Fall 2015
SPRING EDITION
GIDWITZ PLACE FOR ASSISTED LIVING | FRIEND CENTER FOR MEMORY CARE
Dear Families and Residents, First of all, I would like to say I am enjoying our mild winter thus far with its very little snow! Furthermore, we have had quite a few busy months with many new residents. I want to welcome all of our new residents and families and thank our current ones for supporting the new ones in their time of transition! I hope everyone has seen the beautifully remodeled 2nd floor with our new carpet, lighting, paint and signage. In the next few weeks, we hope to begin a similar project on our 3rd floor for those residents to enjoy! As soon as we have a set schedule, I will be sure to send it out to all residents. Believe it or not, Passover is around the corner. Over the next few weeks, we will send letters and reservation forms out to all residents and their families with details including services, seders and catering menus. We always love to have families join us for Passover, so please keep that in mind when making your holiday plans! For residents, if you do plan on going out for seder, there will be a sign out at the front desk so we can keep an accurate count for both nights. If you have any family or friends who would benefit from our community, whether it be for Gidwitz, Friend Center or our Adult Day Program, please pass on our information to them! We appreciate any and all referrals! As always, I am available for anyone who wants to talk at any time, Jennifer Weininger Executive Director Of Weinberg Community for Senior Living 847-236-7856
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A few reminders: Please sign in at the front desk, and sign out when leaving—-we need to insist on this for the safety of our residents and staff. Please obtain a form at the front desk when going out of town, and indicate an emergency contact for when you are away. You can alternately call the front desk to give the above information, and it will be sent to pertinent staff. If you have a private caregiver working for you, please make sure we are aware of this. If your family member is in the hospital and will be going to a rehab facility, please advise us, to guarantee continuity of care.
We want to make sure everyone is informed that Nina Afremow has resigned/retired. She worked in our community for the last 19 years and decided that it was time for her to spend more time with her family and friends. As soon as we found a person to fill her position, we will let everyone know. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to see one of our other social workers at any time should you need anything. Marci Balonick is a licensed clinical social worker and can be reached at 847-236-7864 and Emily Mysel is also a licensed clinical social worker and can be reached at 847-236-7863. Congratulations to Jaclyn Abramson, on becoming CJE Employee of the Year! Jackie, Friend Center Supervisor, has been an energetic Weinberg employee since September 2014. She began her journey at CJE in 2013 in the Life Enrichment Department and transitioned to ADS Coordinator. Jackie’s zest for life is contagious. There isn’t a day that goes by where she isn’t dancing down the hallway singing show tunes. She’s effervescent, enthusiastic, compassionate and innovative. Jackie is consistently creating and implementing new programs and events that enhance the lives of her clients and their families. She has established meaningful and supportive relationships with her clients' spouses and/or caregivers to help them manage their loved ones’ journey with dementia. She provides them with a safe space to discuss their feelings and challenges and helps them better prepare for the future. There is no task that Jackie will not participate in and she is always passionate about promoting an environment where residents/clients and their families are provided opportunities. She brings laughter and joy into the lives of her clients, their families and her colleagues.
