28 | SEPTEMBER 9 • 2021 

Mackenzie was pretty isolated,
” 
Terry says, adding her daughter 
previously lived at a different 
complex where these opportu-
nities weren’t possible. Access 
became even more restricted 
throughout the pandemic when 
Mackenzie moved back home 
for a few months during the 
height of the crisis.
Terry wants more families 
who have adults with special 
needs to be able to learn about 
opportunities such as Integrated 
Neighborhoods of Oakland 
County. 
“It takes a huge emotional 
and physical toll on the par-
ents,” Terry says of having a 
child who has special needs. 
“It’s a job that never ends. The 
concern is that parents don’t 
often know where to go or 

what to do, so they keep their 
adult children home. Some of 
them are doing nothing other 
than watching TV.”
Knowing these neighbor-
hoods are out there can give 
parents and their children hope, 
Terry believes. “My hope is that 
more people will come to the 
Integrative Neighborhoods, and 
we can have a larger group of 
young adults,
” she says, “so they 
can do more social activities, 
make more connections and 
gain more friends that they may 
have never had before.
”
Integrative Neighborhoods of 
Oakland County doesn’t plan 
to stop with the Farmington 
Hills community. They’re also 
in talks with JARC, a Jewish 
organization that serves people 
with developmental disabilities, 

to potentially open an Oak Park 
community to benefit the area’s 
Orthodox population.
“That’s a dream of ours,
” 

Terry says. “Our hope is to 
expand because there’s a huge 
need and a lot of parents don’t 
know about this program.
” 

Mackenzie Matlen.

met with Rabbi Geller, shared 
Kohl’s enthusiasm. After the 
rabbi’s presentation was “such 
a hit,
” according to Kohl, “we 
took the rabbi’s suggestion to 
build this community by plan-
ning a series of programs that 
followed her book and spoke to 
the challenges that faced us as 
we aged.
” Echeandia, Schindler 
and Hansell joined them.
The original GG@GO series 
on Zoom presented book chap-
ters dealing with “Invisibility,
” 
“Isolation,
” “Purpose” and 
“Dependency.
” For the final 
session, Rabbi Geller — still the 
planners’ “guru” – was brought 
back at Shavuot to talk about 

“the harvesting of our lives, the 
importance of the intergenera-
tional community,
” Kohl said. A 
highlight, she added, was wit-
nessing the “beautiful exchange 
between the ‘seasoned’ Rabbi 
Geller and T’
chiyah’s young 
rabbi, Alana Alpert.
”
Frankel said members of 
the coordinating committee 
“meet periodically to evaluate 
past efforts and plan future 
presentations.
” Each committee 
member commits to facilitating 
a program, usually featuring 
a knowledgeable speaker. For 
“
Acquired Disabilities” on Oct. 
20, she will present her friend 
Susan Fitzmaurice, a woman 

who has experienced disability 
most of her life and has a son, 
Teddy, with Down syndrome. 
Other topics under 
consideration include: 
“Grandparenting;” 
“Technological Aging in Place;” 
“Senior Activism;” “Preparing 
for a Better End” and 
“Gerontology and Geriatrics.
” 
The sessions meet 6:30-8 
p.m. monthly, on the third 
Wednesday. After recapping the 
previous program, each session 
continues with a new topic and 
presenter, followed by a Q&A 
discussion. 
Offered initially only to 
T’
chiyah members, GG@
GO participation no longer 
has boundaries. Frankel and 
Schindler recently did out-
reach for the series, telling the 
Huntington Woods Monday 
Lunch Bunch about the chal-

lenges, opportunities and ben-
efits of retaining or regaining a 
life’s purpose. 
Schindler, a retired Wayne 
State University professor, will 
speak this fall about the series 
in relation to interdisciplinary 
aspects of aging in her scholarly 
presentation to a virtual nation-
al conference.
Moving forward, Frankel 
said, “We solicit input from any-
one interested in GG@GO dis-
cussions to suggest additional 
topics of interest, and welcome 
other presenters with knowl-
edge to share.
” 

Getting Good at Getting Older hosts Michigan 
Attorney General Dana Nessel at 6:30 p.m. Monday, 
Sept. 13. Her topic, “Staying Safe from Scammers,” will 
focus on online security. Registration is required at 
www.tchiyah.org/913 to receive a Zoom link.

Congregation T’chiyah 
22331 Woodward 
Ferndale, MI 48220 
Email: 
TchiyahJake@gmail.com3 
Phone: 248-823-7115

OUR COMMUNITY

GETTING OLDER continued from page 26

NEIGHBORHOOD continued from page 27

