HEALTH
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Getz and Blumenfeld check the patient list.
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106
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1988
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Weddings
Bar Mitzvahs
Parties
Meetings
organization's spiritual ad-
viser. He helped provide the
motivation to get the
organization started.
"Visiting the sick — our
tradition says it helps the per-
son get better, and overcome
their sickness. I've seen it
happen, people can literally
get better by having contact
with others," said Rabbi
Drucker.
On a recent Sunday Getz
and Blumenfeld paid their
weekly 21/2 hour visit to Sinai
Hospital. After signing in at
the Guild office, the two sat
down in the hospital lobby
with a master list of the pa-
tients currently in the
hospital, plus a list of Jewish
patients. They played a kind
of guessing game, because the
list of Jewish names was not
up-to-date.
Because of time constraints
and hospital's size,
Blumenfeld and Getz limit
themselves to the number of
patients they can visit. They
don't attempt to go to all
floors. Hospital policy
prevents them from visiting
intensive care patients, and
those over 70 years of age
without permission.
"I call myself Malke the
Jewish hounddog," laughed
Blumenfeld. "I try to decide
who is Jewish and who isn't.
Most of the time I'm right. If
I feel they are Jewish we go
in. If not, we just leaves'
In fact, Blumenfeld's bat-
ting average wasn't bad, but
her hounddog nose failed her
when they entered the room
of a man by the name of
Blum. He turned out to be
Catholic. She and Getz left
the room, apologizing for
disturbing him.
Most of the visits are brief.
Getz and Blumenfeld enter as
many as 35 rooms, greet the
patients and tell them they
are from Bikur Cholim,
visiting Jewish patients.
In one room, a patient
began a lengthy discussion
about trading on the stock
market. In other rooms the
patients were not ready for
company and the visitors did
not linger. Often they would
ask if the patient needed
anything and was being
treated well. In one room a
woman complained of the
cold, so Blumenfeld and Getz
put an extra blanket over her.
Although none of the patients
had heard of Bikur Cholim,
all were appreciative of the
visit.
Commented Getz as they
41
left the new mother's room,
"That's what makes it wor-
thwhile. Did you see how she
was smiling and no longer
depressed as we left? We
made her feel better about
things in general:"
Added Blumenfeld, "When -
they feel good, we get 100 per-
cent back."
A different approach is re-
quired for visitors to nursing
homes. More time is spent
with'each patient and a rela-
tionship is developed during
subsequent visits.
Tila Levinson placed her
two young children in a dou-
ble stroller at Mt. Vernon
Nursing Home. Levinson had
been coming for several
months, and she and her
children were becoming a
familiar sight as they made
their way down the hall. Her
daughter offered her lollipop
to several of the residents as
they passed. One lady proud-
ly said to another, "See, she
knows who I am by now."
They entered Betty
Zuckenberg's room which
Betty shares with two other
women. They talked about