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.
May 2009
Mark Denton (director of Development) and Rachel McNassor (Development officer) participated in an audio-conference in April. The topic of discussion covered the economic stimulus package that was recently passed into law. As Mark and Rachel lead the Home’s grant team, this was a chance for them to learn more about the funding opportunities that will be available, including the stimulus package’s funding for healthcare information technology.
Wellness by Design, a one-day conference held at Santa Clara University in March, was attended by fitness center manager Tony Yu. Highlighting the national best practices of physical activity for aging adults, also under discussion were different ways to promote physical activity to older adults, information about the latest research-based programs, and confirmation of the benefits of physical activity, notably: reduced risk of disease; weight control; increased physical health; improved mental health and mood; increased lifespan; reduced fall risk.
Director of Operations Dean Fredrickson and assistant director of Plant Maintenance Glenn Stepp headed to Las Vegas for the MedAssets Healthcare Business Summit, April 15 - 17. Bringing together hospitals, surgery centers, long-term care centers and other non-acute providers, the event is designed to give providers information on best practices covering group purchasing. Dean and Glenn attended seminars on cost management versus cost cutting, disaster preparedness, being green and utilizing green vendors, and how buildings become LEED (“Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”) certified.
Pri-Med, a leading provider of continuing medical education, with the American College of Physicians, ran a two-day primary care medicine conference on April 20 and 21, which was attended by Valerie Maerowitz, family nurse practitioner. Focusing on primary care physicians’ most requested areas of interest, the conference was an opportunity for Valerie to benefit from clinicians sharing their knowledge and patient-care experiences covering, among others, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke management; attend case-based lectures, workshops and “work with the experts” sessions; and learn about assessment techniques, preventative strategies, and new treatments and therapies.
Twenty graduate students from San Francisco State University’s masters in gerontology program visited the Home on April 20. CNE Edwin Cabigao was on hand to welcome them and give a brief overview of the Home’s history and special features, before Richard Navarro, director of IT, talked to them about the legal aspects of medical records (confidentiality and release of information; policies for medical records) and HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Edwin then treated the students to a tour of our facility, focusing on specialized care areas. They were highly impressed by the range of innovative programs. When Edwin informed them of our lengthy waiting list for long-term care, they all agreed to sign up now, so by the time they retire, they’ll have a place in “the wonderful Jewish Home”!
Along with singer/songwriter Judith-Kate Friedman, Rabbi Sheldon Marder will be presenting at an interdisciplinary conference in Asilomar (Monterey Peninsula area), May 11 – 13. Midrash and Medicine: Imagining Wholeness is sponsored by the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health and the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center. Presentations and interactive workshops will draw from midrash scholars, health and spiritual care providers, and artists who are creatively engaged in the landscapes of illness, wholeness, and spirit. Rabbi Marder and Judith-Kate will be leading a hands-on workshop on their Jewish Home program Psalms, Songs & Stories.
April 2009
Jennifer Vellutini, director of Volunteer Services, attended the 2009 California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (CAHHS) Health Care Volunteer Leadership Conference, which took place late February in San Diego. She participated in a variety of workshops and roundtable discussions, which covered topics such as mentoring today’s youth and how to connect with potential and current volunteers using the Internet and other technologies.
Of note is that volunteers no longer stay with one organization for a significant period of time. In the past, it was not unusual for volunteers to remain in their role for over 10 years. Jennifer therefore looks forward to, and encourages, input from staff, residents, and volunteers on ways to enhance and strengthen our volunteer program.
Temple Chai in Phoenix, Ariz., will benefit from the attendance of Rabbi Sheldon Marder, the Home’s director of Jewish Life, who delivers the keynote address at their conference on April 26. Rabbi Marder’s talk will cover dementia, spirituality, and the “creative outlook on life.”
In mid March, Dean Fredrickson, director of Operations, Sherie Koshover, director of Corporate Planning & Communications, Daniel Ruth, president & CEO, and Sandra Simon, administrator, attended the 2009 Association of Jewish Aging Services’ annual conference, “Thriving In An Age of Change,” in La Jolla, California. This year’s Conference Planning Committee designed a program anticipating the recent changes in our political, financial, social, and cultural landscape. Sessions run by leaders in the field focused on governance, gerontology, nutrition, technology, fundraising, and Jewish cultural and spiritual needs. The varied programs were interesting, challenging, informative, and stimulated networking with peers and colleagues.
March 2009
Sponsored by Life Care Services (LCS), Daniel Ruth, the Home’s president & CEO, and Sherie Koshover, director of Corporate Planning & Communications – representing Moldaw Family Residences at 899 Charleston, the Jewish Home’s new senior living complex under construction in Palo Alto – attended LCS’s annual Board/Owner Forum in Nashville, Tenn., the second week of February. The forum included learning tracks geared to Development, Operations, and General Basics on a variety of topics such as financing, renovation/repositioning, hospitality, and IT systems’ overview in the senior living marketplace.
