CLOSE-UP

KADIMA IS BRINGING
MENTAL ILLNESS
AMONG JEWS
TO THE FOREFRONT

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

A

vraham walks slowly
down the stairs and sits
next to a housemate at
the Kadima home. He
watches the last few
minutes of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Avraham, an observant Jew, has
just finished davening Maariv ser-
vices upstairs in his bedroom. He
always wears a kippah.
As the odor of liver and onions
permeates the house, Allan Ettinger
relaxes at the kitchen table, puffing
on a cigarette. Awakened from a
short nap, Risi Davis strolls
downstairs to the kitchen to set the
table and prepare dinner with the
house aide. She gets help from An-
drea Gurwin. It is their turn for kit-
chen duty.
The door opens. Scott treks inside
from a bicycle ride.
"Are you having liver tonight?"
Davis asks Scott.
It is a typical afternoon for the six
adults living in the Kadima house in
Southfield, a four-year-old, state-
funded residential care and support
project for severely mentally ill Jew-
ish adults.
Miriam Iwrey, executive director
for Kadima, estimates that 400 Jew-

26

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1990

ish people living in Oakland County
need services provided by Kadima.
Of those, just 100 are identified and
live in state institutions, private
hospitals, foster-care homes or with
relatives.
But Kadima, which provides beds
at its group home for just six adults,
has a waiting list of 90. Clients live
in the home an average of six mon-
ths to two years. There are no limits
on length of stay, yet the goal is to
move clients into independent living
situations. -
"It is always our responsibility as
Jews to care for our own," says
Kadima president and founding
member Rhoda Raderman. "Who's
going to do it for us? Doesn't every-
one who is Jewish have a right to
live in a Jewish community?"
Adults living in the home are
mentally ill — a chemical imbalance
and thought disorder. It is often con-
fused with mental retardation, a de-
velopmental disorder which is an in-
telligence deficiency.
More specifically, some of these
adults suffer from bipolar disorder, a
manic-depressive illness in which a
person's mood alternates between
depression and euphoria. According

to statistics compiled by the Nation-
al Institute of Mental Health,
bipolar disorder will affect one mill-
ion people in the United States dur-
ing any given six-month period.
Others suffer from schizophrenia,
the most chronic and disabling of the
mental illnesses. It is a brain disease
— a scientific and biological entity
just as diabetes, multiple sclerosis
and cancer are scientific and
biological diseases.
Symptoms are impairment in
thinking, delusions, hallucinations,
changes in emotions and in behav-
ior. Doctors say there is no cure,
although it usually can be controlled
with medication. National statistics
state that 1.8 million Americans
will suffer from schizophrenia dur-
ing any given six months.
Last year, Kadima expanded for
the first time since its inception.
With support from Michigan
Department of Mental Health Direc-
tor Tom Watkins, who helped secure
additional funding for the apart-
ment program, Kadima launched its
apartment living program in Oak
Park.
The program now can place five
residents in apartments, providing

weekly counseling sessions and
around-the-clock support service.
"What we do is a small dent when
you compare this to the people who
need it," Raderman says. "As we
become more visible in the commun-
ity, it won't be necessary to send our
kids away."

I

n the courtyard of Clinton Valley
State Hospital in Pontiac, a faint
cry of a woman is heard. A loud,
deep scream follows. It is a man's
desperate cry for help.
Staff social worker Solomon
Varghese keeps walking. These are
the new patients. Noises are com-
mon.
He unlocks a door to one of the
buildings at the state mental .in-
stitution, home to 400 patients in-
cluding 19 Jews. Varghese locks the
door behind him.
Wearing a pair of broken eyeglass
frames, Sheldon Imber, 42, stands
near the nurse's station. He is
waiting to see a staff psychologist. A
nurse informs Imber he may
postpone the appointment to spend
some time with Iwrey, who is
visiting Jewish clients.