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May 22, 2009
Building a varied community
Haro Park Centre residents experience a Passover seder and more.
SUSAN J. KATZ
When you understand, you care," explained Irene Lingbanan, after enjoying her first Passover seder. Lingbanan is a dietary staff member at Vancouver's Haro Park Centre seniors' residence who recently joined the many residents of the centre for their first Passover seder.
Haro Park Centre is a campus of care committed to enhancing the lives of elders, and one of the ways that mission statement is fulfilled is by providing programs that are educational and that build community and relationship among the staff and residents.
For Catherine Kohm, executive director, a Passover seder provides many positive elements to the centre's community. She describes the residents as "well educated and well motivated, including retired art gallery owners, and women with university degrees." Kohm believes in breaking routines and providing new programs for elders, and said, "Even living with dementia, you can raise the bar higher; you never know how much gets in."
Kohm liked the idea of having a Passover seder at the centre, which is non-denominational, because, "many have some connection to Jews, such as a Jewish relative, or from their experiences overseas in a war, or had visited Israel."
Leah Deslauriers, past president of Haro Park Centre, presented an introduction to Passover to residents and, according to Kohm, they were so focused and interested, "you could have heard a pin drop." There were lots of questions during the meal for the leaders.
Rabbi Binyomin Bitton of the Downtown Chabad centre provided shmura matza and a Jewish staff member wore his kippah and led some of the blessings. Planning the food for the meal took some special creative modifications of the regular menu and members of the staff, such as Lingbanan, were able to prevent any bread-like products from being served and ensure that lots of grape juice was provided.
As a non-denominational community, Haro Park residents take great interest in what other cultures do for their customs: two people even took Haggadot to the library to read from cover to cover. Afterwards, there were phone calls of thanks from family members.
Neva Gane, who has lived at the centre for four years, is a resident who had connections to Jewish customs in her work before retirement. She lived in Montreal when she was in her 20s and worked in the homes of Chassidic Jews as a baby nurse. There, she would talk to her employers about the many customs she observed in their homes. She saw many similarities with the observance of holidays and beliefs in her Irish Catholic upbringing, as well as a history of religious persecution as a part of her cultural upbringing. According to Gane, having the seder was, "Life-affirming. There was no attitude of being superior, but rather another part of the whole fabric or mosaic of Haro Park."
Staff member Craig Petersen said, in addition to the novelty of the formal tablecloth and candle settings, he was surprised by the experience of being served by staff along with residents. "It's good to acknowledge other people's cultural groups. You may get to say you have appreciation, but deep down, it shows."
According to Lingbanan, "We need to introduce more things to understand. The Passover story brought up new thoughts and connections, different from the usual stories we are always told." As an example, she described an experience she had her first year as a Canadian. She described how she learned that, "Boxing Day is not about fighters like Mohammed Ali. That was an eye-opener for me, what a difference it makes when people understand why others practice their holidays. Unless you understand the history of how people are celebrating, you can't understand them. Cinco de Mayo has a history behind the celebration, and so does Passover."
Lingbanan also likes the way staff is included in activities at the centre. "You can't have only one piece of a community involved. Staff is part of the community, too."
Indeed, the Eden Alternative Mission of Haro Park, "To improve the well-being of elders and those who care for them by transforming the communities in which they live and work," was fulfilled with their first joint resident and staff celebration of a Passover seder this spring.
Susan J. Katz is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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