Community Outreach Jewish Fund approves health and human service grants totaling $2.1 million. "Helping the community's elderly is one of the top priorities of the Jewish community and of the Jewish Fund." N ineteen programs providing health and human services in metro Detroit have received $2.1 million in grants from the Jewish Fund. The majority of the funds will be used to serve the Jewish community's frail elderly, including $674,000 for in-home support services and $475,000 for a day care program for seniors with Alzheimer's or similar ill- nesses. "Helping the community's elderly is one of the top priorities of the Jewish community and of the Jewish Fund," said Mark Schlussel, Jewish Fund chair. "The in-home support and day care programs demonstrate our communi- ty's strong commitment, creativity and compassion in caring for its elderly. You will not find services like this at this level anywhere else in the region." The in-home services are provided in a coordinated manner by Jewish Apartments and Services, Jewish Family Service and Kadima to 1,400 seniors each year. Services include per- sonal care, medication reminders, social work services, housekeeping and meal preparation. The program pro- motes the seniors' independence and dignity by permitting them to contin- ue to live in their own residences. There are cost savings as well. The program costs an average $5,200/client per year as opposed to $54,000 for a nursing home or $30,000 for assisted living, and has proven effective at keeping seniors out of these more costly living situations. The adult day care program, for- mally known as the Dorothy and Peter Brown Jewish Community Adult Day Care Program, is operated jointly by Jewish Home and Aging Services and JVS. The program enhances the self- esteem, well being and dignity of the seniors, while providing respite and supportive services for the family. Helping individuals with special needs is another high priority of the Jewish community and the Jewish Fund. The January grants include $120,000 over three years to the Agency for Jewish Education to pilot a program that provides short-term, individualized assistance to Jewish pre- school children with special needs; $75,000 for a third year to the Jewish Community Center to integrate chil- dren with disabilities into the Center's recreational and social programs; $75,000 for a third year to the Jewish 2/8 2002 32 ---- Mark Sehlussel, Jewish Fund chair Federation of Metropolitan Detroit for vouchers to help families purchase therapy, recreation, respite and other services for their special needs depend- ents; $75,000 to JVS to provide med- ical support for individuals with severe disabilities in its sheltered workshop; and two grants totaling $100,000 to Kadima for prescriptions and social work services for mentally ill adults. In addition, two grants totaling $150,000 were awarded to the Detroit Medical Center. The DMC grants include $50,000 to the Weisberg Cancer Treatment - Center to help buy a linear accelerator used in radiation treatment and $100,000 to Sinai- Grace Hospital to help create an Express Care-Urgent Care Unit that will help reduce wait time at the Sinai- Grace Emergency Room by separately serving those emergency room patients that have less emergent needs. Some of the other funded pro- grams include a new project at Jewish Family Service that will facilitate and coordinate spiritual healing programs in the Jewish community; a pilot effort by AIDS Partnership Michigan to work with the Sinai-Grace Infectious Disease Clinic; a partner- ship between Children's Hospital of Michigan and Karmanos Cancer Institute to serve children with cancer and their families; and continued sponsorship of the Jewish Community City Year team in partnership with the Federation and its finance arm, the United Jewish Foundation. The Jewish Fund was created in 1997 from proceeds of the sale of Sinai Hospital to the DMC and has since awarded over $22.5 million in grants. Following is a complete listing of the latest awards: • Agency for Jewish Education $105,000 over three years for individualized assistance for special needs pre-school children. • AIDS Partnership Michigan: $40,000 to provide mental health counseling and help improve med- ical adherence of HIV patients at the Sinai-Grace Infectious Disease Clinic. • Children's Hospital of Michigan and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute: $185,000 over two years to help children with cancer and their families. • City Year: . $75,000 to continue sponsorship of the Jewish Community team. • The Detroit Institute for Children: Up to $60,000 for a certi- fied nurse practitioner to improve medical treatment for children with special needs and their families. • Jewish Apartments and Services, Jewish Family Service, Kadima: $674,000 for in-home support serv- ices for low-income seniors. • Jewish Community Center: $75,000 for a third year to integrate children with disabilities into the Center's recreational and social pro- grams. • Jewish Family Service: $108,000 over two years for the Kehilah Program, a new program that will facilitate and coordinate spiritual healing programs in the Jewish com- munity. • Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit: $75,000 for a third year to provide vouchers to help qualifying families buy services such as therapy, recreation and respite for their special needs dependents. • Jewish Home and Aging Services, JVS: $500,000 for a day care pro- gram for seniors with Alzheimer's or similar illnesses. • JVS: $75,000 to support the med- ical component of a sheltered work- shop for severely disabled adults. • Kadima: $25,000 to help buy psy- chotropic medications for low- income, mentally ill adults. • Kadima: $135,000 over two years for in-home social work services for low-income, mentally ill adults. • Reggie McKenzie Foundation Inc.: $35,000 for a third year for a program designed to educate sev- enth-12th grade at-risk youth in Highland Park to help them make healthy life choices and introduce them to health careers. • National Bone Marrow Transplant Link $20,000 to devel- op a strategic plan with a strong fund-raising component. • National Conference for Community and Justice-Michigan Chapter: $20,000 to provide diversi- ty training at two Jewish Apartments and Services buildings to improve both resident-to-resident relations and resident-to-staff relations. • Volunteer Impact: $45,000 over two years to continue and expand the organization's work to assist Jewish organizations in recruiting, training, coordinating and utilizing long-term volunteers. • DMC/Weisberg Cancer Treatment Center: $50,000 to pur- chase a linear accelerator used in radiation treatment. • DMC/Sinai-Grace Hospital: . $100,000 to help create an Express Care-Urgent Care Unit that will help reduce wait time at the Sinai-Grace Emergency Room by separately serv- ing those emergency room patients that have less emergent needs.