Siniti and, ft Therapist -Named Birdsong
BY. CHARLOTTE- DUBIN
maid a visit, there were only 55
Humanity—that quality on which patients because of the holidays.
the practice of medicine is based— F tour women, including a heart
is often forgotten in the vastness patient and a post-operative cats-
of a metropolitan hospital. The ract patient, were bent over a
patient checks in his pride and table, creating "macaroni art"—
his indiMnality,.-vihen he acquires paper plates decorated with mac-
- aioni, that were to be sprayed
a hospital gown.
But Sinai 'Hospital of Detroit is with paint and glitter.
The four represented that
administering a new form of medi-
cine in its Max Zivian Center for cross-section that John speaks
Continued Care. The therapy is of with pride and affection: one
the dynamic duo of Birdsong and woman was black, two were
Jewish, one Protestant. None
Wolfe.
John Birdsong, a good-looking, were young, yet they went at the
26-year-old, 6-foot-2 Miggicsippian, task with the glee of children.
With what proved to be char-
isn't quite sure whit his title -Ls
acteristic energy, John and Gayle
at the Continu
ran outdoors into the cold to spray
Care Center. T
the plates, then ran back, shiver-
the patients he'
frig, to deliver them to their de-
simply John, o
lighted creators.
Mr. John.
assistant, Gayl
-John devises no craft that will
Wolfe, is a fe
take more than one hour to pro-
years his junior
duce. With a transient population,
and a few inches
there is no way of knowing who
shorter, but radi-
will be there the following day.
ates the same'
For those who can't come down
boundless energy;':: :
to the cafeteria for the crafts
Birdsong
that sends ob-
period, John and Gayle visit the
servers into trauma.
rooms with materials and innumer-
John and Gayle are recreational able ideas for paper flowers, plast-
therapists—social directors with a er figurines and ashtrays. Aided
difference. Their task is to help by volunteers, they also bring up
the convalescing hospital patient generous dosages of good cheer to
adjust to impending release— to those who need it. John keeps a
feed himself again, to take his supply of jokes and stories on hand
medicine, to walk and use his to read to the bed-ridden.
muscles. If he has undergone sur-
"Hi, sweetheart," he greeted
gery, he may be in pain. If he one elderly woman who was un-
has been in the hospital for any dergoing therapy for a pinched
length of time, he may be depres- nerve. "Are you going to join
sed at the thought of leaving its us tonight? We're going to have
shelter for the uncertainties out- a terrific program." When she
side.
hesitated, be drawled, "Do you
Sinai's two-year-old Continued
want to break my heart? You be
Care Center, representing a
my partner, honey, okay?" It
relatively new concept among
was enough to bring a smile and
hospitals across the country,
a promise.
carries out the cheerful mood
The entertainment for that night
with its warm, almost luxurious —entertainment is a regular fea-
decor.
ture—was in limbo. Gayle, a grad-
Carpeting, paintings, lounges on uate of the Beth Jacob School
each floor and separate cafeteria of Yeshivath Beth Yehudah, had
that double as- a crafts and social invited the students of the girls
hall resemble little of "the other school to dance and sing that eve-
side," as the CCC people refer to ning. But when the principal
the main hospital .
learned that male patients would
At full house, the Center accom- be present, he had to decline.
modates 99 patients. But because
"Well," John remarked, "that's
the average stay is three to four show biz. But we'll do something
days, the turnover is frequent.
else. We're alivays prepared."
The other day, when a reporter
Evening activities include every-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
thing from guest performers and
movies to "horse racing" and
quiz shows. Hanuka and Christmas
are accepted with equal- equani-
mity among the patients, who each
night of Hanuka were treated to
the candle lighting by Rabbi Yan-
kel Bakst.
As the patients emerged from
their rooms at sundown the second
night, a husky black man in yar-
mulka was escorting a tiny, frail
Jewish woman--of 80 to her seat.
John greeted her: "Here comes my
doll baby. Sit right here in front,
sweetheart." He commented, in
an aside, "We've agreed we
would get married tomorrow, ex-
cept that I'm not Jewish."
John has a loyal following
among the patients and alumni.
He proudly displays postcards
and boasts he has been invited
to family reunions and bar mitz-
vas. Others call him just to talk.
Mrs. Morris (Goldie) Adler, a
former CCC patient whose pres-
ence delighted her fellow resi-
dents, sometimes returns to speak.
The good will is infectious. One
woman seated in the crafts room
insisted that "You forget all your
sicknesses when you come down
here."
A floor head nurse remarked
that "Some patients don't want to
go home. Especially those with no
family. They say, 'I can't go
home, there's a real good program
tomorrow night',."
Wearing name tags, the patients
quickly warm to each other, des-
pite differences of race, religion
and educational background. "The
one equalizer," said John, "is the
fact that they're all sick together.
"One evening we ha _ d a little
game. I asked each of them what
was the most beautiful thing they
had ever seen. One lady said the
eyes of her newborn grandchild;
another said the view of Paris
from the Eiffel Tower.
"After everyone else had spoken,
a black lady said quietly, 'I have
no grandchildren, and I've never
traveled. But I think the most
beautiful thing I've ever seen is
this group of people sitting to-
gether and talking the way we're
talking.' Everyone applauded her."
Assembly to Focus on School Issues
"Public Education in the '70s"
Dr. Sniderman assumed the post
tendent this year. Earlier, he was
till be the topic under discussion of Oak Park Schools superin-
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Health promise with religioui zealots on-
Minister Victor Shemtov said to- the issue of autopsies.
day that there would be no com-
C Jhoian_
# 44
Cohn, a past vice president of
the Community Council, serves on
the national board of governors of
the American Jewish Committee.
He is past president of the Neigh-
borhood Service Organization and
past chairman of the civil liberties
committee of the State Bar of
Michigan and the civil rights com-
mittee of the Detroit Bar Associa-
tion.
A social hour will follow the
meeting, with members of Ha-
dassah serving as hostesses.
JWV
Esther Benson. Child wr: rr-..1 co-
chairmen Freda lioro•k:t • and
Rose Feinberg. have pier -.1 a
party at the D. J. Heal> Youth
Home Jan. 15. Movies will be
current shown and refreshments and . gifts
given_ to the children
CARICATURES *
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MUSIC
BALLOON MAN *
MARK KANDEL
'K
Ventriloquist
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8:30 'p.m. Monday at th" JWV
headquarters. Hostesse , fc,e the
evening will be Minnie A' wrt and
ter,- E. Klein vial report
prcograms- and activit'
Shemtov Sees No Compromise on Autopsy Issue
HEALTH SHIELD
DISCOUNT PHARMACY
OP Superintendent on Program
at the quarterly meeting of the
Jewish Community Council's dele-
gate assembly 8:15 p.m. Thursday
at the Jewish Center. Council
President Itabert J. Sidlow will
convene the assembly.
Featured speakers will be Dr.
Sam Sniderman, superintendent of
the Oak Park Public Schools, and
Avern Cohn, Detroit attorney and
member of the Community Coun-
cil's executive committee.
The assembly speakers will ad-
dress themselves to the problems
of how to achieve quality educa-
tion, the crisis in financing and
the current controversy regarding
busing as a means of achieving
racial balance in the public
schools.
Council Executive Director Wal
Friday, Peceetber 31, 1971-27
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