12 | MARCH 14 • 2024 
J
N

O

ne Friday in 
2006, when Dr. 
Maier Belen was 
in Beaumont hospital, 
his wife, Molly, sat at his 
bedside, frightened and 
worried. Suddenly, Jeanette 
Blumenkopf and Chana 
Ellenberg turned up, quite 
literally offering warmth and 
light, in the form of battery-
operated candles for Shabbat 
and a listening ear.
Touched, Molly 
immediately called her 
daughter, Barbara Pichette. 
“That visit bought my 
mother so much comfort 
and made such a difference 

to her in that dark time,” 
Pichette explained. 
“After my father passed 
away, I wanted to do 
something special in his 
memory and decided to 
join this program and be a 
candle lady, too, to bring that 
comfort to other families 
with a loved one in hospital.” 
Some form of Bikur 
Cholim of Detroit has been 
around since the 1920s, 
although the organization 
was only formally established 
in 1988. The Detroit Jewish 
News Dec. 2, 1988, issue 
printed an article about 
the organization written by 

Robyn Kleerekoper, and it 
seems like the JN readership 
is long overdue for an 
update! 
Back then, Bikur Cholim 
(literally meaning, visiting 
the sick) was a flagship 
group of local women who 
visited the Jewish patients in 
the neighborhood hospitals, 
then Sinai Hospital and 
a significantly smaller 
Beaumont. 
Today, Bikur Cholim of 
Detroit offers support for 
patients and families with 
a loved one in the hospital 
or recovering at home, 
including kosher meals, 

respite assistance, a condo 
for use on Shabbat near 
Beaumont Hospital, Shabbat 
kits, the Maternal Wellness 
Initiative, which supports 
mothers who have recently 
given birth, and fully stocked 
kosher cabinets in area 
hospitals. (See sidebar.) 
They still provide weekly 
hospital visits, although 
with stricter privacy rules — 
visitors first have to formally 
become volunteers of the 
hospital. 
Currently, Devorah Bakst, 
Barbara Pichette and Sarah 
Shapero are the certified 
volunteers at Ascension 
Providence in Southfield. 
Tzipi Ashin, Deedee Berman, 
Iris Farhi, Shirley Jarcaig, 
Jeff and Sue Lazar, Sarah 
Wayntraub and Helaine Zack 
are the certified volunteers at 
Beaumont Royal Oak. 

Visiting the Sick

Bikur Cholim of Detroit volunteers brighten 
the days of Jewish hospital patients.

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Volunteers Tzipi Ashin, Deedee 
Berman, Jeff and Sue Lazar, 
Barbara Pichette, Sarah Wayntraub 
and Iris Farhi show off some of the 
contents of the kosher cabinet at 
Providence Southfield.

