/Health

Mazal Toy

to Menorah House

The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
and United Jewish Foundation congratulate
Menorah House skilled nursing care facility on
receiving the Governor's Quality Care Award for
excellence in care to Michigan's most vulnerable
residents.

Menorah House, a Federation preferred provider,
was one of 37 winners out of 1,000 nominees
for the award, selected by the State's Depart-
ment of Consumer and Industry Services and
presented by Governor John Engler. The De-
partment licenses and regulates more than
22,000 child care facilities and long-term care
providers, including adult foster care, homes for
the aged and nursing homes, in the State of
Michigan.

Pinder, a medical
technician, and
Dr. Feldman dis-
cuss results from a
patient being test-
ed for Gaucher's.

For instance, advances in prenatal
testing make it possible to determine
if a fetus will develop as a child with
generic disorders or with high sus-
ceptibility to certain illnesses, but
there are few cures or treatments for
many of these conditions. A couple
who find that their fetus is affected
must choose between terminating
the pregnancy or having the baby
and learning as much as they can
about how to manage the condition.

Federation is delighted that Menorah House is
meeting the challenge of providing quality care
to its residents and is receiving such high marks
for its efforts on behalf of the frail elderly of our
community.

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E UNITED
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[FOUNDATION

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Detection
vs. risks.

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If two people find they are carri-
ers of a disease, do they take a risk
and have children? If they are aware
of the risk, and their child is born
with cystic fibrosis, for instance, is
the insurance company required to
pay for medical expenses because the
parents knew that might happen?
What are the parameters for decid-
ing about quality of life for the
future child?
And who will know this genetic
information once gathered? Are the
data kept confidential or are they
accessible to health care organiza-
tions and insurance companies or
the company that's thinking about
hiring one of the parents?
Who determines whether an indi-
vidual is genetically tested — the
individual, or the firm that considers
genetic resting part of the cost-bene-
fit analysis before they hire some-
one?
Dr. Feldman favors genetic

GENETIC TESTS on page 100

Testing For
Specific Diseases

G

enetic testing involves
taking a small blood sam-
c_/
ple to look at a person's
genetic material (DNA)
for changes associated with an
increased risk of certain diseases.
The - testing can help patients learn
more about their own cancer risk, to
become more active in their own
health care and to reduce the risk of
cancer by modifying a lifestyle.
The following are the most com-
mon recessive disorders affecting the .---/
Jewish population:
Tay-Sachs Disease results from a
deficiency of the enzyme, hex-
osaminidase A, causing harmful
quantities of a fatty substance to
accumulate in the nerve cells of the
brain. Infants with Tay-Sachs disease
appear to develop normally for the
first few months, but then experi-
- \
ence a rapid deterioration of mental --C -1/
and physical abilities.
Presently, there is no treatment
for Tay-Sachs, and children with the
disease - usually die by age 5.
Canavan Disease usually begins
during infancy. Parents may notice
subtle changes in visual inattentive-
ness or an inability to perform motor
tasks at 3-9 months. One of the earli-
est signs of CD is overall low muscle
tone and lack of head control.
As the child grows, motor skills
and mental functioning deteriorate.
Many children with CD die in
infancy although some survive into
adolescence and occasionally into