THE JEWISH NEWS

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

FEBRUARY 15, 1991 / 1 ADAR 5751

Robert Steinberg Is Asked
To Step Down At Sinai Hospital

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

t the behest of its offi-
cers, Robert Steinberg
this week resigned as
Sinai Hospital's president and
chief executive officer.

The hospital announced
Mr. Steinberg's departure in
a prepared statement on
Monday, two months after
the hospital's doctors formed
a coalition to boost patient

tallies and to save the finan-
cially troubled institution
without a merger.
"For the past 28 months,
we have worked hard
together to bring about a
new direction for Sinai,"
said Merle Harris, chairman
of the hospital's board of
trustees. "There is no
animosity. We are well on
the road toward a future
that has significant promise,
and the current leadership of
the hospital is well posi-

tioned to keep the momen-
tum going."
The hospital's officers
unanimously agreed that
Sinai needed to find an expe-
rienced administrator, Mr.
Harris said. Accordingly, a
national search committee,
headed by trustee Marvin
Novick, was formed.
Meanwhile, Larry Greene,
the hospital's executive vice
president and chief
operating officer, will serve
as acting administrator. Mr.

Greene is not a candidate,
Mr. Harris said.
"The institution is bigger
than I am and it will
prevail," Mr. Steinberg said.
"I have enjoyed my 28 mon-
ths there. It has moved in a
positive direction and I hope
they make more progress in
the next 28 months."
Mr. Steinberg, 59, took the
helm as an interim position
in October 1988 after ad-
ministrator Irving Shapiro
resigned. After a national
search for Mr. Shapiro's
replacement, Mr. Steinberg
was elevated to the full-time
position a year later.
A former chairman of the
hospital's board of trustees,
Mr. Steinberg had no pro-
fessional hospital ad-
ministration experience.
Yet trustees said they
were impressed that the in-
dependent health care con-
sultant and insurance

Robert Steinberg:
Forced out.
salesman maintained such a
strong commitment to

Continued on Page 26

State Bites
Jewish Agencies

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

p

DARKNESS TO

r

[

The Holocaust Center's volunteer guides
are educating a new generation.

roposed state budget
cuts for 1990-91 are
forcing many Jewish
agencies to bring down the
budget ax for the second
time in a year.
This time, however, the
effects are more severe,
community leaders say.
Agencies first began
tightening their belts for the
1990-91 fiscal year last
June, holding the line on
spending to prepare for a
massive influx of Soviet
emigres.
Now, in the midst of a
recession followed by flat
funding from the Jewish
Welfare Federation and the
United Way Foundation,
agencies are bracing for pro-
posed 9.2 percent across-the-
board state cutbacks slated
to go into effect as early as
March.
"It's like the state is put-
ting a gun to our head," said
Al Ascher, executive direc-
tor for Jewish Vocational
Service. "People are being
held hostage for political

deals waiting to happen in
Lansing, and the clients are
hurting."
Likely government targets
are social service agencies
such as JVS, Kadima
residential care services for
Jewish adults with mental
illness, the Jewish Associ-
ation for Residential Care
(JARC) and the National
Council of Jewish Women's
Meals on Wheels program.
Jewish Vocational Ser-
vice could lose its state
funds for transportation,
potentially leaving 100 de-
velopmentally disabled
clients from Oakland Coun-
ty without ways to get to
community outreach pro-
grams.
JVS already opted to close
its Detroit workshop and
relocate staff to other agency
positions. Al Ascher, the
agency's executive director,
said this will force the coun-
ty to place 175 developmen-
tally disabled workers from
the Wayne County area in
other day treatment pro-
grams.
In addition, loss of a

Continued on Page 26