54 Friday, March 21, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Investigation of Nursing Home Operations Embarrasses New York City Jews
By DAVID FRIEDMAN
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
investigations, including
politicians are also Jewish.
The investigation into the
The lawyer for the Metro-
operations of proprietary politan New York Nursing
nursing homes in New York Home Association and the
City has embarrassed the industry's chief lobbyist in
Jewish community. Some New York state is Stanley
Jews fear that the public is Lowell. He is also chairman
viewing the issue as .a Jew- of the National Conference
ish scandal. on Soviet Jewry.
There is the fact that the
But on the other hand,
central figure in the investi- Andrew J. Stein, the
gations now being con- young assemblyman who
ducted on the state and fed- heads the Temporary
eral levels is Rabbi Bernard State Commission on Liv-
Bergman, a leader of the ing Costs and who first
New York Orthodox com- began the investigation
munity and for many years into nursing homes, is
a leader in the American Jewish as are many mem-
and world Mizrachi move- bers of his staff. Rep. Ed-
ment. Most of the other ward Koch (D-NY), who
nursing home operations asked the U.S. Senate sub-
and others mentioned in the committee on long - term
From All Of Us To All Of You—
A Peaceful, Happy, 'Joyful Passover
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ings in New York is a Jew
active in'the Jewish corn-
munity. Many of the re-
porters who have been ex-
posing the abuses of the
industry are Jewish,- in-
eludingJack Newfield of
the Village Voice, who,
along with John Hess of
the New York Times, has
taken the lead in investi-
gating Bergman's opera-
-
tions.
But perhaps most impor-
tant of all is the fact that an
estimated 33 percent of the
patients in private nursing
homes are JeWish and these
are the people who suffer
the most from the abuses of
the industry.
The 'Senate subcommittee
has. found these same
abuses in the nursing home
industry throughout the
country. Sen. Charles H.
Percy (R-I11.), the ranking
Republican on the subcom-
mittee and considered a
leading expert on the indus-
try, has called it a "national
scandal." Unfortunately,
the probe has taken a- Jew-
- ish color in New York City
because almost all of the
nursing home owners are
Jews and many of them are
Orthodox Jews.
However, should the
charges against Bergman
and others be proven cor-
rect, this should not be al-
lowed to reflect on the Jew-
ish community or even the
a Orthodox segment. In this
matter, some of Bergman's
supporters can be faulted
Jew-
for trying to make it a Jew-
ish issue.
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care to hold public hear-
Bergman's lawyer, Na-
than Lewin, while stress-
ing he was not charging
anti-Semitism, told the
Senate subcommittee that
he believed that the state
health department was
prejudiced against Ortho-
dox Jews.
John Hess of the New
York Times claims that
when City Commissioner of
Investigations Louis Kaplan
investigated the nursing
home industry in 1960 and
accused Bergman of estab-
lishing a "stranglehold" on
the industry, the charges
were dropped after a group
of rabbis persuaded city of-
ficials that the scandal
would bring disgrace on the
Jewish community.
The Jewish community
can only be faulted in the
present scandals because it,
like the entire community,
has ignored the problems of
nursing homes. The 40-page
American Jewish Congress
report issued at the end of
July 1974 said there were an
estimated 5,000 Jewish pa-
tients in private, profit-
making nursing homes who
along with non-Jewish pa-
tienth, "suffer from indif-
ferent treatment and dire
disregard of their human
needs.
Jewish tradition and law
require the care of the sick
and the aged. Sen. Percy
noted that among the best
run nursing homes were
those operated by the Jew-
ish community.
Public attention has
now been thrown onto the
operations of the profit-
making homes in New
York City. A Senate sub-
committee is looking into
them as is the U.S. Attor-
ney's Office. Gov . Hugh
Carey has. named two
USY Regional Begins Today
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Central Region United
Synagogue Youth will have
its 22nd annual regional
1 convention today through
Sunday in the Sheraton
Cadillac Hotel.
More than 360 USY'ers
and 50 advisers from Indi-
ana, Pennsylvania, Michi-
gan, West Virginia and Ohio
will attend.
The theme of the weekend
is "Symbols of Judaism,"
and the conference will fo-
cus on Pesah. The conven-
tion will begin 9 a.m. today
with registration, and will
follow with study groups
and socials. The Kol Yisroel
musical group, and Pande-
monium,
monium, a rock band, will
entertain.
Chairpersons for the
weekend are: Andrea Tar-
noff, overall chairperson:
Steve Isenberg and Marsha
Raimi,
social; Pamela Lip-
.
pitt and Sheryl Rose, hospi-
Sincere
best wishes
for a joyous
and festive
Passover
Helen and Paul
Zuckerman
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Cost for Parley --
Approval Sought.
WASHINGTON (Zins) —
The State Department has
asked Congress to approve a
sum of $442,000 to cover the
expenses of the American
delegation to the Geneva
Conference which will deal
with the Arab-Israel dis-
pute. The USSR is a co-
sponsor of the conference.
tality; Harold Youra and
Susan Acker, kits; Sander
Davidson and Miriam Sil-
verman, religious; Robert
Kimmel, transportation;
Cindy Bloom, Ronn. Nadis
and Lisa Levin, registration;
and Lori Grushko, typing.
Advisers are Karen Knop-
pow and Howard Beneson.
Communal Service
Meeting in Israel
An International Confer-
ence of Jewish Communal
Service will be held in Jeru-
salem, Aug. 10-14. -
Created in 1965, the Inter-
national Conference of Jew-
ish Communal Service grew
out of the need of Jew-
ish communal workers
throughout the world to
strengthen their under-
standing of each other's pro-
grams and to communicate
better with their colleagues
in order to enrich the qual-
ity of their work.
The overall theme of the
1975 conference is "Con-
tinuity and Change in Jew-
ish Life: The Role of Jewish
Communal Service." Plen-
ary sessions, forums fol-
lowed by small discussion
groups and workshops. will
he he held.
Additional information
about the conference and re-
lated tours can be obtained
from El Al Israel Airlines.
special committees, one
headed by Charles J.
Wines, who was appointed
a special prosecutor for
nursing homes, and the
other a Moreland Act
Commission headed by
Morris B. Abram, a for-
mer president of Brandeis
University and former
president of the American
Jewish Committee.
But these will only have
short-term effect: The
abuses have existed because
as the AJCongress pointed
out there has been "neg-
ligence by the Department
of Health, Education and
Welfare" and, as the New
York City hearings have
shown, negligence by city
and state agencies in seeing
that standards set for nurs-
ing homes are enforced. The
AJCongress urged a broadly
based citizens' campaign to
demand higher standards
and stricter enforcement
procedures. Only enforce-
ment will prevent abuses
from continuing.
P ISSO1 ER GREETINGS
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Passover Greetings to All
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Best Wishes for A Happy & Joyous Passover
HAIR FASHIONS by RONALD
OPEN SUNDAY and MONDAY
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557-0680
Passover Greetings
IN-SINK-ERATOR
Food Waste Disposer
Manufacturing Co.
321 S. DOBSON a
Westland, Mich.
342-3252
Meek M. Walker, District Sales Manager
Holiday Greetings
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