FOR SENIORS

Leifine
Legacy

The research arm of the Jewish
Home for Aged is fighting for
the rights of older Americans.

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

S

fitting undisturbed
in an office at the
Jewish Home for
Aged's Borman
Hall is an enclosed
glass display chest filled with
60 years of family
memorabilia.
The showcase highlights
the legacy of the philan-
thropic LeVine family, for
which the LeVine Institute of
Aging is named in memory of
David, Frieda, Saul and Dan
LeVine. Placed neatly in a
corner of Institute Director
Cheryl Riskin's office, the
display is a conversation
piece. Questions almost al-
ways lean toward family
patriarch David LeVine's
wish to care for the elderly.
"My father-in-law believed
in what religion was suppos-
ed to represent: that you don't
desert people in their old
age," says Stella LeVine,
widow of Saul LeVine. "The
family was comfortable, not
wealthy, but charitable-
minded. Nothing gave my
father-in-law and my hus-
band greater pleasure than to
give. I used to joke that I
would come home one day
and my house and furniture
would be gone."
An immigrant from a poor
Orthodox family in
Lithuania, David LeVine
came to the United States as
a talented, yet penniless
locksmith. Eventually, he
founded one of the world's
largest tool and dye shops,
Federal Engineering.
The company brought
enough funds to give charity
to the many causes in which
LaVine believed, namely the
elderly, the Jewish Associa-
tion for Retarded Citizens, the
blind and the cardiac
rehabiliation program at
Henry Ford Hospital. His
sons, Saul and Dan, con-
tinued giving after their
father's death, and monies
were endowed in the LeVine
Foundation even after

Federal Engineering closed
12 years ago. The LeVine
Foundation still provides
money for these charities, but
Stella LeVine warns that
funds are running out.
"My father-in-law gave to
give — not for his own aggran-
dizement," Stella LeVine says.
The LeVine Foundation was
set up in 1941 as a structure
by which the family gives
gifts. The Institute, original-
ly financed by the Founda-
tion, now operates as part of
the Home for Aged and on en-
dowments and interest from
the LeVine Foundation
grants.
Based on the senior
LeVine's wishes, the LeVine
Institute of Aging was found-
ed in 1983 as a research
department of the Jewish
Home for Aged. Its intent was
to provide an educational ser-
vice to an aging America.
Today the Institute is a two-
person operation, run from
three small rooms at Borman
Hall in Detroit. Riskin serves
as director; Carol Kermavner
is manager of education. Its
projected 1989-90 budget is
$170,000.
"We want to pave the way
for research in aging," Riskin
says. "We are non-profit and
non-sectarian. To have the
greatest impact, we must go
beyond Jewish circles."

The concept of Jewish
research institutes dates back
to the early 1960s, when
Jewish nursing homes across
the country were searching
for long-term plans to help
the elderly. Since then, 16
research and educational in-
stitutes have been founded.
Riskin says the Detroit In-
stitute aims to make lives in
the Jewish nursing home bet-
ter and, at the same time,
help all older people.
To do so, the Institute is
tackling five major -pro-
jects.One of Riskin's pet pro-
jects is trying to improve en-
vironmental codes. Around
the country, she says, there
are state and federal codes

Stella LeVine perpetuates the LeVine family name.

that mandate how to operate
nursing homes.
"None of the codes is based
on research into what an
older person needs," she says.
"Some codes are dangerous. A
horse gets more space in a
stall in Michigan than an old
person living in a home."
Horse stalls are about 144
square feet. According to
state codes, two people living
in a nursing home room
receive a total of 235 square
feet.
"Old people fall down in
rooms. They trip. They are
confined. They are cramped.
They get no privacy," Riskin
says.
The LeVine Institute is
planning to set up a national
clearinghouse for people in-

terested in environmental
codes. Riskin is writing a
federal grant to obtain more
funds for continued research
on the subject.
The American Association

'My father-in-law
gave to give — not
for his own
aggrandizement:

of Homes For the Aged met in
1987 to discuss environmen-
tal codes. They launched an
environmental code work
group, to be coordinated by
Riskin and The LeVine
Institute.
Another area of concern is
enrichment training, in

Glenn Triest

which LeVine provides
cultural enrichment and
other entertainment for 25
nursing homes in Detroit.
As part of this program, jazz
artist Marcus Belgrave, for
example, goes into Borman
Hall and other nursing homes
in Detroit and puts together
a jazz band with the
residents.
Also under way is another
program, called management
training for nurses, that aims
to teach management skills
to nurses who work in non-
profit homes for aging. The
Institute is organizing and
gathering data for a program
offering seminars to these
nurses throughout the state.
"Bonafide management is
not part of nursing training,"

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS,

73