FEBRUARY 11 • 2021 | 21

CAREFUL PREPARATION
Ohren said the OCHD has 
been great to work with, and 
JFS helped educate them on 
what they would be dealing 
with before they arrived. 
“We created an interesting 
flyer on the concept of trau-
ma-informed care, to think 
about what it might be like for 
a survivor to have to stand in 
line, to smell something, to 
have somebody come at them 
with a needle,
” Ohren said. 
“We did a mini-crash course 
so the folks who are vaccinat-
ing have a sense of who the 
main audience is that they’re 
vaccinating.
”
Oakland County Medical 
Director Dr. Russell Faust was 
leading the charge at the clinic 
and said he believes it’s owed 
to the most vulnerable to get 
them protected. 
“We’re trying to get every 
dose into as many arms as 
possible, so I think it’s import-
ant that we get out and vac-
cinate the most vulnerable in 
our community, and certainly 
Holocaust survivors, based on 
age alone, meet that criteria,
” 
Faust said.
While Zydower and 
Lindemann didn’t mention 
any similarities between the 
pandemic or vaccinations 
with the Holocaust, Missy 
Lewin, JFS’s director of 
Holocaust Survivor Services, 
has seen survivors respond on 
both ends of the spectrum.
“We see people who feel 
cooped up again, and it’s start-
ing to trigger them of those 
memories they have, and 
then we’re also seeing people 
who are saying ‘this isn’t the 
Holocaust, we know we’re 
going to be safe and we’re able 
to get out’ — so we’re really 
seeing both extremes,
” Lewin 
said.
“We know so many things 
can be triggering for them, 

especially coming here today 
with medical personnel, so 
we really tried to prep for 
that and walk the survivors 
through that.
” 
The survivors received the 
Moderna vaccine and will 
receive the second shot on 
March 1 to avoid doing it on 
the four-week anniversary 
Feb. 26, which is Purim.
There is a tentative plan for 
another clinic, in collabora-
tion between Jewish Senior 
Life and JFS. This would be in 
February, limited to survivors 
and their spouses. Details are 
still in the works.

‘NO PROBLEM’
Zoltan Rubin, 102, of 
Farmington Hills, born in 
Czechoslovakia, was among 
those receiving the first dose 
as well. 
“Perfect. Couldn’t be better, 
no problem,
” Rubin said after 
injection. 
“I hope it helps. I hope 
this vaccination will stop this 
unusual thing which is a trag-
edy for the whole world.
” 
Rubin, who comes from a 
family of 11 siblings, said he 
lost all but two brothers to the 
Holocaust.
Speaking on how he’s 
dealt with the isolation 
and consequences of the 
pandemic, Rubin said he’s 
lucky that he has his daughter 
to help him, but otherwise it’s 
very hard. 
“I think God is trying to 
show people they have to 
believe in something, and 
people should realize they’re 
here only on borrowed time, 
they’re not here forever, and 
they should always consider 
their behavior toward other 
people around them and all 
over the world,
” Rubin said.
“We should realize we are 
here because we are allowed 
to be here.
”