feeling overwhelmed, worried, having a short fuse, or experiencing physical sensations that they attribute to old age. In addition to the symptoms listed above, it is important to inquire about the following: Appetite: individuals who are anxious might overeat to calm themselves, resulting in weight gain or they may lose weight by skipping mealsGoing out: anxious individuals might stay at home to avoid their fearsInterests: those who are anxious have a difficult time finding pleasurable activities as they become more fearfulPhysical complaints: as older adults are more likely to report physical causes of their anxiety symptoms (as well as experience medical conditions that might overlap the symptoms of anxiety), asking about such physical complaints as chest pain or shortness of breath is importantSleep: People experiencing anxiety might sleep to avoid their fears or have difficulty sleeping due to ruminating about imagined or exaggerated fearsSocial isolation: social contact and activity is important for lifting a person’s spirit and calming their fears; however, sometimes a person’s anxiety is such that they find a false sense of security in being alone, which can increase their level of anxiety and result in a vicious cycle. You might be saying to yourself, “that sounds like me!,” or “that sounds like someone I know!” and you are curious to know what you can do to help yourself or a loved one. For some, a family member or friend might be able to provide comfort and reassurance. For others, being engaged in creative, social, or other activities that are of interest can be helpful. Getting to the source of the anxiety and dealing with it directly is very important. For example, helping older adults deal with concerns about being a burden, financial matters, and health issues can make a difference.Psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy, problem solving, and interpersonal psychotherapy are all effective ways of helping those with anxiety. Psychoeducation and support in managing anxiety in structured ways, such as progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing, have been shown to reduce anxiety.When psychotherapy alone isn’t enough, psychiatric medications such as Ativan, Klonopin, or Xanax might be prescribed by a psychiatrist. If you find yourself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or worried, don’t hesitate to ask for help, whether from a family member, friend, or healthcare professional. Anxiety can be managed and treated, and your quality of life can be improved.