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Editorial

Jewish Detroit Must Stay
Nimble To Serve Elderly

t's the central residential address for the Detroit
Jewish community's commitment to an underap-
preciated treasure: our older adults. Jewish Senior
Life has largely excelled in elevating how we as a
community imagine, fund and deliver services and
programs. But JSL will have to step up with even more
passion to meet stiff demographic challenges knocking
at its door.
The five-year journey ("Senior Services," Oct. 23,
page 1), begun in 2009 with the merger of Jewish
Home & Aging Services and Jewish Apartments &
Services, envisioned a hybrid culture as a way to meet
senior needs and to tap into the wisdom that older
adults bring to the communal table. Folks age 65 and
up comprise about 26 percent of Jewish Detroit, based
on the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
2010 population study update, so they stand nobly at
the gates linking our past and future.
Demographic trends point to America aging — in
percentage of population older than 65 and in number
of people living to 90. Better healthcare and active life-
styles have enabled longevity. But chronic conditions
associated with nine decades of life have taken finan-
cial and personal tolls on our nonagenarians as well as
their families and friends.
Jewish Detroit presents a profile older than the
rest of Metro Detroit. Consequently, the Jewish com-
munity already is wrestling with issues that will have
a profound impact on the general population. We
know we're America's second-oldest Jewish area next
to Florida's retirement communities, based on demo-
graphic studies of North American Jewish communi-
ties. We know that despite an uptick in the number of
young adults staying or returning here, Jewish Detroit
is on pace to have 50 percent of its population at least
age 65 by 2020.
We know older folks typically require more attention
and patience. Still, they deserve to be treated with dig-
nity and respect — and given every chance to remain
productive. Aging shouldn't mean fulfilling times are
over.

Leading Up
In 1996, Federation unveiled the Commission on
Jewish Eldercare Services to coordinate services to the
elderly provided by an array of communal organiza-
tions. COJES was a great start to acknowledging demo-
graphic trends and shaping a cohesive strategy. COJES
understood the potential for an umbrella eldercare
agency, a single access point for a range of assistance
and support.
JSL, sprouting from a recommendation of
Federation's Eldercare Services Visioning Committee,
has strived to succeed COJES by improving on the
local eldercare model. Improvements include less-
fragmented offerings at the service and programming
levels and fewer duplicated costs at the administrative
and managerial levels. A waiting list for living space
in many facilities attests to the role JSL has played in

26

November 20 • 2014

Folks age 65 and up comprise
about 26 percent of Jewish
Detroit so they stand nobly at
the gates linking our past and
future.

burnishing a total environment for seniors within the
strictures of a $23 million annual budget.
JSI:s vision of "whole-person wellness" can only be
sustained through continuous, thoughtful change.
Finding "prime" on the eldercare services continuum
demands constant reassessment and refinement. JSL
cannot linger on successes; it will have to concentrate on
shortfalls. As tough as it is to oversee eldercare, it's going
to get even tougher given our demographics. As a com-
munity, we must stay vigilant, limber and responsive.

The Agenda
In light of these demographics, JSL, under professional
leaders Rochelle Upfal and Carol Rosenberg and board
president Matthew Lester, should continue to
sharpen its focus on:
• Teaching the Jewish community about the
nuances of eldercare and how JSL can assist
— in tandem with other eldercare stakehold-
ers like the Jewish Community Center, Jewish
Family Service and JVS;
• Informing the Jewish community, and the
children of our elderly, about the demographic
trends confronting JSL;
• Communicating that many JSL residents are
active, involved and have enriching lives (while
continuing to embrace residents in various stages
of mental or physical decline);
• Listening more keenly to the population
being served. Many JSL residential dwellers, frail
or not, are tuned to the needs of their fellow
seniors — and have ideas and opinions worth
hearing and heeding;
• Staying responsive to the competitive forces
changing the dynamics of caring for seniors. All
Seasons of West Bloomfield, for example, offers
higher-end apartment living for seniors. JSL
can't compete directly, but it can ensure it always
provides the highest value for all its residents,
whatever their income levels. It also must openly
appreciate how, for many residents, dinner (both
in quality and ambience) represents a highlight
of their day and social calendar.
Certainly, many in Jewish Detroit's oldest
cohort prefer a Jewish residential facility. Baby
boomers — as well as their children — seem less

inclined toward Jewish-sponsored living quarters. JSL and
Federation will have to take into account this inclination
as they ponder community planning five to 15 years out.

Staying Focused
At its founding five years ago, JSL spotlighted an action
blueprint for "a strong and viable agency, fulfilling the
mission of managing and providing the broadest range of
elderly services — drawing on the vast resources of our
community — with efficiency, creativity and sensitivity:'
The mission was meant to go beyond just procuring and
securing dollars and goodwill for a precious segment of us
to age in place. The hope was to create a maximal living
environment.
Detroit Jewry's eldercare roots go back at least 145
years. It took 38 years for Jewish Home & Aging Services
and Jewish Apartments & Services to merge once the idea
bubbled up. Fashioning a process to centrally coordinate
and expand our senior service network clearly takes time.
Ultimately, the merger underscored that older adults were
to be championed, not allowed to languish.
As a community, we must join hands to help Jewish
Senior Life identify, categorize, analyze and solve those
issues that otherwise would prevent us from helping our
legion of seniors remain comparatively spry, happy and
engaged — and ever contributing toward a richer, proud-
er Jewish Detroit. ❑

Dry Bones

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DryBones.com

