Credit: Vivian Henoch

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Hospice Hero

Nancy Schneider on a flight
to life from Danto to Israel.

Vivian Henoch | Special to the Jewish News

T

his is the story of an incredible
journey, a loving family and a
nurse on a mission far beyond
the call of the most vigilant of hospice
caregivers.
Hospice. The very thought of working
in hospice used to make Nancy Schneider
uncomfortable. A nurse for nearly 35
years, Schneider began her career at
Beaumont working at the very “start of
lives” in the Beaumont Fertility Center.
Helping to bring babies into the world was
joyous work that she loved to do.
In 1993, life threw her a curve.
Tragically, her husband died of a heart
attack. Shortly after, Beaumont closed
the Fertility Center. As a widow with two
young children, Schneider found herself
at a crossroads when a spot opened up
on the Beaumont Hospice team. “My
whole outlook on life changed,” she
recalls. “My job interview literally rocked
my world. I remember the day of the
interview as a transformation, getting
into my car and praying, ‘Please, God, let
this be what I am supposed to be doing.’
Two days later, when they offered me the
job, I just knew it was right. And it’s been
right ever since.”
In the 20 years that Schneider has been
a hospice nurse, she has answered the
calls of hundreds of families in times of
great need, in moments of sorrow, deep
grief and profound gratitude. But there’s
been no call like the call she received in
November last year.
“It all started with a call from Rita
Weiner, a hospice nurse at Beaumont
and a member of the Jewish Professional
Women’s Hospice Alliance, asking if I
would be interested in accompanying a
family planning to move their loved one,
Professor Edward Rosenbaum, 89, out
of hospice at Danto Health Care Center
in West Bloomfield to a care facility in
Israel. I said sure, thinking I’ve never been
to Israel, but come on, this is never going
to happen.”
As soon as Schneider hung up, a call
came from Debby Spinner, Rosenbaum’s
daughter-in-law in Israel.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Debby
shared a bold plan to transport the pro-
fessor, along with his wife, Mildred, to
their town in Israel where the family had
arranged for his care at the Dor Tivon
nursing home. Mildred, too, would be
well accommodated in an apartment con-
nected to the home.
Debby and her husband, Ron Spinner,

40 March 31 • 2016

Nancy Schneider finds satis-
faction as a hospice nurse.

both originally from Oak Park, had
made aliyah years ago. They lived in
Hoshaya, a closeknit religious settlement
in Northern Israel. (Jewish Detroiters
visiting Michigan’s Partnership2Gether
Region will be familiar with the area
nestled in the Jezreel Valley, near the
Tzipori National Park.) In years past, the
Rosenbaums spent their winters there in
the company of a growing circle of family
and friends. In fact, there’s a park in the
town named after the Rosenbaums, who
gave a gift to the community to build a
playground for the children.

CIRCLE OF LOVE
The professor was frail. The doctors and
staff were dubious. But the family was
determined. He had been admitted to
Danto with pneumonia in October. With
no immediate family in town for support
and winter weather hampering Mildred’s
regular visits, his health continued to fail.
Fearing the worst, Debby and Ron flew
in from Israel to be by his bedside. Much
to everyone’s surprise and relief, as the
family gathered, Rosenbaum rallied.
Quickly the family switched gears to
arrange for his travel with a request for a
medical release from the team at Danto,
reasoning that his quality of life would
vastly improve in Israel, in a town where
he was acclimated. There he would be
spending his days in close proximity to
his wife, his children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren — in total, family
that had grown to more than 20 people,
including newborn twins.
Long story short, the Rosenbaums,
Ron and Debby — accompanied by
Schneider — loaded into a wheelchair
van first thing in the morning on Dec.
6, 2015, drove 250 miles to Toronto and,
that same evening, boarded a direct El Al
flight to Israel.
The trip was arduous for the professor,
but the logistics went off like clockwork.
“We were on a mission,” Schneider recalls.
“None of us lost sight of the goal to get
Edward safely to Tel Aviv. From the air-
port, the drive to the nursing home took
another two hours and, when we arrived,
an R.N. and an aide were standing outside
the door to greet us. The whole experi-
ence felt like a big warm hug.”
The next day, Schneider returned
to the nursing home to coordinate
Rosenbaum’s care and found his condi-
tion had much improved. “His coloring
was better; he had gotten a good night’s