Code
Blue
for

Borman

The State of Michigan
slapped four high-level
violations upon
the Jewish Home
for Aged. Next week,
state inspectors will
decided its fate.

T

STORY BY
KIMBERLY LIFTON

PHOTOS BY
GLENN TRIEST

raditionally,
Jewish nursing
homes through-
out the country
have set quali-
ty care stan-
dards for the

elderly.
Yet today, the Jewish
Home for Aged's 212-
bed Borman Hall is strug-
gling just to meet the
standard.
Early next week, state
health department in-
spectors are due to visit
Borman Hall to make
sure the Home has cor-

rected four of the highest
level health code viola-
tions.
And though JHA offi-
cials, state health author-
ities, nursing home con-
sultants, Federation lead-
ers and other national
experts are optimistic
Borman will prosper with
a clean bill of health, the
state is dangerously close
to taking the fate of this
institution out of Jewish
hands.
"We need a Jewish
nursing home," said Ruth
Newman, whose father,

the late Joseph Chodoroff,
spent his last eight years
as a private-pay resident
with a full-time aide
at Borman Hall in
Detroit. "There are too
many people who do not
have funds. Oakland
County (where most of
the Jewish community
reside) is one of the
most affluent communi-
ties in the country. How
dare they turn their
back on the elderly peo-
ple?"
Like other family mem-
bers of past and present

residents, Mrs. Newman
is unnerved by news
of Borman's uncertainty.
She wants the building
to remain open. Forget
the past; clean it up; just
move on, she said.
"It was eight years of
hell at Borman," Mrs.'-'
Newman said. "I don't
have the answer. All
I wanted was for my
father to be clean. I had
to hire a private aide
to keep him clean. .
"This community is
deaf, dumb and blind —
until your parents