APRIL 8 • 2021 | 31

three well-attended conferences 
in Los Angeles. She also served 
two terms as vice president of 
Yoga Alliance (YA), the rep-
resentational organization for 
yoga teachers. She was chair of 
yoga standards for YA, includ-
ing Prenatal Yoga and Yoga for 
Children Standards.

SPECIALISTS TEACH
Zador’s accredited school 
includes certified yoga ther-
apists as faculty, with M.Ds. 
and Ph.Ds. as adjunct faculty 
giving lectures on their medical 
specialties, and staff faculty to 
provide instruction in clinical 
applications of yoga therapy. 
Specialists are brought to 
lecture, Zador said, “because 
breast cancer, for example, is 
not our area of expertise, but we 
need to understand the disease 
and work on clinical adapta-
tions for yoga therapy. We can 
help patients self-manage symp-
toms of their disease, before and 
after surgery.
”
Members of her family are 
involved with IIYT. The busi-
ness manager is her husband, 
Dr. Ivan Zador, a Ph.D. in bio-
medical engineering and retired 
from DMC Hutzel Women’s 
Hospital in Detroit. Formerly 

from Cleveland, they belong 
to the Birmingham Temple in 
Farmington Hills.
Their daughter Lara 
Zador, M.D., senior anes-
thesiologist and director of 
Henry Ford Health System’s 
Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic, 
is an adjunct faculty member. 
Three grandchildren from their 
teacher daughter, Liza Wade, 
assist in the school’s Yoga for 
Children program, for ages 
7-13.
Certified yoga therapist 
Donna Raphael of Bloomfield 
Township, also a yoga teacher, 
learned of Zador’s school in 
2014. Completing the extern-
ship program in January 2018, 
Raphael said, has “totally trans-
formed my teaching and my 
own yoga practice.
”
Zador, Raphael’s mentor, 
“brings the ancient yoga teach-
ing into the practical applica-
tion of helping people as they 
are — whether they are dealing 
with chronic pain or side effects 
of disease, or if they want to 
improve their own health.
”
Raphael added, “Yoga therapy 
helps us find our inner strength 
as we live in a stressful world. 
“It becomes more and more 
important as we grow older.
” 

Yoga therapist 
Donna Raphael

Long-term Care, End-of-Life Planning

JVS Volunteers Build Skills

Talking about end-of-life care isn’t 
easy, but it’s necessary. Do you know 
your loved one’s wishes? Who will 
speak for you when you’re not able 
to?
Join Jewish Family Service 2 
p.m. Friday, April 16, via Zoom for 
National Healthcare Decisions Day 
where you’ll learn what goes into 
long-term care planning, including 
appointing a health care proxy and 
understanding the legalities of a 
DNR and how to get difficult con-
versations started.
Speakers will be attorney Howard 
H. Collens and Lynn Breuer, a 
licensed clinical social worker, cer-
tified health coach and dementia 
practitioner who helps older adults 
age in place.
Contact the JFS Resource Center 
at (248) 592-2313 or resourcecen-
ter@jfsdetroit.org. 

In celebration of 
Developmental Disabilities 
Awareness Month (DDAM), 
JVS Human Services reports 
participants of its Skill 
Building Assistance (SBA) 
program continued to vol-
unteer at multiple service 
sites throughout the past 
year.
Through the SBA pro-
gram, individuals with 
disabilities build their skills 
and become more integrated 
into the community through 
meaningful volunteer work 
at local nonprofit organiza-
tions. 
Due to the pandemic, 
many of the program’s ser-
vice sites suffered a decline 
in volunteers. SBA partic-
ipants stepped up while 
adhering to safety measures 
to ensure the health of all 
involved. 

Under the supervision 
of JVS job coaches, SBA 
participants volunteer an 
average of four hours a day 
on weekdays. They com-
plete 10 routes every week 
through Meals on Wheels 
and prepare sandwiches for 
the Salvation Army. 

Lynn Breuer

JVS Skill Building participants 
prepare sandwiches at the 
Salvation Army.

Howard Collens