Dr Janice Schwartz, director of Research, will be presenting the William B. Abrams Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology to Sarah Hilmer, Ph.D., FRACP, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Washington, D.C., on March 18. The award recognizes a young investigator (45 years of age or younger) who is actively involved in high-quality teaching and research in geriatric clinical pharmacology.
Dr. Schwartz continues to focus on this area when she addresses the American College of Cardiology meeting on March 29 in Orlando, Fl., on Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology: How to adjust dosing for your patients. The meeting forms part of a fellows-in-training symposium.
In early February, Rabbi Sheldon Marder conducted a class on Judaism for the staff of Moldaw Family Residences and Life Care Services in Palo Alto, as they had expressed interest in learning about Jewish culture and religion in order to effectively serve the clients and residents of Moldaw Family Residences. Rabbi Marder focused his three-hour seminar on the spiritual needs of the aged, Jewish philosophy and practices with regard to death and dying, Jewish dietary laws, and the Jewish idea of community. The attendees have requested a second learning session.
February 2009
Rabbi Sheldon Marder, director of the Home’s department of Jewish Life, notes that “There is an extremely helpful relationship – both professionally and personally – between my community teaching, my studies, and my work at the Home. Each element enriches the others.”
He keeps his monthly calendar busy with his endeavors, having attended the annual conference of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis in Palm Springs, January 5 – 7. For him, the highlight was a series of lectures by Dr. Alyssa Gray, a graduate of Jewish Theological Seminary and a professor of rabbinic literature at Hebrew Union College in New York. Dr. Gray’s topic, Wealth, Poverty and Tzedakah in Jewish Tradition, provided a detailed examination of the relationship between people in need and those with resources.
Rabbi Marder then ran a workshop at the San Francisco JCC on January 11 as part of the association’s conference entitled “Life After/Life: Approaching the End of Life, Mourning, and Life After Loss” – which explored how we understand loss, the choices we can make, and how to seek help. His subject, Sometimes I am Stunned into Silence, covered the use of poetry at the end of life and during mourning.
Jerusalem is where the rabbi will be at the end of February, when he will attend the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. As chair of the CCAR's Nominating Committee this past fall, he will present the slate of officers and board members to the convention.
Tom Bookwalter, the Home’s director of Pharmacy, has been appointed to an interdisciplinary team (IDT) advisory panel of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA).
Established to improve communications between AMDA leadership and other important team members, IDT panel members will be included in information sharing and policy development, and will advise AMDA’s board of directors on issues such as the recent Transparency Act, membership campaigns, and regional education. They will meet with the board in March during AMDA’s annual symposium in Charlotte, N.C.
Unit managers Marina Katsap and Margarita Modilevsky, and Sasha Glezerman, associate director, acute psych, attended the 10th annual Director of Nursing conference in Palm Springs, Calif., in January. With education sessions ranging from Techniques for Developing Person-Centered Care; Pain Management; When to Call a Doctor and What to Say; Risk Assessment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers; to Coming up for Air: Stress Management, these three Jewish Home staffers surely came back with information to share and practices to implement.
January 2009
Dr. Janice Schwartz, director of Research, and a colleague guest edited the January ’09 issue of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. As Dr. Schwartz is a leader in the area of cardiovascular aging, drug metabolism, and in the effects of gender on drug metabolism and responses, the focus of this issue – medication use in the elderly – benefited from her expertise.
Among the key topics and authors the two selected and edited were H.M. Holmes Rational Prescribing for Patients With a Reduced Life Expectancy; B.G. Pollock, C.E. Forsyth and R.R. Bies The Critical Role of Clinical Pharmacology in Geriatric Psychopharmacology; S.N. Hilmer and D. Gnjidic The Effects of Polypharmacy in Older Adults; C.E. DuBeau Therapeutic/Pharmacologic Approaches to Urinary Incontinence in Older Adults; M.L. Laroche,et al. ADR/Inappropriate Medication Use.
The issue also included Aging and medications: Past, Present, Future that Dr. Schwartz co-authored with Dr. Darrell R. Abernethy.
When Imagination is Kindled: Creativity in the Later Years of Life was the topic of Rabbi Sheldon Marder’s lecture at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, Calif., on December 7. Largely inspired by his work at the Jewish Home, Rabbi Marder also incorporated a screening of A ’Specially Wonderful Affair – the internationally acclaimed documentary that captures residents’ production of and performance on their debut CD, Island on a Hill – in his talk, which was extremely well received.
As a member of the Worship and Practices Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Sheldon Marder was in New York December 14 – 17, attending a Machzor Think Tank – a meeting of rabbis to begin thinking, reflecting, and talking about the creation of a new High Holy Day prayer book.