Ms.
Ruvinskaya and Victoria Laschenko, the head nurse, provided the writer
with information about the then-current census of Beit Baruch
residents. Most were from Dnipropetrovsk
and from other cities and towns in the eastern part of Ukraine, such as
Zaporizhya, Kherson, Zhovti Vody, and Kharkiv; one resident was from Chernihiv,
which is much closer to Kyiv than to Dnipropetrovsk. About 80 percent had some form of dementia,
said Ms. Laschenko.
In 2011, continued Ms. Laschenko, 23 new patients entered the facility,
11 left (most to join family in Israel or Germany), and 16 died. Only four of the original residents from 2002
remained. Beit Baruch was home to ten
World War II veterans, she added.
The
poster at right was in the Beit Baruch day room at the time of the writer’s
visit. The legend reads, “Grandmothers
and grandfathers – Thank you for life”.
Note the military tanks in the lower corners. The poster commemorates [World War II]
Victory Day (May 9) and was brought to Beit Baruch by day school students as
part of Victory Day observance.
Photo: the writer.
Ms.
Ruvinskaya stated that five nurses worked on shifts in the facility, assisted
by 12 caregivers. Additionally, two
physicians were in attendance. A
psychologist and a fitness instructor were employed on a part-time basis. Beit Baruch residents also enjoyed arts and
crafts classes and some sang in a choir.
A new
community medical clinic (see below), which is located on the ground floor
of Beit Baruch, is providing great benefits to residents, said Ms. Ruvinskaya
and Ms. Laschenko. Necessary travel to
specialist physicians, an often arduous endeavor for frail elderly, is reduced
in frequency as several such specialists now make regular visits to the clinic.
Much
of Beit Baruch philosophy and practice is based on guidance from geriatric
specialists in Boston, particularly those affiliated with Hebrew Senior Life,
the largest provider of elder care in the Boston metropolitan area. Founded in 1903,
Hebrew Senior Life is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lewis Lifsitz, Professor of Medicine and
Director of the Institute on Aging Research at Hebrew Senior Life, has made several extended visits to Dnipropetrovsk to advise
Beit Baruch and several Dnipropetrovsk medical institutions on geriatric care.
8318
Dr. Lewis Lifsitz of Boston is a prominent geriatric care physician and
frequent visitor to Dnipropetrovsk.
Photo:
http://madrc.mgh.harvard.edu/lewis-lipsitz-md. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
13. The Jewish
Medical Center opened in February 2012 in ground floor premises of the Beit
Baruch Assisted Living Facility.
Although housed in its own wing of Beit Baruch, it is accessible from inside
the residence without going outdoors. It
also has its own separate outside entrance so that non-resident clients and
staff may enter and leave without disturbing Beit Baruch. JMC fulfills a longtime goal of the
Dnipropetrovsk Chabad community to provide high-quality medical services to the
Jewish population at low cost. The
clinic also is open to non-Jews and does not discriminate in the provision of
care.
Directed
by Alexandr Rodinsky, a leading physician in Dnipropetrovsk, JMC is
accredited to provide several types of medical services. The accreditation and licensing procedure is
very complex, stated Dr. Rodinsky, due to multiple layers of Ukrainian
bureaucracy. Notwithstanding the
difficulty of obtaining these permits, JMC is now authorized to provide both
geriatric and pediatric medical services.
Both
construction of the facility and provision of its modern furnishings and
advanced medical technology were financed by local Jewish philanthropists. Friends and associates in Boston also have
been instrumental in securing certain medical equipment. Local Jewish philanthropists support major
ongoing operational expenses; most patients are asked to pay symbolic fees
equal to 20 percent of market rates for the care that they receive.
In addition to Dr. Rodinsky, two primary-care physicians and two
nurses are on JMC staff. Dr.
Rodinsky would like to expand the medical staff, but some well-qualified
physicians, he said, are reluctant to commute to an outlying, low-income area
of the city. In particular, he
continued, he is finding it difficult to hire a good pediatrician.
Dr.
Alexandr Rodinsky, who is an early alumnus of the local Chabad day school,
directs the new Jewish Medical Center in Dnipropetrovsk.
Photo: the writer.
JMC
primary-care physicians refer patients to the best specialists in the city, all
of whom are associated with first-rate hospitals and with the medical
academy. Additionally, the Center boasts
a sophisticated medical laboratory with advanced diagnostic equipment
and highly qualified technicians. All
professional personnel are well paid, thus reducing the likelihood of
corruption. Further, all medical records
are computerized, a rarity in Ukraine where most medical records are kept by
hand in cumbersome registers. Efficient
computerized records deter the common practice of overmedication in which
physicians are compensated by local drug companies according to the amount of
medicine prescribed.
