302 Silver Avenue | San Francisco, CA 94112 | 415.334.2500 | www.jhsf.org
302 Silver Avenue | San Francisco, CA 94112 | 415.334.2500 | www.jhsf.org
Many Jewish Home employees are recognized as leaders in their field. This not only ensures excellence in the care and services provided to the residents of the Home, but these dedicated professionals frequently share their knowledge, skills, and expertise beyond our campus. They serve as a resource for the community, as collaborators with others involved in long-term care, and as promoters for change and innovation in health care.
Administrator Sandra Simon was one of several Aging Services of California members who collaborated in April 2008 to rewrite the exam items used on the nursing home administrators examination. A beta test of the new exam items will be given in November, and the new exam will begin in January 2009.
Nurse practitioner Jennifer Serafin attended a June 2008 conference in Seattle on chronic kidney disease and the long-term care patient . She learned the new staging of chronic kidney disease and the ways in which we can help those with this ailment.
Director of Development Mark Denton recently attended the conference of the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) in Portland, Oregon. AHP addresses the needs of professional fundraisers working in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and healthcare educational institutions. The conference focused on best practices and important new trends in philanthropy. Presenters included the Mayo Foundation (talking about donor relations), the Scripps Health Foundation (talking about planned gifts), and Seattle’s Group Health Foundation (talking about benchmarks for fundraising).
Current projects being conducted at the Jewish Home by in-house and outside research investigators address issues related to aging.
The Home’s Research director, Dr. Janice Schwartz, is examining how a person’s age, race, gender, and other genetic factors influence the effectiveness and tolerability of commonly prescribed medications. In addition, she is studying the effects of vitamin D supplements on blood cholesterol, lipid, and cholesterol drug (Lipitor) levels. Drs. Glenna Dowling and Dr. Jay Luxenberg (medical director) are investigating strategies – such as bright light therapy and melatonin administration – for improving the rhythm and quality of the sleep-wake cycle in persons with Alzheimer’s disease.
Research conducted by Dr. Theresa Allison, in collaboration with Drs. Laura Hill-Sakurai and Kenneth Covinsky, focuses on enhancing quality of life. They are evaluating how music and the maintenance of caring relationships contribute positively to the well-being of individuals residing in long-term care facilities.
Two other researchers are seeking to better understand how people make important healthcare decisions and have applied to conduct research at the Jewish Home. Dr. Laura Dunn is exploring how relatives of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementia consider research, and how they make decisions on behalf of their loved ones regarding research participation. Dr. Sharon Kaufman is examining how older people and their family members decide whether or not to pursue life-extending medical treatments or procedures. Results from these studies will help educate healthcare providers and researchers about significant concerns that patients and families share as they approach such challenging decisions.
The Home’s medical director, Dr. Jay Luxenberg, was interviewed on “Spotlight,” the Podcast of Clinical Neurology News (March 14, 2008 edition), when he elaborated on the importance of recognizing and treating delirium. Delirium – a potentially reversible confusion that can be due to drugs, illness, dehydration, and many other causes – is a common problem in elderly persons.
A number of staff participated in various events during May, 2008.
ADN Joan Accarino went to Pasadena, Calif., for an end-of-life nursing education consortium. She tells us: “The training session I attended focused on promoting palliative care in geriatric settings. Attendees were from long-term, hospice and acute care, and even the prison system, where we are facing major aging-related issues.
“Discussions included the principles of palliative care, ethical issues, pain and non-pain symptoms at the end of life; loss, grief and bereavement for the family and caregivers; and self-care strategies. Lectures, videos and role-playing were used throughout the teaching sessions. Sharing ideas and experiences was a wonderful learning tool.
“I went to the consortium with the knowledge that the Home is good in the areas of pain management and end-of-life care. What I learned there is that we really are very good. However, we also have a long way to go. I hope over the next year everyone in the organization will be introduced to these basic concepts and that we will continue to develop and fine-tune our programs.”
Rabbi Sheldon Marder spoke on the same theme, end-of-life, for the TV program Mosaic (which aired on CBS’s ch. 5 on May 18). Hosted by Rabbi Eric Weiss, executive director of Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, co-guests were Gene Kaufman (executive director, Sinai Memorial Chapel) and Lee Pollak (NextSteps program director). Rabbi Marder and volunteer Helen Luey discussed Kol Haneshama, the Home’s award-winning end-of-life care program.
President & CEO Daniel Ruth, Sandra Simon (administrator), and Dean Fredrickson (director of Operations) attended Aging Services of California’s annual conference and exposition in San Diego. Aging Services’ members include 400-plus non-profit providers of senior living and care throughout the state, which together serve the needs of more than 100,000 seniors. Although not physically present, many Jewish Home staff were nevertheless seen at this event: For a slide show that was featured at the conference, we submitted 23 images showcasing a range of our staff – from Nutritional Services, Nursing, Medical Services, Activities, Pharmacy, etc., – that captured the spirit and essence of our Home.
RN Marina Rubin (Staff Education) attended the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology meeting in Walnut Creek, while Pharmacy’s director Tom Bookwalter and Jane Chan, pharmacist-in-charge, traveled to Las Vegas for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists’ geriatric conference. ASCP is the international professional association that advances the practice of consultant and senior care pharmacy.
Las Vegas was also the destination for Finance director Kevin Potter. The site of bankers Cain Brothers’ annual Health Care Derivatives and Finance Conference, finance professionals in health care learned about new opportunities, heard about strategies other institutions are employing to manage the current volatility in the economy, and networked with peers.
