I HEALTH

FRIENDLY
FACES

IOW

Glenn Triest

Debra Yashinsky and her new baby are visited by Malke Blumenfeld and Esther Getz.

Jewish volunteers have formed a visiting
service for hospitals and nursing homes

Blumenfeld, is pregnant with her
fifth child. Esther Getz is the mother
Special to The Jewish News
of four. Each had been prevented from
he was lying in her hospi- attending a son's brit and knew what
tal bed at Sinai. She had the patient was going through.
Blumenfeld and Getz usually stop
given birth to her second
briefly,
but today they lingered. By
child and was feeling
the
end
of the visit the visitors, and
very depressed. rIbday was
the
patient,
were laughing.
the baby's brit, but she wasn't allow-
Ahavas
Chesed
Bikur Cholim —
ed to be there. A complication from
. her delivery had caused her to be - The Jewish Visiting Service of
Greater Detroit — was formed one
readmitted to the hospital.
As she waited for her husband to year ago. The women visit Sinai,
Beaumont and Providence hospitals,
visit, two women entered her room.
They were members of Ahavas Ches- Lahser Hills and Mount Vernon nur-
ed Bikur Cholim, a group of Jewish sing homes, Borman Hall, Jewish
volunteers that visit the Jewish pa- Home for Aged, and a handful of shut-
..
tients in hospitals and nursing ins who live in private homes. Most
of the women, and a few men try to
homes.
One of the women, Malke visit weekly or every second week.

ROBYN KLEEREKOPER

S

A booklet given to each volunteer
outlines the organization's guidelines.
It explains that the relationship be-
tween the person and the soul is only
possible if the body is well. "In addi-
tion, illness creates a situation which
is degrading to the patient, because
the overwhelming focus of attention
is on the dysfunctional body and not
on the person, who is truly defined by
his soul. The mitzvah of Bikur cholim
(visiting the sick) is an attempt to re-
establish the equilibrium of that rela-
tionship."
The booklet stresses the need to
allow the patient to talk about
himself, for the volunteers to listen
intently and with tact. It suggests fin-
ding something positive on which to
focus the patient's attention, such as

an upcoming family event or return-
ing to work. The visit should be con-
cluded with the prayer for a patient's
recovery — refuah sch'lema.
Rabbis, synagogue sisterhoods,
Jewish Family Service volunteers and
the VIP (Volunteers for Isolated Peo-
ple) of the Jewish Vocational Service
visit the sick and shut-ins. But some
Jewish patients never have Jewish
visitors. Said Getz, "At many places
the only visitors are priests and
ministers. We balance things out."
Bikur Cholim does not attempt to
push Judaism on the people they
visit. Although most of the volunteers
are Orthodox, they come from many
different backgrounds.
Rabbi Reuven Drucker of Young
Israel of Greenfield acts as the

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

105