The hesed continues
to operate its day center for Jewish elderly, said Mr. Pleskachevsky, accommodating
30 clients every day. Participants are assigned
to one of 24 different groups, usually based on area of residence in order to simplify
van transportation, and each group comes to the hesed twice monthly.
While at the hesed, clients participate in various socializing activities
and, if desired, arts and crafts. Some very
basic medical care is available, and arrangements are made for more comprehensive
medical services inphysician offices and medical clinics.
Other Jewish elderly participate in a variety of clubs, a choir, exercise
classes, and other activities for seniors.
In all, Mr. Pleskachevsky stated, more than 200 clients are in the hesed every day.
Not all of these
clients are elderly, explained Mr. Pleskachevsky.
Eighty younger people (ages 18-45) with various disabilities also
are brought to the hesed three days each week for recreation, socializing, and psychological
assistance. Each of these clients is assigned
to a group based on the nature of their disabilities.
In addition to services
within the hesed building, JDC also operates a hesed-on- wheels, a van that
serves needy (mostly elderly) Jews who live in remote areas.
The hesed-on-wheels visits a different town or village every weekday, Mr.
Pleskachevsky stated, calling on each at least once monthly and some twice each
month. A hesed worker schedules client visits
and may bring medications or other items required by the client.
38.
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, approximately 1,000 individuals are on
their client list. Some clients are rotated
in and out of their service census periodically in order to serve more people, Mrs.
Sidelkovsky stated.
Elderly clients
who die are replaced by younger pensioners; the younger pensioners may have greater
needs because they do not receive the government bonuses and other government benefits
(such as discounts on use of utilities) 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.
A signature social program of Adopt-a-Bubbe
is the warm home
day centers, which are held in the apartments of participants.
Adopt-a-Bubbe currently operates two warm homes in Dnipropetrovsk (one on
each side of the Dnipr River) and 12 others in its broader service region.
Ten to 12 seniors attend each warm home every month, with some people rotating
in or out each session so that more individuals are able to participate.
With financial assistance from AAB, the hostess and other participants purchase
food for a full hot meal; both the hostess and some guests prepare the dishes so
that the hostess is not overwhelmed and more people feel valued.
Sometimes a few individuals may bring wine or other treats on their own. In addition
to consuming a hot, nutritious meal, participants celebrate birthdays and holidays,
sing, dance, watch videos, and take part in other activities.
The opportunities for socializing and for intellectual exercise are just
as important as the hot meal, said Mr. Sidelkovsky.
Mr. Sidelkovsky acknowledged that the Joint Distribution Committee had initiated
the warm home program and then abandoned it as a consequence of budgetary pressures,
re-started it with only limited food service, then abandoned it again.
Yan and Tanya Sidelkovsky manage
the Adopt-a-Bubbe program in the Dnipropetrovsk area.
Yan also is the local director of the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council
kehilla (sister-city) project in Dnipropetrovsk. (See pages 86-87.)
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.
In some cities,
volunteer physicians are enlisted in AAB efforts.
Consulting physicians in Boston also provide assistance.
Additionally, certain medicines and medical implements are obtained in Boston
and brought or shipped to Dnipropetrovsk.
Inflation
continues to
erode the capacity of AAB to provide services, Mr. Sidelkovsky said.
He estimated the rate of inflation at 30 to 40 percent, if under-the-table
(bribery) costs are included. The cost of
certain processed staple foods has doubled in recent years, he continued.
Whereas it used to cost $25 to purchase food for 10 people at a warm home
meal, Mrs. Sidelkovsky said, it now costs $50 for the same amount of food.
Travel expenses also have risen, stated Mr. Sidelkovsky, making service calls
to clients in remote areas more costly. AAB
currently has no office; their previous office space in an unfinished basement that
is part of the Golden Rose Choral Synagogue complex, was flooded during construction
of the Menorah Center. AAB cannot afford
to rent commercial premises, so the Sidelkovsky apartment now serves as the AAB
office.
Asked about the
general mood (настроение) in the region, Mr.
Sidelkovsky said that it is "not so joyful".
It is worse than last year, he continued.
No one trusts anyone in the government, and corruption is ubiquitous. He also is very troubled by the rise of the
Svoboda political party in Ukraine; their rhetoric includes antisemitic expressions,
he said.
39.
The Beit Baruch Assisted Living Facility for elderly Jews opened in 2002,
the first of only two dedicated residences for Jewish seniors in all of the post-Soviet
states.
Beit Baruch provides accommodations in single or double rooms with
private bathrooms, meals, medical care, and social activities.
The building is located in a relatively quiet outlying area on the site of
a former preschool. The preschool was razed
to the ground and then replaced by a clean, modern facility.
Although the official capacity of Beit Baruch
is 94, American geriatric specialists recommend that the total number of residents
not exceed 75 to 80. The current census is
only 46, said manager Mila Ruvinskaya; the low number reflects both cost
concerns and a high incidence of dementia among residents; individuals with dementia
usually require single rooms. The youngest
patient is only 60 years old, a double amputee afflicted with severe diabetes. The oldest is 98.
Chief nurse Viktoria Laschenko identified 21 residents as confined
to their beds (лежающие), the care of whom
is very expensive and very demanding. Five
of these individuals are limited to food prepared in a blender.
Manager Mila Ruvinskaya, left, and
chief nurse Viktoria Laschenko are highly regarded within Beit Baruch and the general
Jewish community for their commitment to patients and their management skills.
Photo: the writer.
Of the 46 residents,
said Ms. Laschenko, 25 are women. Eight patients
died in 2012, 26 left the facility (most to join family in Israel, but some to return
to homes in Dnipropetrovsk),
and 26 new people entered the facility. Several
newcomers had been homeless, Ms. Ruvinskaya stated.
One such individual, a former local resident, had emigrated to Israel, but
returned from Israel and planned to stay with her daughter in Dnipropetrovsk; however,
the daughter fell ill and could not accommodate her, so she went to a city shelter. The shelter director called Beit Baruch, said
Ms. Ruvinskaya. Another newcomer had emigrated
to Germany, but could not adjust to life there and came back to Dnipropetrovsk,
although he was too old to obtain employment and had no home in the city.
 The Beit Baruch resident
at far
right suffers from severe diabetes and is blind from the disease.
The woman in the photo at near right
is a short-term resident at Beit Baruch.
She is recovering from a hip fracture.
Photos on this page:
the writer.
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.
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