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April Birthdays
Howard Shore, 5/26
Selma Hoffman, 4/1
June Birthdays
Natalie Becker 4/3
Maxine Simon, 6/4
Carole Garlin 4/15
Marvin Weiss, 6/6
Renee Polukoff, 4/18
Sia Hertsberg 6/8
Jane Berg, 4/19 Beverly Kadish, 4/20 Hazel Bren 4/22 Esther Levinson 4/27 Blossom Gould 4/28 Anne Dennison 4/29 Esther Goldman 4/30
Sam Halpern, 6/13 Lola Stolberg 6/15 Hugo Herzog, 6/17
FRIEND CENTER /ADULT DAY SERVICES APRIL BIRTHDAYS MYRNA FEFFER, 4/7 EDYTHE KAYE, 4/8
Dorothy Swartz, 4/30
GOLDIE SHEFLER, 4/12
May Birthdays
CERA GORDON, 4/17
Bill Dunn, 5/2
LOUIS JOHNSTON, 4/17
Pearl Silverman, 5/4
BEVERLY YEDOR, 4/24
Bonnie Lande, 5/6
May Birthdays
Lois Witt 5/11
Arthur Fain, 5/9
Jeanette Rosen, 5/14
David Kopp, 5/12
Stanley Schrero, 5/14
June Birthdays
Flora Atkin, 5/15
Gertrude Kite, 6/6
Marshall Yovits 5/16 Ruth Asin, 5/17 Thea Winograd, 5/18 Dorothy Nixon 5/21
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Alexander Meerbaum 6/8
Lee Zeller 5/22
Bob Mann, 6/7 Jeff Conrad, 6/13 James Mahan, 6/17 Ruth Hair, 6/19 Charles Coren, 6/23
In addition to our daily programs, here are some
Friend Center
highlights for the upcoming months. You are Wednesday, May 10, welcome to attend these or any or our entertainment programs with your family member. 1:45Pm-2:45PM APRIL EVENTS Gidwitz Sunday April 2, 2:00-3:00PM The music of Karen Berk Barak: Barbra Streisand Sunday, April 23 2:00-3:00PM Soprano Marissa Buccheit Friend Center April Wednesday, April 12 1:45PM The Vocals and Keyboard of Eric Lucky MAY EVENTS Gidwitz Sunday, May 7 2:00-3:00PM “Contemporary Israeli Art”, with Lila Schrag
Happy Hour at Friend Center- featuring the music of Jennifer Hall JUNE EVENTS Sunday, June 4 2:00-3:00PM Performance by Main Street Cabaret Thursday, June 22 2:00-3:00PM The Piano of Mark Damish FRIEND CENTER Wednesday, June 28 1:45-2:45PM Friend Center Birthday Party– with the Violin Of Mihai Vlad MONTHLY BIRTHDAY PARTIES Gidwitz: 2PM, 3rd Wed of each month, Gidwitz Social Hall Music, performances, singing, refreshmentsFriend Center: 2PM, Last Wed. of the Month,
Monday, May 29, Memorial Day
Musical Entertainment and refreshments In Friend Center Piano Room
12:00PM-1:30PM
Family and friends are welcome to join us.
“Gidwitz Family Barbecue”-
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Carole Garlin Carole Garlin is one of Weinberg’s newer residents but has quickly made Weinberg her own home! Carole grew up in Chicago and made a lot of friends growing up. Her father was a commercial artist and Carole loved observing him work at his art when she was young. Her father’s passion for art quickly transferred over to her and she became an artist herself. She was a graphic artist and loved designing exhibits for court trials. When Carole’s two sons were 8 and 11 years old, Carole and her family moved to Florida where Carole continued her artistic work. Carole loved entertaining and would always sing and dance as well as participate in showcase productions. Carole is very close to her two sons, Jeff is a professional comedian and actor and Michael is the executive director of Beth Shalom. Seven years ago, Carole and her late husband moved back to Chicago and has enjoyed reuniting with her elementary and high school friends ever since. Carole loves living at Weinberg and says everybody is very welcoming and helpful. Carole always says to “Go forward, not backwards and always think positive – how you adapt to change is what’s most important”
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Deerfield Seventh Grader Works to Preserve Holocaust Survivor Stories By Steve Sadin "Never again" were the words used by Holocaust survivor Yola Calamaro to explain why she tells her story. Ariella Bernstein, a Shepard Middle School seventh grader, got the message. Bernstein assembled videos of four Holocaust survivors who currently live at the Weinberg Community for Senior Living in Deerfield. She presented the work to a gathering of more than 170 people on Dec. 11 in an effort make sure their stories are preserved. "It's important for my generation to tell these stories so they won't be forgotten," Bernstein said. There are a number of Holocaust survivors living at Weinberg, according to Michelle Bernstein, who is Ariella's mother and Weinberg's community outreach liaison. Four of them were willing to share their stories. They were Calamaro, Sia Hertsberg, Brenda Huss and Carol Shapiro who range in age from 87 to 90 years old. Though they were willing to talk, it was not easy. During interviews several days after the presentation, Hertsberg, who lived in Glenview before moving to Deerfield, Huss, a former Skokie resident and Calamaro, who came
