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April 21, 2006
More than food and shelter
Foundation ensures that the residents' special needs are met.
PAT JOHNSON
Rita Axelrod first became involved in the Louis Brier Home and
Hospital when her mother was a resident there almost a quarter-century
ago.
"The benefits and the happiness that it gave my mother, I thought
I would give back to the home," said Axelrod, now a life governor
of the facility. "It's the only Jewish home we have. It means
that [residents] have a right to live their senior years the way
they lived all their lives. My mother was there and she had the
quality that she had throughout her life. She had the synagogue,
she had the kashrut, she had the Jewish flavor, including the religion
– it is a Jewish Orthodox home.
"I'm proud of the home and I'm proud to be part of it,"
concluded Axelrod.
That commitment is shared by a small army of active supporters and
volunteers, in addition to the paid staff and elected board of the
home and the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation.
Lee Simpson, who became involved with the Louis Brier a decade ago,
is past president of the home and hospital and the current president
of the foundation.
"I see it as a vital part of our community," said Simpson,
who sees the home as recompense for a generation who built Jewish
British Columbia.
"The elders of our community built this community," Simpson
said. "It is our responsibility, for those who are unable to
care for themselves, to care for them now. They did a lot of caring.
Many of our institutions, many of our infrastructures, would not
be here [without them] and it is our responsibility to ensure their
safety."
The need for the Brier home is a simple fact of life, she said.
"Most of us think that we're going to grow old in our homes,
surrounded by the people that we love and our memories, dogs and
cats," said Simpson. "But for some of us, it's not going
to be a reality. When safety or loneliness or care needs become
a problem that cannot be met in a home setting, I guess people who
are Jewish hope that they can find a place that meets those needs
as well as their Jewish needs. The Louis Brier meets those needs."
A Jewish care home also strengthens the community as a whole, she
noted.
"It helps maintain people as a part of the community in which
they live – the Jewish community – so they still maintain
contact. They are surrounded by the values and beliefs that they
lived with for so many years," said Simpson.
But the Brier – and similar facilities – face challenging
years ahead. Like all facilities of its kind, the Louis Brier Home
and Hospital has struggled with budget constraints that have come
from government downloading over the past number of years. During
this time, the home has relied on the support of an increasingly
active foundation to raise money to support the work of the Brier,
which goes far beyond merely providing a place to sleep and food
to eat for its elderly residents.
"The Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation was established in
order to enhance the activities of the home and support the home
financially," said Dvori Balshine, director of development
for the foundation. "If the foundation would not be in existence,
the home would not be able to operate the way we are operating now."
While government support is shrinking, said Balshine, the additional
requirements of a Jewish facility add to the expenses.
"We are a Jewish facility and the Jewish way of life –
the food that we eat because of kashrut and the programs that we
offer because of our holy days and the synagogue that we are maintaining
here – it's all costing a lot of money," she said. "If
you're just a government facility, you get what you get and that's
what you spend. But we need to support so much more. So the foundation
was established with the hope that this organization will enhance
the home on every level – and we are doing it."
The foundation has specific funds for rehabilitation, kosher food,
the synagogue, special programs and a range of other unique requirements.
"Everything the home needs, the foundation is trying to support,"
Balshine said.
Now, she added, the community needs to respond to the growing need
of the Louis Brier and the aging population at large.
"We need to expand, we need to grow. The demographic is changing.
The baby boomers are growing older. The number is staggering. We
need to be ready," she said.
Among the as-yet-unmet needs, Balshine cited a centre where seniors
who reside in their own homes can come for a day of activities.
"We need a day-care centre, so elderly that still prefer to
stay at home – and that's what we prefer to see happening –
can at least come during the day and spend a stimulating time in
a facility like ours," she said.
The active schedule of Brier residents is part of a healthy aging
process, she added.
"Because they have programs, they have music, they have school
children coming, they have movies, they have lectures, they have
treats, they are doing so much better mentally and physically than
to be at home alone," Balshine explained.
Now the Louis Brier depends more than ever on the tzedakah of the
local community.
"The community needs to have the vision and the responsibility
to help us grow and be ready for the next 60 years," said Balshine.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.
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