Holocaust survivor news...

Holocaust survivors celebrate at annual Hanukkah party

Lighting the menorah Lighting the menorah

December 2011 CINCINNATI Over 60 participants attended the annual Hanukkah luncheon organized by the Jewish Family Service Center for Holocaust Survivors. The Hanukkah party is one of the many Friendship Club activities held throughout the year and is open to all Jewish Holocaust survivors. The entire program was in English and Russian, reflecting the further expansion of services and programming to Russian-speaking Jewish Holocaust survivors in our community. Rabbi Irwin Wise greeted the survivors at the party, which was held at Adath Israel Congregation. In honor of the event, members of the Russian choir led songs in Yiddish and Russian to the accompaniment of Lazar Lazinsky’s accordion music, which also included Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian melodies. Together the group lit the Hanukkah candles, participated in a raffle, and everyone received a gift bag. The Hanukkah party was made possible by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims, Inc.

Claims deadlines for Holocaust survivors

The Jewish Family Service Center for Holocaust Survivors wants to alert survivors of the following December 2011 deadlines:

 

Changes in the German Ghetto Pension and Ghetto Fund payments now allow eligible survivors to receive both types of payments. For survivors who have never filed an application for the Ghetto Fund one-time payment (2,000 Euros) the deadline for receipt of a new application at the office of the BADV authority in Bonn, Germany is December 31, 2011. For information on the criteria and how to apply: http://www.claimscon.org/index.asp?url=badv.

 

Project HEART is a project of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), funded by and in cooperation with the Government of Israel.  It focuses on identifying individuals with potential claims regarding the following types of private property:
(1) private property that was located in countries that were controlled by Nazi forces or Axis powers at any time during the Holocaust era;
AND
(2) private property that belonged to Jewish persons as defined by Nazi/Axis racial laws;
AND
(3) private property that was confiscated/looted/forcibly sold by Nazi forces or Axis powers during the Holocaust era.

 

Questionnaires can be downloaded or completed online at http://www.heartwebsite.org. Postmark deadline is December 1, 2011.

 

For assistance in obtaining or completing any of these applications, contact Gail Ziegler, LISW or Sophia Schnare, ARSP volunteer, at Jewish Family Service, 469-1188.

New grant awarded for hearing service program for Holocaust survivors

Jewish Family Service was awarded a $25,000 grant from The Bahmann Foundation to support a hearing service program for Jewish Holocaust survivors in the Greater Cincinnati area. The grant will provide them with hearing tests, interpretive services, assistive listening devices, and other adaptive technologies.

 

“We are very appreciative of The Bahmann Foundation’s continued support for this work,” says Gail Gepsman Ziegler, MSW, LISW, program director for the Jewish Family Service Center for Holocaust Survivors. Jewish Family Service has worked with The Bahmann Foundation since 2004.

“Studies indicate that approximately 10% of age related hearing loss is misdiagnosed as early stage dementia,“ says Ziegler. “Addressing hearing loss can increase the quality of life by encouraging aging survivors to become more engaged with others thereby decreasing their depression and isolation.”

 

Because many of Jewish Family Service Holocaust survivor clients receiving assistive listening devices are Russian speaking, the grant will also provide medical interpretation for hearing tests, appointment scheduling, and home visits.

 

“The success of the hearing aid program is directly related to the follow up care that is provided,” says Ziegler. She often schedules routine follow up appointments with Dr. Tom Goldman at The Jewish Hospital. In coordination with Lorraine Croft, nurse liaison with The Bahmann Foundation, Ziegler visits with survivors to ensure proper hearing aid use.

 

“Meeting with clients in their home or in accessible locations, such as the Jewish Family Service offices, allows us to monitor and support clients as they learn to use this new technology,” says Ziegler.

 

Jewish Family Service Center for Holocaust Survivors is a program of its Aging and Caregiver Services department, which receives funds administered by Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio. Social services for Nazi victims have been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

 

Jewish Family Service also strengthens lives through Adoption, Emergency Financial Support, Family Life Education, and Jewish Family Service Food Pantry. In addition to grants and private donations, Jewish Family Service receives a portion of its support from Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

Case Management helps Russian speaking survivors plan for the future

To help Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors plan for their future health care needs, Jewish Family Service Resettlement brought in attorney Edward G. Marks on August 25, 2011.

See the full story

Vision monitor helps Holocaust survivor maintain independence

CINCINNATI Jewish Family Service recently gave Iosif Vak, a Russian speaking Jewish Holocaust survivor who has congenital eye disease, a visual monitor that allows him to read and write once again. Vak, who is a resident at Cedar Village, is known in the Russian community for his scholarship and his Russian poetry, which this machine helps him to write.

 

Because the visual monitor enlarges the text of books and papers, it allows him to read current events as well as write his poetry. This helps him maintain his independence, an objective of the Jewish Family Service Aging and Caregiver Services program.

 

“With older adults, increased isolation can increase depression,” said Gail Ziegler, Jewish Family Service social worker. “The goal of these machines is to help keep older adults engaged with the world around them to decrease depression.”

 

Vak’s machine is the third Jewish Family Service has placed in the survivor community. He received instruction on its use from Lorraine Croft, a nurse liaison for the Bahmann Foundation that provided funding for this adaptive equipment.

Also shared in The American Israelite and thebimah.com 


About | Privacy Policy | druckversionPrint Version | Sitemap
copyright Jewish Family Service of the Cincinnati area 2010
Login Jimdo logout | Edit