Drs. Jay Luxenberg, Medical Director, Janice Schwartz, director of Research, and Theresa Allison recently had a number of chapters and papers published in books and related medical journals.
Dr. Jay Luxenberg collaborated on a chapter in “Physiological Basis of Aging and Geriatrics” (4th edition). Entitled Pharmacology and Drug Management in the Elderly, it focuses on how best to evaluate the utility of a drug for use in the elderly. It notes therein that “studies have demonstrated that the elderly are two to three times more at risk for adverse drug reactions as compared to younger adults.” (p. 358)
Luxenberg’s second collaborative effort appears in “Behavioral Medicine: A Guide for Clinical Practice” (3rd edition). Older Patients focuses on mental health and illness, and provides some case discussions that illustrate how clinicians can effectively treat the vulnerable elderly. And this one is hot off the presses: Dowling GA, Graf CL, Hubbard EM and Luxenberg JS. Light Treatment for Neuropsychiatric Behaviors in Alzheimer’s Disease. West J Nurs Res 29: 2007; 961-975.
Dr. Janice Schwartz will participate in a project funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Geriatric Cardiology, supported in part by the Donald Reynolds Foundation and Association of Subspecialty Professors. This two-year project is designed to develop a modular, Internet-based educational tool for cardiology fellows to teach key concepts of caring for older adults with cardiovascular disorders (through a series of case-based and interactive learning modules), as well as improve knowledge, skills, and confidence in providing optimal care for older adults. The first meeting to start writing the curriculum will be in Washington, D.C., February 19-20, 2007.
The Jewish Home's resident songwriters can now add another item to their list of accomplishments. In addition to their award-winning CD and documentary, and the use of their songs in our new synagogue’s dedication last June, they will now be featured in the Oxford University Press’s Handbook of Medical Ethnomusicology.
Dr. Theresa Allison spent 2007 working with composer Judith-Kate Friedman, Rabbi Sheldon Marder, and the songwriters as part of a study on the music life of the Jewish Home. The results were presented at the 2007 Gerontological Association of America meeting and appear as a chapter in the above-mentioned book.
Singer/songwriter Judith-Kate Friedman and the songwriting group perform at the dedication of the Home's new synagogue.
One of Dr. Allison’s key findings in this study is that the residents use music to transcend the limitations of institutionalization by creating a sense of neighborhood that goes beyond the physical space of the Home, and to bring past relationships into the present. At the synagogue’s dedication, they took the use of music even further by creating a sacred space through Torah and song.
For the seventh year, social workers and discharge planners from Bay Area hospitals and social services’ agencies gathered at the Jewish Home for an elegant and educational evening. The October 16, 2007 event was a joint effort with the Home and Bay Area Social Workers in Health Care, a professional organization of medical social workers.
Guest speaker Dr. Mary De May, Jewish Home geriatric psychiatrist and an affiliate of UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center, informed our 80 guests on the topic, Understanding the Psychiatric Interview, and entertained us with anecdotes that really brought the subject to life. Licensed attendees benefited by receiving one continuing education unit.
The Home’s construction project may have prevented us from holding this event in 2006, but this year, with construction and renovation complete, we were able to showcase the impressive lobby of the Rosenberg Family Center, the site of the evening’s reception. This was followed by a delicious – and beautifully presented – buffet dinner catered by our Nutritional Services department.
All our guests thoroughly enjoyed the evening, which was once again generously underwritten by the Julian Davis Lectureship Fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
As part of a San Francisco State extended learning class, Diane Loeb, the Home’s director of Admissions, co-taught a session of a Creative Aging class at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center in October. Entitled A Lifetime of Creativity, Diane shared her personal creative journey and experiences promoting expressive art with frail older adults. In addition to showing original paintings created by older adults, Diane gave each student the opportunity to paint a small postcard.
Diane Loeb has been appointed to the board of directors of the In-Home Supportive Services Consortium. Formed in 1985, the IHSS Consortium is a non-profit corporation that provides home care throughout San Francisco. The Consortium holds the contract for the City and County of San Francisco for those in need of care management. Yearly services are provided to approximately 1,500 clients by a staff of 473 home care providers and 50 supervisory and administrative personnel. Diane will serve on the board’s Program Committee for a three-year term.
A number of Jewish Home employees attended California Culture Change Coalition’s Bridge to the Future conference in Sacramento. Each session offered an opportunity to learn more about culture change in skilled nursing facilities, with speakers such as State long-term care ombudsman Joe Rodrigues, and Allan Komarek, president of the California Culture Change Coalition, sharing their knowledge and expertise.
Fanny Castellanos, CNA (A3):
I enjoyed being at the conference with my co-workers as it is a good way to build our team. It was important to learn that we should listen to the residents by, for example, following (as far as possible) a schedule that residents prefer.
Arminda San Pedro, CNA (A3):
It was a very interesting conference. I learned a lot, especially the ‘tender touch’ that I can apply to the residents.
Abella Tolmasoff, LVN (A3):
The conference was exciting, informative, and educational. We look forward to moving away from an institutional model to more of a ‘home’ environment. However, I am so proud to work for the Jewish Home because we have already implemented many topics covered at the conference. The coalition to change nursing homes is in line with what we are currently practicing at the Home. Our staff is also well-trained to give the best care. I look forward to continued involvement in culture change conferences.