to Weinberg from Northbrook, all became emotional as they talked about family members who were murdered and the horrors inflicted. At the age of 14 while living in Riga, Latvia, Hertsberg's life was turned upside down. She said she had a comfortable life as a schoolgirl with her parents and younger sister. Then Russian troops marched in. She is the only one of the four who survived the war and its aftermath. "They took nearly everything we had," Hertsberg said. "Then came the Germans and they took the rest." Forced to live in a fenced-in ghetto in Riga, Hertsberg said and her family was initially saved by luck and a school friend who was by then a Latvian police officer. When the elastic in her pants broke, she said her mother told her to hold it up with a pin. She pinned her top to the bottom. Then the police arrived to round up the town's Jews. "A man said, 'I'll take her,'" Hertsberg said. "I knew what that meant. He grabbed me, put me on the bed and held me down. I screamed. He tried to pull my pants down but the pin held them up." Before anything else happened, one of Hertsberg's schoolmates, then part of the Lat-
vian police, warned his colleagues to leave because of impending danger. Then he had a message for Hertsberg and her family. "He told us to run," Hertsberg said. Ultimately, Hertsberg said she and her family ended up in a concentration camp later liberated by the Russians. Her parents were killed in the camp while she and her sister survived. The pair was taken to a Russian hospital near Moscow where her sister died, she said.
graves." Huss eventually immigrated to Skokie after making her way via Romania and Germany. She got more schooling and became a Hebrew teacher first in Germany, and then for many years in Skokie. Calamaro was born in Greece in 1929. She said her family had a good life before the country was occupied. The peace was quickly shattered.
"I couldn't walk for five months," Hertsberg said.
"There was a knock on the door," Calamaro said. "It was the Gestapo."
She ultimately went back to Riga, found a cousin and returned to school. In 1958, she immigrated to the United States.
Separated from her parents, Calamaro said she survived doing odd jobs including working as a maid and being hidden from place to place. Her mother was sent to Auschwitz. She survived and they were later reconnected.
Born in Poland, Huss said she was already an orphan when she survived the war and Holocaust by hiding in a cave with her remaining siblings. Her brothers went to nearby fields to steal potatoes while a baker occasionally snuck her bread when she ventured out. She saw her share of horrors before taking refuge in the cave.
Before arriving in the United States, Calamaro said she spent time in Israel during that country's fledgling days of independence. For Ariella Bernstein the project carries great significance.
Before fleeing to the cave, Huss said she and a sister were cared for by their grandmother before she was shot along with other Jews.
"I made these videos so my generation can tell what happened to other generations, and the videos will be here when no survivors are left," she said.
"They were lined up to dig their own grave," Huss said. "They made people dig their
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Manuela Barraza– Personal Care, Resident Assistant Manuela has been an RA at Weinberg for almost 8 years and has grown with the community. Her fellow RAs see her as family and a mentor to them. Manuela grew up in Durango, Mexico and moved to Chicago when she was nineteen years old. She has two sons and one daughter as well as two granddaughters and one grandson that she loves dearly. When she’s not working hard at Weinberg, Manuela enjoys spending time with her daughter. Manuela and her daughter are very close and must see her every weekend! They go shopping, get their nails done and go on walks. Manuela loves working at Weinberg and says her favorite part is helping people and always feels good when she helps out a resident. After 8 years of experience at Weinberg, her advice to her fellow coworkers is simple, “Keep it up and do a good job”.
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GEM Awards The GEM Award is presented to an employee for Going the Extra Mile and embracing Customer Service standards such as Acknowledgment, Communication, Professionalism, and Personal Responsibility. In the front lobby of Gidwitz and Friend Center there is a description of the GEM Award and a nomination form for any employee that you feel is deserving of recognition. Why not nominate an employee for the GEM Award?
GIDWITZ PLACE FOR ASSISTED LIVING | FRIEND CENTER FOR MEMORY CARE
1551 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield IL 60015 | 847.374.0500 WeinbergCommunity.net CJE SeniorLife is a partner with the Jewish United Fund in serving our Community