The
focus in geriatric medicine, continued Dr. Rodinsky, is in general
medical care for individuals over the age of 70. Dr. Lewis Lifsitz of Boston (see page
27) has been very helpful in defining the range of practice, said Dr.
Rodinsky. JMC provides thorough physical
examinations for all new Beit Baruch patients and cares for them throughout
their residence, accepts referrals from the hesed (see page 24), and is
available to Jewish and non-Jewish seniors from all areas of the city. It offers general internal medicine, diabetes
management, high blood pressure treatment, and physical therapy protocols.
In
pediatric care, JMC provides general care and also works with the Special
Needs Educational Resource Center to provide medical assistance for this group
of children and young people; general pediatric clinics and hospitals often are
unable/unwilling to address their needs, Dr. Rodinsky said. JMC also has prepared a booklet for parents on
child illnesses, including symptoms that should prompt attention by a
physician.
Additionally,
JMC attends to hospitalized patients, becoming their medical advocates in
institutions known for their bureaucracy, dubious hygiene, callousness, and
lack of basic services. It develops post-operative
care protocols and oversees post-surgical treatment
In
response to a question about patients from the surrounding district of
the city, a low-income area in which few Jews live, Dr. Rodinsky said that
about 25 percent of total JMC patients are from this neighborhood. He is somewhat surprised and disappointed by
their low use of the facility, notwithstanding good signage in the district
designed to attract new patients, especially seniors. However, he explained, it is a poor area of
the city with few services – and some people simply are too beaten down to
request a better level of healthcare.
Their life experience has been bitter and their expectations are low;
further, he added, the clinic staff knows that some local people are
antisemitic and simply do not trust any institution managed by Jews.
When
the local economy improves, it is likely that the clinic will open another
facility in the center of the city.
In the meantime, said Zelig Brez, Executive Director of the Philanthropic
Fund, the community operates a daily free shuttle service between the
synagogue and clinic. An intermediate step in development of a full
clinic, Mr. Brez continued, is the installation of a small medical office in a
centrally-located community building that will take blood and urine samples to
be transferred to the existing clinic for analysis.
With
the exception of a few small signs in the district where the clinic is located,
the clinic does not advertise. It relies
on word-of-mouth recommendations to attract new patients.
14. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde is an
independent assistance program created by Dr. Judith Patkin, the
Executive Director of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry in Waltham, MA. The
Dnipropetrovsk organization supports elderly Jews in Dnipropetrovsk
itself and in 18 additional cities or large towns and numerous smaller towns in
eastern, central, and southern Ukraine. However, the total number of towns served
has declined as Jewish populations in these villages have diminished to the
point where service calls are economically prohibitive. At any given time, said Yan and Tanya
Sidelkovsky, who direct AAB operations in the Dnipropetrovsk region,
between 950 and 1,000 Jewish individuals are on their client list. Elderly people who die are replaced by
younger pensioners; the younger pensioners may have greater needs because they
do not receive the government pension bonuses and other government benefits
(such as discounts on utility use) given to veterans of World War II. The program also supports some working-age
Jews who are chronically ill or handicapped, as well as some Jewish families
with young children in which the parents are unemployed.
The core services of AAB are distribution of general food
parcels to a long list of elderly and provision of food, clothing, and medicine
tailored to the specific needs of particular clients, such as food and
medication for diabetics. AAB also
assists patients in hospitals who usually are required to bring their own
linens and medicines, as well as food.
Additionally, AAB provides medicines and medical supplies (such as
syringes, catheters, and surgical instruments) to several hospitals, both as
general assistance and as a “guarantee” of admission and competent treatment
for AAB clients requiring hospitalization.
Yan
and Tanya Sidelkovsky manage the Adopt-a-Bubbe program in Dnipropetrovsk and the
surrounding region. Yan also is the
chief representative of the Jewish Community Rela-tions Council of Greater
Boston in Dnipro-petrovsk. See pages 33-34.
Photo: the writer.
The Sidelkovskys are assisted by part-time local
coordinators, many of whom are recent retirees, in
most of the larger Jewish population centers in which AAB is active. The
coordinators receive modest compensation for their work, a supplement to their
low pensions. However, said the Sidelkovskys, many of the coordinators are now
65 to 75 years old themselves and need assistance from AAB.
The program also operates in several
other regions of the former Soviet states. However, this report deals only with
the actions that are directed from its Dnipropetrovsk office. In addition to
assisting Jews, Adopt-A-Bubbe also reaches out to elderly Righteous Gentiles,
i.e., those from families who helped Jews during the Holocaust.
Yan
Sidelkovsky also represents the Boston
Jewish community in Dnipropetrovsk. See pages 48-49.
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