Senior Services
Gail Belfer, Director of Senior Services • gbelfer@jfedsnj.org
Older Americans are leading healthier, more active lives and living longer than ever before. The Senior Services Program of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Southern New Jersey is designed to meet the complex needs of older adults and their families. Our experienced geriatric social workers and nurses are skilled at guiding seniors and their family members through various and individualized service options. To help them cope with changes in their lives, the Senior Services Department is organized into two programs: Senior Chai and Senior Life.
To help them cope with changes in their lives, the Senior Services Department was recently re-organized into two programs: Senior Chai and Senior Life.
Senior Chai
Senior citizens can face a variety of overwhelming physical and emotional challenges as they age, which can be frightening to deal with alone. The Senior Chai Program of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Southern New Jersey provides affordable services for the Jewish elderly, which allow them to live with dignity and independence in their own homes.
Services include:
- Personal care
- Companion care
- Home health care
- Case management and assessment
- Housekeeping
- Kosher Meals on Wheels
- Transportation to medical appointments
- Blood pressure and medications monitoring by a registered nurse
- Resource consultations for adult children
- Support groups
- Respite care
- Monitoring services to enable out-of-town family to care for their parents from a distance
- Volunteer services
Generous funding for these programs is provided through the Raymond and Gertrude R. Saltzman Foundation. Other programs under Senior Chai include:
- Holocaust Survivor Assistance: Provides counseling and assistance with filling out claims forms for various entitlements available to Holocaust survivors, as well as additional subsidies for Senior Chai Services.
- Café Europa: Provides support for survivors of the Holocaust, with monthly luncheon meetings and other social and cultural activities that offer opportunities to connect with other survivors.
- Jewish Hospice: Through a partnership with Samaritan Hospice, Samost JFCS provides trained volunteers who bring the comfort of Jewish traditions through visits with seriously ill patients, often providing respite care for family members. This service is available to individuals and families coping with serious illness for which a cure is not possible.
Senior Life
The Senior Life Program of Jewish Family and Children's Service of Southern New Jersey provides numerous services to those who are caring for loved ones, as well as a variety of services to seniors who live in what is called a NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community).
NORC: A generous federal grant provides funds for a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, or NORC, which has been established at the Towers of Windsor Park in Cherry Hill and is coordinated by Samost JFCS. NORCS are usually established in apartment buildings or neighborhoods where many of the residents are sixty or older and have lived in their homes for a long period of time. Most of the Samost JFCS Senior Services are now available to residents at the Towers of Windsor, which will enable them to age in place while staying in their homes. Additional services, such as social and recreational dinner programs, outside speakers, and medical assistance, are or will soon be available.
The JFCS Senior Life Program provides numerous services to aging individuals who wish to live on their own, as well as their families and caregivers.
Services include:
- Multli-functional assessments
- Case Management
- Counseling
- Medical assessments
- Blood pressure and medication monitoring
- Personal care/homemaker services
- Companion Care
- Respite Care
- Kosher Meals on Wheels
- Transportation assistance
- Resource consultations
- Monitoring services for out-of-town family
- Volunteer services
- Nintendo Wii Program*
*Teenagers, who are well known for their expertise with video games, are paired with our senior clients in an intergenerational program to help them to learn and play the Nintendo Wii. This video technology helps to improve memory, coordination, balance and flexibility in the elderly by having them simulate the physical motions in virtual games of golf, baseball, bowling, tennis and other sports. A generous grant from the Samost Family has enabled JFCS to provide Nintendo Wii's for seniors at federation senior housing, Lions Gate, NORC, and numerous nursing care facilities around the community.
Residents who want to learn more about the program can call the on-site NORC office at 856-321-2124. Director of NORC Program: Rachel Dubrow
Kosher Meals on Wheels Program
The JFCS Senior Services Department offers a Kosher Meals on Wheels Program to interested community members in the Camden, Burlington and Gloucester County area.
The meals are prepared by Betty the Caterer and are Kosher certified by Rabbi Joshua Toledano. JFCS can also accommodate those with Glatt kosher needs under the supervision of Tri-County Va'ad.
The program offers an assortment of delicious dairy, eat and vegetarian entrees, heart healthy options, clear labeling of contents, all sealed in microwaveable containers. The meals are priced at $6 per meal, and can be arranged for pick-up.
To order meals, call Maxine Kaminsky at 856-751-3343 x3.
For more information call Gail Belfer at 856-424-1333 x181, or email gbelfer@jfedsnj.org.