PHOTOS BY DAN IEL LIPPITT
Plus Or Minus?
With grant money diminishing, Kadima Plus is
trying to maintain the dignity and independent
lifestyle of mentally ill seniors.
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER
S
am Warren, 85,,used to call
911 just to have someone to
talk to. That was before
Kadima Plus came to his
rescue and mapped out a way for
Mr. Warren to combat, or at least
deal with, the loneliness and de-
pression he has felt throughout
his life.
When caseworker Mary Rusyn
comes to visit Mr. Warren, he
says, "I feel good." Ms. Rusyn
helps Mr. Warren balance his
checkbook and reminds him to
take his medicines. But the part
he seems to like best is when she
sits down just to talk.
Three years ago, Kadima —
Jewish support services for adults
with mental illness — embarked
on a project to help seniors aged
60 and up who are battling men-
tal illness. This month, the grant
money Kadima received for the pi-
lot program is set to expire.
Most of Kadima Plus clients do
not need to live in nursing homes,
•
says Janette Shallal, executive
director of Kadima. But in or-
der to keep from being evicted
from an assisted living apart-
ment complex, they must stay
consistent with medication
and treatments, she says.
If a mentally ill senior for-
gets to take crucial medication
and his/her behavior is affect-
ed — responding to multiple
voices, for example— apart-
ment managers might evict
them, says Ms. Shallal.
Oftentimes the senior may
end up in adult foster care
somewhere upstate, far from
home and family.
The idea for Kadima Plus
came from the desire to build Sam Warren used to call 911 just to have someone to talk to.
a relationship between Kadi-
ma and assisted living apartment boom, don't need to take it any- endure schizophrenia or bipolar
complexes in the area, to keep se- more," says Ms. Shallal. But they disorders, which includes severe
niors in their own homes.
still need the medication to keep depression.
"The No. 1 problem for most on track. Stopping causes deteri-
"We look at it as biological, a
mentally ill [individuals] is that oration, she says.
chemical imbalance in the brain,"
they take medication, feel better,
Kadima helps individuals who says Ms. Shallal.
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•
Individuals who have a genet-
ic predisposition for mental illness
may first see symptoms in early
adulthood, says Ms. Shallal. With
seniors, the illness may have been
raging for years, unnoticed.
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